Everything Penn State coach James Franklin said after the Lions' 26-25 win over Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — Penn State is 10-1 after a 26-25 victory over Minnesota on Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium. After the game, head coach James Franklin held a news conference. He started with an opening statement.

“First of all, I think you got to give Minnesota and PJ [Fleck] a ton of credit,” Franklin said. “They had them ready to play. They played really and made big plays and big moments. We came into this game having a ton of respect for their defense and I thought their defense played really well tonight. And, I think their quarterback played very well, and their were wide receivers, so got to give them credit. They played really well. They made critical plays at big moments in the game, but at the end of the day, our team overcame adversity and found a way to win on the road. [Penn State is 5-0 on the road] for the first time since 1985. So, just proud of our guys. Overcame adversity, found ways to win. Went into this game saying that the turnover battle would be a huge statistic in the game. In I guess in true statistics, I’d say we won the turnover battle. But you could also make the argument it was about a wash, because the block punt and blocked PAT kind of even those things out. If we don’t do those two things, than it’s a very different game, and that’s very uncharacteristic for us.

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“We did not win the explosive play battle, we did not win the third down battle, we did not win the sack battle. We did win field position. Penalties a wash. And, we didn’t win middle eight either. So statistically, we won the most important stat, turnover battle, but not a whole lot besides that.

“I thought third quarter continues to be a good story for our team. Defense has yet to allow a third quarter touchdown this season, gave up a field goal today, and have allowed 15 points total on the season. So that’s been big. And then, you know, other thing I’m proud of and very, very appreciative of, the staff and the players we’re one of three teams to win 10 or more games in the last three years, only three teams in the country. So I’m proud of that. I think consistency matters. It’s really important. And our guys did it today. So proud of the guys.”

You can read everything else Franklin said and watch video of his news conference below.

On the decision to run a fake punt late in the fourth quarter

“I think first of all, Dominic Rulli deserves a ton of credit. He’s a guy that doesn’t get talked about a whole lot, but is loved and respected in our locker room and in the Lasch Building by everybody,” Franklin said. “Just comes to work every single day. He’s the quarterback of that play. We’ve been working on it since training camp. We’ve called it in other games this year, but unless you have the right look, you can’t run it. And Dom has done a great job of checking in and out of it. Tonight, we had to call, typically, when you call that a lot of times, they’re going to be in [punt] safe. They had their defense on the field. I thought it was going to be safe again. And then when we ran our punt team on, they ran their punt return team out. So I thought we had a chance. And then the look allowed us to run it.

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“Luke Reynolds, that was a huge play for him. Blocked extremely well. So that’s been cooking, I guess, with Thanksgiving coming up, or marinating for a while, all the way back to training camp. So we’ll put that one on the shelf and start start working the next one.

“I make the call and then Dom checks us out of it if it’s the wrong look. So we call the fake. And then if if it’s not the right look, Dom checks out of it to a traditional punt. And we called that probably six times this year. Were just waiting for the right time.”

Why did Penn State go for it on fourth down on three straight drives?

“I just felt like we needed to try to end the game on our terms with the ball in our hand,” Franklin said. “Give them a ton of credit. They did a good job of producing yards and finding a way. Their field goal kicker was back to the guy from last year. Started out the season a little rocky but was kicking the ball very, very well tonight and the second half of season’s been kicking well. So I just felt like, be aggressive end the game on our terms, with the ball in our hands, and those things. As I told you guys before, I’ll click over and talk to the defense as well and get their thoughts. So just proud of our guys.”

On the play of Drew Allar

“I think early on in the first half, we gave up some pressures and some sacks that we shouldn’t have, like guys running clean, that based on our rules, should have been running clean,” Franklin said. “I think that frustrated him little bit. But to your point, he made big plays again with his feet. Showed toughness and didn’t slide. We don’t necessarily teach the slide. I think you guys see, we teach what we call the grenade, where he goes down kind of head first and protects himself but don’t lose any of the yardage by doing it. But tonight, he played to win at critical times. That play there at the end between him and Tyler. That’s a coach’s dream, right? Like you call it. The play is not clean. He goes to the backside marker, the surrender call, which means, once you get the first down, get down whether you can score or not. Tyler Warren does exactly the way it’s coached. Shocker.

“And, Drew finds a way to extend the play, and we’re hoping to hit the back in the flat there, and Drew extends the play and then finds time on the backside. I think there was some times where, when you’re the quarterback, and you’re expecting things to be picked up, and guys are coming clean, you got to keep your poison composure right there. And I thought, for the most part, he did that.”

On the Lions’ final fourth down go for it decision over kicking

“Obviously, we had a block earlier in the game that they took, whatever, 93 yards or whatever it was. We just wanted to end the game on our terms. Wanted to be able to possess the ball with the game on the line, and you got to be able to get one yard. We’ve been able to do that for most part this season. We weren’t as clean blocking this week. Again, give them credit, but it just came down to us wanting to end the game on our terms.”

Did Penn State intentionally get Tyler Warren the ball on certain drives?

“Tyler’s a part of the game plan all the time. And, like I told you guys before, if he’s not open, we’re not going to throw it to him. So there’s plays that are designed to go to Tyler, that, if he’s not open, we move on. But that’s kind of the game plan, is to try to get the ball in his hands.”

On winning the turnover battle

“Yeah, margins on the road are small, so I thought the turnovers were very important,” Franklin said. “Again, if we don’t have the two mishaps on special teams, it’s a very, very different game, when you’re able to be plus-two in the turnover rate on this team. But again, those special teams errors kind of nullify it, but if we don’t get [the turnovers], and we have the two errors on special teams, we’re in big trouble. When you talk about a team that leads the Big Ten in turnover ratio, we knew that was going to be a major factor in this game.”

On the punt block and blocked extra point

“The punt block, they had three rushers, we had three blockers. So scheme-wise, we were fine. We were blocking the guy kind of on the edge, and he was able to get his hand on the ball. But you know, we had three blockers for three rushers, and the guy just got on the edge and made a play.

“On the field goal, I’d have to watch it. But, we always block down from our inside gap, and we high arm the outside gap to give the next offensive player some help, and for whatever reason, we blocked out, haven’t done it all. We’ve never done that before. I was not a math major at East Stroudsburg. I was psychology. But the shortest point between point A and point B is a straight line, and if you can block gaps and make them run around, it’s hard to get there. But I don’t think that guy’s a math major.”