Penn State's James Franklin holds Ohio State news conference

Penn State head coach James Franklin returns to the Beaver Stadium podium on Tuesday, this time in the wake of a White Out win over Minnesota.

The path forward won’t get any easier this week though as the Nittany Lions prepare to host Ohio State on Saturday afternoon.

Blue-White Illustrated’s Nate Bauer is posting live updates from the news conference inside The Lions Den forum. Click here to access those. Or, watch the press conference live, here.

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Follow our live updates, presented in reverse chronological order, here.

James Franklin press conference updates

(Updating in reverse chronological order.)

Press conference has ended at 1:08 p.m.

Questions in the room

On getting offseason wins. And wins right now: Is more than happy to talk about those things in the offseason. Most of them, you know. You’ve heard them enough and before. But again, right now, does not help Penn State or players beat Ohio State on Saturday. Not going to solve those problems before Saturday.

On reaction to Harbaugh comments: No, does not have any comment.

On “establishing the run”: Has always believed in balance. But also describes balance differently than a lot of people. It’s not a 50/50 split. It means you have the ability to, in most situations, be able to run or pass effectively. That’s the important thing and that puts you in position to set up for play action pass and things like that. Hasn’t talked about that as a philosophy of theirs. It’s having balance and diversity within the offense to do either and be able to play a style they have to with whatever the game dictates to be able to win. 

Years where they’ve bene explosive but couldn’t run the ball in four minute offense. That’s the hard part. The elite ones can do all of it.

On trying to replicate for secondary what Stroud can do: You can’t. When they build scout teams each week, you’re literally saying this guy should play him, and this guy should play him. But there’s not too many people in the country with a QB like that, let alone one on the scout team. That’s hard to pull off. That’s where you try to replicate what you can in practice, but also getting good on good work, which is helpful too. No way to completely replicate it.

On balance of games: It’s why they lean into the process they have because players are constantly being told, directly or indirectly, what’s a big game, what’s not, what’s a good win, what’s not. They try to avoid that as much as they possibly can and stay consistent with how they go about things. That can have a huge impact. Making games too big based on what you’re being told. Or, overlooking someone else. So just try to lean into the process. 

They recognize what it is. Not putting your heads in the sand or sitting here trying to deceive them or send them on a path not as real and accurate. Recognize it for what it is and then get back to process of what it takes to be successful. Over his time through his career, that’s what he’s found to be the best process.

It’s magnified in today’s college football, specifically the way the playoff is structured and at a place like Penn State, it’s different.

On value of Manny Diaz’s aggressiveness in a game like this: Doesn’t view it the way it’s being communicated. Look at Iowa, and you could say they play the way described, and they create as many turnovers as anyone in the country. It depends on your style and what you like in terms of how it’s built and called. But to the point, challenging routes more. Balls getting broken up. Forcing QB to hold the ball longer. More sacks and pressures and things like that. There’s a lot of ways to do it and be successful on offense, defense and special teams. Have been successful both ways. But really just comes down to preference. Prefers good defense, good offense and special teams. However you get to it, you get to it. Can be based on coordinators’ personality, but also personnel and how you have some flexibility in system to tweak it. But what’s great at the end of the day is the way Manny wants to play and they want to play matches up with their personnel right now, so that helps.

On importance of turnovers in a game like this: It’s important every week. One of the most important stats in football. That, and explosive plays. To the point, the bigger the game, quote unquote, those stats are magnified. Turnovers and explosive plays are magnified because the margin of error is smaller. It’s magnified in games like this.

On Abdul Carter and having longterm legs: It really depends on who you play. If you look around college football and the NFL, most people aren’t playing with three linebackers on the field because offenses are throwing the ball. All based on what they need to do to get best players on the field, but also based on the matchup, scheme and personnel they’re playing.

On confidence in secondary against Ohio State: Not sure about it because point is you can make argument the strength of defense is in the secondary. There is a lot of confidence in them and they’ll be needed. But also knows Ohio State is talented enough up front and at RB and TE, that if you put too much of an emphasis on it, they can beat you another way too.

End of the day, Stroud makes it go. He does a good job doing it. Throws on the run as well as from the pocket. Leading Heisman race for a reason. Talented guy they have respect for.

