Penn State Football
James Franklin Postgame Press Conference
vs. Iowa – November 21, 2020
James Franklin | Head Coach
Opening Statement
A: First of all, I've got to give Iowa credit. Coach Ferentz has been doing it for a long time; much respect. The other story of the game is you can't turn the ball over. And that's been the story of the season, turnovers. Four turnovers by us and one by our opponent. You can't turn the ball over and when you have opportunities to get turnovers you've got to get them. That is the story of the game. That is the story of this season. We got in this situation together; we're going to get out of this situation together. Give Iowa credit. We've got to get these things corrected, we've got to get these things fixed, but the story of the game and the story of the season is turnovers.
On Pat Freiermuth's season-ending surgery
A: I want to update you guys on Pat Freiermuth. He's going to have season-ending surgery next week for an injury suffered during the Ohio State game. The injury prevented Pat from playing at a high level and without pain, which led to the decision of surgery that his family and we made this week. He's going to remain with the team for the rest of the season. I wanted you guys to be aware of that.
Q: I don't think anyone would argue that you haven't done some great things for this program, but I've just got to ask what you would say to the fans based on the product that's been put out there this year.
A: Yeah, it's not good enough. There's obviously a lot of circumstances going on this year, but none of that matters at the end of the day. We've got to find a way to play good football and we have not done that. So I get it. I get the hard question.
Q: Can you take us through the fourth-and-2 call near the end of the first half? What was the decision making there? That seemed to be every bit as pivotal maybe as a turnover. And what did you think of the play that actually unfolded?
A: I'm doing everything I possibly can to inject some confidence and inject some momentum in the offense to try to get us going. Now obviously when you don't pick it up, and they're able to go down and score, it's obviously a critical play. I don't disagree. But if we pick it up we have an opportunity to move down the field and hopefully get some points before the end of the half. But, when you don't pick it up, I understand what your point is. It's not just about the decision, it's about the execution. We didn't execute and ended up giving up a big touchdown right before the end of the half.
Q: How concerning is it when both of your quarterbacks have given the ball over? And who is that guy moving forward? Will you give (Ta'Quan) Roberson a shot at this point?
A: Yeah, it is a concern. It is a concern; there's no doubt about it. We'll continue to work with those guys each week. Roberson has not been available, Devyn Ford wasn't available, (Zack) Kuntz wasn't available, Pat (Freiermuth) wasn't available, (Tariq) Castro-Fields wasn't available and (Charlie) Katshir wasn't available either. So that that wasn't really an option for us today.
Q: How do you go about keeping this team together for these next four games, and are you concerned about losing them?
A: Yeah, most importantly, we've got to stick together as a family and as a team and stay positive. We're being challenged right now. We've had to learn how to handle success, and now we're having to learn how to handle adversity. And it's even more challenging when they don't have the normal support system around them that they normally would have. And that's all of us, but we've got to stay together as a family closer than we've ever been and find a way through this.
Q: The third-and-1 with the fumble between Levis and I think it was Keyvone Lee, did that play change your confidence in the play calling on short-yardage situations going forward?
A: Yeah, I think everything has an effect; there's no doubt about it. Everything kind of impacts your perception of what's going on and how you're going to call the game. It all has an effect and it factors into your decision making. I don't think there's any doubt about that. But we've got to be better. We've got to be better in those situations. We've got to run the ball when everybody knows you're going to run the ball. We've got to be creative when we need to be creative. We need to execute, and we're responsible for all that.
Q: We've now seen Kirk Ciarrocca's offense with two different starting quarterbacks through five games. What is your assessment of what that move has meant for this Penn State offense in five games with Kirk Ciarrocca and do you see positive strides anywhere? If so, where are they?
A: We're not playing well enough in all three phases, offense, defense and special teams. We're not playing well enough in any of them. We've had times in the past where we have struggled or started slow on offense and our defense has played well, or vice versa, or our special teams has come through for us. We're not doing it really in all three areas.
Q: After last week in Nebraska, do you think your offensive line took a step backward and you thought you'd be able to run the ball better tonight, short yardage especially?
A: We knew running the ball against this team was going to be difficult; it always is. We've always had challenges running the ball against this crew, and most people do. But we wanted to stay on schedule. The one drive with Will we were able to do that mixing the run in there and quick game, but we weren't able to do it consistently enough. And it can't just be with the quarterback.
Q: It just seems like one thing after another keeps going against you, now with Pat (Freiermuth) and Devyn (Ford) today. What is the morale of the team when they have to constantly keep dealing with one huge bit of adversity after another?
A: It's really been like that all year long, and it's been challenging. There's no doubt about it. But again, this is kind of where we're at and this is what we're dealing with. We've got to find a way through it. We've got to be creative and we have to be efficient. We've got to make sure that we're doing a great job with all the details. But yeah, we're out a number of guys and have been out a number of guys since the beginning of the season or in preseason. But at the end of the day, the guys that we put on the field, we've got to put them in position to be successful and we've got to find way fundamentally to help them.
Q: What was it that made you try (Sean) Clifford and what did you think about his overall performance today?
A: The whole reason for the change was the turnovers. We made the change to go with Will and did some good things with the quarterback running game and some of the stuff with how he was managing it. But then we started to turn the ball over again, and the whole reason for the change was turnovers. So, I felt like we had to do something, to go back to Sean. It initially helped us, but then the turnovers came back again.