Tuesday Roundup: Penn State vs. Minnesota
No. 5 Penn State heads to Minneapolis, Minnesota for a Big Ten cross-divisional matchup with No. 13 Minnesota. Saturday's game marks the 15thGovernor's Victory Bell clash, with head coach James Franklin owning a 1-0 record over the Golden Gophers during his time in Happy Valley. Penn State and Minnesota are two of seven remaining unbeaten FBS programs. Here's what we learned from Tuesday's press conference with head coach James Franklin, running back Journey Brown and defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos.
Handling the Bye Week
Penn State is coming off its second open week of the season as they shift their attention towards undefeated Minnesota. With the coaching staff spending much of last week recruiting, several student-athletes sought after ways to actively recover and continue pushing towards the task at hand.
"We had practice and stuff the whole week. So, I did a lot of regen and got in the tubs and got massages and stuff, took care of my body," running back Journey Brown said on Tuesday. "I went home, saw my mom, my little sister and a lot of my friends. It was good. Got like re-booted physically and mentally."
Defensive tackle Yetur Gross-Matos added: "I was actually here all weekend. I just spent a lot more time in the film room with my teammates and the recovery beds, taking advantage of having that chance to get some rest."
Penn State knocked off Maryland 59-0 following its first open week of the season.
Program Success
Over the course of head coach James Franklin's tenure, Penn State holds a 53-21 record. A powerful mark that Franklin acknowledged during Tuesday's press conference.
"To be honest with you, I don't know if it's talked about enough in my opinion to think about how far we have come in the last eight years. It's remarkable. To me, it's not talked about enough," Franklin stated. "It's interesting, as we went out and did some trips this summer, went and visited some people, and even our own people, you kind of sit down and you say, you know, bullet point one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, of what we have been able to do in the last six years and what we have been able to do specifically in the last three years and people are like, I wouldn't have known that if you didn't tell me.So, we probably could do a little bit better job of that. We've got a pretty amazing story that we should be very proud of, but again, all that stuff is wonderful, and we'd better go 1-0 on Saturday."
1-0 Mentality
When asked about the culture and the 1-0 mentality within his program, head coach James Franklin quickly alluded getting buy-in from the top, down. "I think as young people, you think there's only one way to do things in. My 48 years, I realize there's a lot of ways to be successful. It's a lot of different styles from a leadership standpoint. There's a lot of different ways to get it done. This is the way that we choose to do it because it aligns with my personality and my leadership style and we try to ingrain it into the players as well," Franklin discussed during his weekly press conference. "The reality is, you can have these philosophies all you want, but you'd better live them. You'd better ingrain them and then you also better be willing to change. The guys that we're coaching now in the locker room are very different than the guys when I first got here, are very different than the guys at Vanderbilt, are very different than the guys when I first got into this profession. Our society has changed. The guys have changed in how you motivate and how you educate is important. I think we're in a good place. I don't think guys are reciting things. I mentioned to you guys early on that I thought we were memorizing the core values; we weren't really living them. I think we're doing that."
While other programs express similar mentalities, you would be hard pressed to find a culture that fully embodies the approach as much as Penn State.
"Me personally, it just takes a lot of stress off you. You don't have to worry about the future. You don't have to worry about what happened before," running back Journey Brown stated. "You focus on what's coming up, and what you've got to do, you know. That 1-0 mentality, I bought into that when I first got here. It just kind of is my own type of method, focus on the now, worry about the other stuff later."
Game Information
No. 5 Penn State hits the road its fourth road game of the season. The Nittany Lions hold an 8-0 record for the fourth time since joining the Big Ten in 1993. The game can be found on ABC or the Penn State Sports Network starting at noon (ET). Check out @PennStateFball following the game for exclusive interviews and more.