Questions via Zoom

On concerted effort to do what Ohio State does, and setting up roster to face other types of teams: It’s a fair question and one of the things that frustrates people, in general, that there are certain weeks you match up better with scheme or personnel. You may have an injury or two at a position against their strength. There are a lot fo things that factor into it. But that’s the challenge. You gotta be able to feel like you can line up and match up from skill and athleticism against Ohio State, and if you go to Big Ten Championship and play Wisconsin, that’s a very different animal to get ready for. You either need depth and versatility of personnel. No different than the teams that play from 4-2-5 shell. Playing with nickel predominantly on the field and then you face a team against smash mouth football, and you’ve never had three linebackers on the field. That made a ton of sense against Minnesota. That’s what they do. But that’s one of the subtle things that is challenging, especially in a conference in the Big Ten when you have a little more diversity of how people are built in the conference. A lot of conferences, people are all built similarly. You’re trying to build a team that can do both.

On offense doing best in tempo: When they’re in a rhythm, in games or practice, have had a ton of conversation about that and specifically, with Sean and receivers about it. But there’s also a fine line. If you go fast for a three-and-out, it puts D in more challenging position as well. 

Did a good job Saturday mixing. Mixing tempo, cadence, scheme, moving the pocket, run, play action pass, misdirection, trick plays. Had a really good mix of keeping them off balance and uncomfortable. Funny thing is, say you tweak a run scheme or run a reverse. Got six yards on reverse, but impact is much greater than that. People aren’t happy if it’s not explosive. But what it does is give coordinator something to be concerned about. And gives defenders, where safeties are involved in run support, pause. So now when you go back to normal runs, they don’t fit it the same way.

There’s a ton of value in that. That’s what they did best on Saturday.

On popularity of backup quarterback/anything about this situation different/unique to Penn State/not appreciating Sean?

Is spending all of his energy getting ready to play a really good Ohio State team. Is pouring all of his energy into loving and supporting his players and staff. And focusing on things that he can control and impact. That’s where all energy is focused on, supporting them. Focusing on getting ready for a really good Ohio State team on offense, defense, and special team. 

Isn’t spending any time on those things. Because, to be honest, isn’t sure how he can impact that.

On effectiveness of pass rush: It really depends. Things can skew that. If you’re just looking at stats and not necessarily basing it off the film, if you’re playing a team that runs the ball 90 percent of the time in how they’re built and wired, that impacts your stats, if you play someone throwing it every down, that does as well. Overall, ability to impact the QB has been good. Completion percentage against D, it’s not just from DBs. It’s pressure and making QB uncomfortable.

Would they like more sacks, TFLs? Yes. But in evaluating the whole picture, it’s been pretty good.

On steps to becoming elite said after ’18: A lot of things have changed since then. New president. New athletic director. That factors into all of this. Things within the program, from a development standpoint, facilities, nutrition, recruiting – all the things you talk about build a program, some areas have made significant progress in and others there is still work to do.

In a lot of ways, have taken some steps in the right direction, but there are still some areas that need to be resolved. That’s why he’s voiced over and over the excitement he has for the leadership in those two positions, and that’s with total respect and appreciation for the past as well.

On what he saw in practice last week/building momentum into this week: It needs to. Playing a really good opponent at home. Did some really good things to build on last week that they should have confidence from and build on. Need to get better all week. How they practice. How they coach. And it’s the same thing Saturday. Need to play better this weekend than they did last week. Gotta build on it, for sure.

Opening statement

Ohio State preview: They’ve been doing it for a long time. A ton of respect for them. Ton of weapons. Stroud leading for Heisman. Challenging through scheme and weapons they have. You could mention a ton of guys. 

Defense: Jim Knowles, they know very well. He actually visited Penn State years ago. Has done a really good job going in and being aggressive in terms of scheme, taking advantage of their personnel. They got guys at each level of the defense.

Was huge getting off the field on defense on third down and staying on the field on offense. Minnesota’s defense also No. 1 nationally, holding offenses to 22 percent. Penn State was 46 percent for the day.

Gotta get rid of pre and post snap penalties. Also had an unsportsmanlike conduct, post-whistle. Those are the big things.

Need to start fast on offense. That’s in practice, jog throughs, and obviously in games.

Very pleased with the entire organization and how they responded. P.J. Mustipher’s leadership and vocal presence all week in meetings and practice was important. He made a huge impact.

Played fast and aggressive.

Penn State Players of the game: Sean Clifford. Also Big Ten offensive player of the week. Pauses, dramatically, saying it. Special teams Dom DeLuca. Defense, Curtis Jacobs.

Thanks the fans for their support on Saturday. Need it again.

Offers thoughts to the family of Bani Gbadyu, former Penn State linebacker, who lost his battle with cancer over the weekend.