Everything Penn State coach James Franklin said after the Lions 49-10 win over Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Penn State coach James Franklin held a news conference following his team’s 49-10 win over Purdue. He started with an opening statement.

“I thought that was the best game we played overall, in terms of four quarters, offense, defense, special teams, complimentary football,” Franklin said. “We were able to play 68 players in the game, which is great and is really going to help us from an experience standpoint. Defensively, continue to play dominant third quarter football. Ten plays for 35 yards, but that also has to do with our offense sustaining drives. Tyler Warren continues to just make plays in a ton of different ways. Like I mentioned before, I think he’s part of the conversation of one of the best players in all of college football, let alone the tight end position.

“Drew’s is playing really efficient, 17 of 19 for 247 yards to the touchdowns. Just really good all-around football. If I was going to nitpick a little bit a little bit, more turnovers. That was the one thing we tied 0-0. We had a couple opportunities. We won the explosive play battle. Won the third down battle. We won the sack battle, we won the starting field position battle, won the penalty battle, and then we won the middle eight with 14 points to zero.

“So a lot of good things there. So lot of good things to build on. This will be important tape for us, especially with the young guys. I think I told you guys at the beginning of the week that we needed to find a way to win this game and get better. I thought we did that tonight. We want to continue on that trajectory this week.

Read everything else the Penn State coach said and watch video of his full news conference below.

On Penn State defensive ends Dani Dennis-Sutton and Abdul Carter

“Really important having Dani back,” Franklin said. “This is the first game; he played the last two, as you guys know, in a very limited role, so the fact that we were able to win those games, manage him, and then get him back close to 100 percent this week was really important. Abdul is a very, very disruptive player. I also think when it’s just Abdul on the field, and not Dani, although I think Amin [Vanover] and Smith [Vilbert] are doing really good things too. It’s different when we got all four of those guys rotating in.

“I also think, you know, I’m surprised that Abdul does not get more holding calls. I think it’s pretty obvious that he’s an issue coming off the edge, and he can get probably three or four more sacks, or three or four more holds per game. But yeah, I think having to Dani back is is really important. And I think with him being close to 100 this week, I think he’ll be in really good shape going into next week and moving forward.

Should Tyler Warren be in the Heisman conversation?

“I stated it earlier in the year. I stated it tonight. I think Tyler Warren should be a part of all the conversations that deal with the best football player in college football. I don’t think it’s a question. And that’s all of those types of awards, including the Heisman.

On the play of Penn State QB Drew Allar

“I don’t think he gets talked about enough. He’s the same guy, that’s one of the things I love about him. His process doesn’t change. He works as hard as any quarterback I’ve been around. He’s a morning guy, so he’s there all the time early in the morning. The consistency that he’s played with over the last two years is impressive. At that position, I get it, at Penn State, at that position, there’s really high standards and expectations. He tends to probably hear the criticism. I’m not saying him,, but I’m just saying the position, probably hears the criticism more than the phrase. I think a lot of programs across the country would love to have Drew playing quarterback for them.

“[He was] 17 of 19 [against Purdue]. So efficient. And to me, it’s not just the three touchdowns and no interceptions. There’s not a lot of plays you can find on tape where you question his decision making or his accuracy. Some guys come up with no interception, but there’s two or three throws that he was fortunate, hey were fortunate not to get. You don’t see that in his play. I think his ability, I’ve talked about this a bunch this year, his ability to extend plays this year compared to last year, break tackles, I think it’s been meaningful for him and for us. But I think he’s playinggreally good football. I don’t know you guys would know this better than me.

“In a two year span, I think his numbers are as good as probably anybody in ourhistory. So obviously, a place a ton of history and tradition at that position. So a lot for him to be proud of. I know he’ll be back in the facility early tomorrow morning, back to work at it.

“So I feel comfortable saying these things, because I know it won’t affect him. He’s extremely hungry and he’s extremely driven. He wants to win for Penn State. He wants to win for the guys in the locker room, fans and the lettermen. Obviously, he wants to do it for his family and for himself. But I think those things, especially for himself, come way down the list for him. He wants to be successful, for everybody else, works really hard at it, and has a very humble and hungry approach.”

On the importance of getting the backups in early in the second half

“Really, really important,” Franklin said. “You look at our conference from top to bottom, I know everybody, all coaches, kind of get up talk about their conference, and they’re biased, but I think the metrics and the data speak about it. You look at our conference, the Big Ten and the SEC, I don’t think it’s even close. You better be ready week in and week out.

“I don’t think the staff and the players get enough credit for how hard that is. When I talk about staff, the assistants and the coordiantors, how hard it is to week in and week out to have your team ready to play. The players are really doing a great job with that. So are the assistant coache. You see some of these schools that maybe have one or two big games a year that they got to get up for. That’s different. So I’m proud of our guys and how they’re doing it, week in and week out. And again, we just want to get better.”

On Luke Reynolds’ first touchdown

“I think he’s got a really, really bright,” Franklin said. “I think he’s playing really well. A lot of guys like that. The ball hasn’t come his way a whole lot. And with what Tyler’s doing, I don’t know if it will. So when he gets an opportunity like that, or some of the receivers, it’s really cool to see him capitalize on it. I think he’s got a very bright future, and I think this is going to be extremely valuable. This year, getting the reps that he’s getting, also how Tyler Warren goes about his business.

“Tyler Warren’s putting a clinic on and he’s leaving a legacy. We talk about that all the time with our older players, about leaving a legacy, and it’s not just statistics. Talking about how you work every single day in practice, how you are in meetings. And one of the things that that I’m so proud of Tyler is, he’s a model when it comes to the media, and every question he get he’s redirecting the questions back to his teammates, whenever possible. So I can’t express how important that is for his development and what that’s going to mean for him in his future.”

Is James Franklin surprised by just how productive Tyler Warren has been?

“We’ve used them in this way in the past,” Franklin said. “It’s not like this is the first time we’ve done it. And I think I talked to you guys about what makes him probably more unique than most is, he checks a ton of boxes. So what I mean by that is, you may want to use a guy like this, but they don’t have the football IQ to handle lining up in all the different positions. The motion. The shifting. Being able to block like, God forbid, a tight end in today’s college football and sometimes the NFL, blocks. He does that too.

“I’ve said this before, but like even just being able to use a cadence. A lot of times you put a guy back there and you try to use a cadence, and they’re not comfortable doing it and it messes it up with the center and the rhythm is not right. Running a quarterback sneak under center, like sometimes in today’s college football, there’s some quarterbacks that haven’t taken that snap, let alone a tight end.

“So all of these things that he can do makes him valuable. A lot of times, when you use a guy like that, they can’t throw, but the fact that he can throw keeps the defense honest. Because if you just put him back there, it’s Wildcat quarterback, and they got every single person in the box, and that’s a totally different animal. And it’s much less challenging to defend.

“So all these little things that you could do with him, it is a headache. It is a headache. And that’s where putting all this stuff on film is really valuable.

“I also think, as you guys know, I’m a big proponent of is when we get our our other guys in the game, that they deserve a chance to play and play traditional football. So that was really valuable late in the game as well. But did I anticipate, or did I predict, us using him in this way? Yes. This level of success? I don’t know if I would necessarily say that. I thought he’d have a good year. Think he’s having one of the more special years that I can remember in my 30 years, specifically at that position. And again, I think he’s got to the point where this conversation exceeds just the position.”