Live updates: James Franklin postgame press conference
Penn State head coach James Franklin is meeting with reporters following his Nittany Lions’ 44-7 win over Maryland on Saturday evening.
Follow our live updates from Franklin’s postgame press conference, here:
James Franklin postgame press conference updates
(Page does not refresh automatically. Updates appear in reverse chronological order. Press conference has ended at 7:35 p.m.)
Postgame handshake:
11/30/2024 06:34:36 PM
His job is to put threes and fours in the game. But when they go in the game, they deserve to play football. Your ones are in the game. You’re trying to score. They’re trying to score. They’re playing cover zero. So is good with it. And on top of that, there is also a change in college football. We are trying to play as long as possible, make playoffs, and be seeded as high as possible. Scoring and point differential matters. If you don’t get that, not his problem. Is good with it. Anyone that’s not, that’s their problem.
Learning about this team bouncing back from Ohio State loss, this month:
11/30/2024 06:33:07 PM
What a lot of people don’t understand is, it’s hard. Especially with expansion of the conferences. Most competitive Big Ten there has ever been. To have your team ready to play week in and out, it is difficult to do and it doesn’t happen often. You watch the highlights around college football, it’s not happening. This team finding a bunch of ways to win, blowouts, comebacks, overcoming adversity, winning from D, O, ST. When you play this many games, and these opponents, you have to find ways to get it done. Might not always be pretty, but that’s the beauty in it. Proud of the guys. Proud of everyone in that locker room because everyone played a role in it. So appreciative of managers, equipment people, student managers, trainers, D squad, grounds people. New sod in the stadium. All this stuff matters and adds up. Pat Kraft and leadership willing to fight for the program, which hasn’t happened in the past. Neeli Bendapudi, Michael Wade Smith, Matt Schuyler. Everyone deserves credit. You don’t win 11 games in this type of conference without everyone playing a role. Even the media. It all adds up.
Tyler Warren:
11/30/2024 06:30:00 PM
He’s a beast. And the point is, everyone goes into the game saying they can’t allow 44 to impact the game. The same as they went into the game saying that about Felton this game. Should bring the Mackey Award to him tonight. Put it on a private jet. And then get an invite to New York. He’s a bigtime player and all eyes on him to stop him. Done it week in and week out. His humility is impressive. He’s a stud.
Penn State defensive growth:
11/30/2024 06:28:26 PM
Again, they focus on things they can control in Beaver Stadiumn and Lasch Building. If you’re going to ride the wave of emotion and passion of fans and sometimes media, you’ll drive yourself crazy. Have been doing this long enough to not do that. Have a history at Penn State on defensive side of the ball, way before him. Every DC here that he has had has had a top 10 defense. That’s a credit to those men and their leadership. Telling about culture of the program. Playing really well on offense, defense, and special teams. Gotta get field goal protection cleaned up. Have some moving parts with injuries. But overall, pretty good. Barker a quiet story. No one wants to talk about FG kicker until he misses something. But he’s been good in that spot.
Tyseer Denmark touchdown:
11/30/2024 06:26:11 PMHe’s a confident guy and importantly, a tough guy, which they put a premium on. Proud of him. Can be a punt returner, can play Z, slot receiver. Talented and excited for his future. Good for threes and fours against their ones to have some success.
Emotion of senior day:
11/30/2024 06:25:21 PM
It’s an emotional day for him. You’re with these guys for four, five, six years. Good and bad. A coach that loves them hard and coaches them hard and holds them accountable. Not always puppies and rainbows. TO think of the journeys with some of these guys, it’s a lot. With opportunity to play in Indy for Big Ten championship is pretty cool. Would be emotional either way, but cool cherry on top.
Knowing Ohio State score:
11/30/2024 06:23:54 PMThey knew but said nothing to the team. Wanted to keep the team focused. Maybe that’s why the game started how it did. Control what you can. Needed to win and play well. A lot of eyes on these games. Looking at stats, important. Fighting to keep this fam together as long as possible. Wins, stats do that. How it looks. All those things matter. Played for four quarters and fight til the end. Do what they had to do to be in best position to continue season as long as possible with best seed as possible.
Ohio State implications
11/30/2024 06:22:29 PMHad to just beat Maryland and get better. Did that today. Played a ton of guys today. Played threes and fours against their ones, who played entire game. Important for their development. Not as clean as they’d like. But that was really good work.
Opening statement
11/30/2024 06:14:52 PM
Thanks fans for showing up and supporting. Big game, big win. The fans and students that came back into town to support, they really appreciate it.
Overall, the game didn’t start how they wanted. Sloppy on offense and defense. After that, very pleased. Won takeaway battle. Three turnovers, and really five because they had two fourth-down stops. Explosives. Third downs. Sacks. Field position. Won all. Lost penalty battle. And won middle eight. All impactful stats and did a great job.
Overall, found a way to get another win. If you study college football, it’s hard to win consistently. The fact that their guys found a way to win 11 times this season in the regular season, proud of them.
Told them in the locker room bad news/good news. Bad news is they were supposed to have off tomorrow. Don’t have it off tomorrow. Back to work tomorrow morning. Enjoy it for a couple of hours and get to work.
