Watch James Franklin's Wednesday night's practice availability

We’re just three days out from Penn State’s biggest home game of the season, as 8-1 Michigan comes to town rank sixth in the nation in the College Football Playoff Poll.

Although the game is set for Noon ET, Penn State is set for a de facto White Out. The athletic department hopes to replicate Penn State’s famous all white helmets, with fans in section EE and WE asked to wear blue, while the rest of the stadium wears white.

As for the game itself, head coach James Franklin informed the media Wednesday that he’s hopeful that both linebacker Jesse Luketa and safety Jonathan Sutherland will be able to return for this weekend’s game against sitting out against Maryland.

Penn State fans can watch all 10 minutes of Wednesday night’s media scrum below. A complete transcript is provided below.

– On Jonathan Sutherland and Jesse Luketa

“Obviously, being able to practice isn’t always a final determination. Sometimes, it’s a game time decision.But, we’re hopeful to have those guys back.”

– What has James Franklin seen from Zuriah Fisher?

“He’s taking steps. He got a bunch of reps, which was which was great. We think he’s a talented guy. He just got to gain the experience at that position. Obviously, hasn’t played it in high school, so he’s gaining experience all the time and gaining confidence. We need to continue [with] some of those young guys gaining that experience and having some success to build on for the rest of the season and for future.”

– On Keyvone Lee being more decisive

“I think he has been a little bit more decisive. I also think we’ve gotten more push. I think we’re being more physical up front at the tight end position and the offensive line positions. But, I think that’s a fair assessment of Keyvone. We need him to play well on Saturday. We want to build on it. I think we made some pretty good steps. I think the other thing we have do is, we have to get some explosive runs. If you really look at our numbers, if we would have a few explosive runs a game, it would change things dramatically. I think that’s the next step for us.”

– On what’s preventing more explosive runs

“I think we have to break more tackles. We got to make people miss, and we got to have enough speed to be able to do it. There’s a lot of factors that go into it. Obviously, I think we can be a little bit better on the perimeter and our blocking as well. I think it’sall those things, but when we get one-on-one to safety, we got to be able to make them mess. That’s where the big plays happen.”

– Are you close to breaking more explosive plays?

“There’s been a few. Not as many as I would like.”

– On the offense’s balance recently

“Like I have stated in the past, I’m not really concerned about what some people’s definition of balance is, which is 50/50. What I want to be able to do is, throw it 75% of the time to win it, or be able to run it 75% of the time to win it, depending on what the game needs and what the game calls for. I wouldn’t necessarily say we’re able to do that right now. I think our strength is throwing the ball, but we got to continue to work on the other aspects so we’re able to do what I just explained.”

– On Landon Tengwell

“There’s a number of guys like that. Olu is in that conversation. Landon is in that conversation. Effner’s in that conversation. They have shown good things in practice. They’re locked in and involved. Obviously with [Tengwell] being still a true freshman, it’s a little bit different. We’d love to get those guys some experience, like them to use all four of their games that they have available if possible, and continue to create some depth at those positions and also create maybe a little bit more competition.”

– On what it takes for one running back to take the lead

“We need a few more big plays, we need some explosive runs where we’re breaking some tackles and making people miss. That will impact our overall running statistics and efficiency, and also I think give them a lot of confidence.”

– On Nick Tarburton

“He’s been great. Nick’s had a long journey here early on with battling different things that have popped up kind of throughout his career from a health perspective. He’s a mature guy. He’s a tough guy. I think you guys know, we have that like kind of Keystone Award, which is kind of the guy that’s kind of the glue behind the scenes, doing his job that maybe doesn’t get the fanfare, and he’s that guy for us.. Does his job. He’s physical. He’s able to get pressure on the quarterback on Saturday, got a holding call and some other things ,so, he’s very well respected in our program from the coaches and players.”

– On KeAndre Lambert-Smith

“He’s had some timely catches on drives where, maybe we’re in third down situation and he’s picked up the crucial third down that’s allowed us to go down the field and score a touchdown or whatever it may be. I still think there’s a lot of room for improvement with him. He’s had some opportunities he’s got to take advantage of, but I see him getting better in every way. I know Sean’s got a lot of confidence in him as well. I do think when people study us, it’s not a one man show.

“I feel like they respect those guys on the field. Obviously Parker’s shown some flashes and KeAndre is almost there, and we need him. I think he’s going to have one of those games at some point which he kind of has his breakout game, and then I think his confidence will skyrocket and go from there.”

– On importance of tackles for loss

“I think always an emphasis .I don’t know if it’s it’s specific this week, more than others. I think you obviously always want to get people off schedule, whether that is with sacks or whether that is with tackles for loss . You want get people off schedule, and that can put them into more of a predictable situation, which allows you to be more aggressive in your calls to attack whatever situation it may be based on the sticks. So, I think it’s always important, something that we always try to emphasize as much as we possibly can. But I understand your point when you’re playing a team like Michigan that really wants to establish the run. It’s magnified.”

– Where is the program on 0 to 100 scale?

“I don’t know if I can put a percentage on it without spending some time kind of thinking about that. But, I think you guys have heard me talk for a long time really, really since I’ve arrived here, about alignment, and about competing 365 days a year. I think that’s critical for us that. That has to happen. I know the people in that building are doing it. I know the players are doing it. I know the coaches are doing, but we have to compete in everything. Obviously, college football, you guys know this as well as I do. It is literally competitive and a fist fight 365 days a year and that’s how you have to approach it.”

– What do you need?

“I’d prefer to talk about Michigan. I don’t want to go on a tangent talking about these other things. I’d like to talk about Michigan if possible.”

– Does playing an experienced QB change how you play on defense?

“Having an experienced quarterback is extremely valuable. I mean, you think about the organizations in the NFL that have had a franchise quarterback for a long period of time. They’ve usually had sustained success, right? And I think an experienced quarterback in college, it’s the same way, Sean allows us to do some things based on the things that he’s seen and the things he’s done. Obviously, the change in offense, that probably takes a little bit of some of those advantages away, but he’s still played a bunch of football for us. He’s been in a bunch of situations, and a bunch of two minute drives, four minute drives, comebacks, blowouts, whatever it may be.

“There’s experience that comes with that and certain pressures, certain looks, certain defensive coordinators, he’s gained all those experiences. There’s a bunch of value in that also during the week, they may pick up something on film that you haven’t seen, and they have an idea from the game plan perspective. I think all those things are valuable. I think the other thing is, how they work in the offseason with the other players. How they watch film during the season, whether it’s o-line and going over protections against your opponent that week, or whatever route combinations you need to make sure everybody’s on the same page. And then obviously with Mike, Mike’s a creative guys so we typically have a decent amount of new things in each week. And that helps with that too.”

– On Michigan running backs

“You got two different body types, obviously. [Hassan] Haskins is the bigger, more physical guy, but I would say that [Blake Corum] is explosive and he’s more powerful than you think, although he’s an undersized guy. They do a really good job of getting the extra yards and falling forward. They’re also used in the passing game, and do a good job out of the backfield, or even from empty formations as well. They do a really good job keeping those guys involved. They’re very, very productive backs, and like we’ve stated earlier, they’re committed to running the ball. They got two good backs that everybody in the league respects.”