Penn State Football
James Franklin Postgame Press Conference
vs. Auburn – September 18, 2021
Penn State Head Coach James Franklin
Opening Statement
"First of all, I want to give Auburn tons of credit. I thought they came in here and played extremely well. I thought their quarterback played extremely well. I thought they managed the environment pretty well on the road. I want to thank you guys for always coming out and supporting and covering Penn State football. We appreciate that. The things that probably jumped out, like I talked about each week, we tied in a turnover battle. And really the one interception we had was almost like a punt. But we did tie the turnover battle. We won the penalty battle — that's a whole other story for another day. The explosive play battle, we won that as well. So a lot of positives coming out of today. Coming out of there, I thought we played really good complimentary football. Our offense scored enough points to win and we created some explosive plays. I think we can be a little bit more efficient in the running game. I think we can improve there. We protected well, I thought Sean Clifford managed the game really well. Defensively, we bend but don't break. And we, for the most part, keep people out of the end zone, and we make big time plays at critical moments. Jaquan Brisker continues to show up. I thought, I don't know if anybody's talking about it, but the tackle on the sideline, the game-saving tackle by defensive tackle Derek Tangelo was a huge play. So, I'm going to show that over and over in a team meeting room. And then special teams: I thought we were really good tonight -- the field position, punting, the punt at the end of the game. You would have loved to end it on our terms by getting a first down and kneeling on the ball. We had to make a decision to take another shot to Jaquan like we did. But if you don't get the interference call, you don't complete it when the clock stops, and then I'll have to burn a timeout. So I thought it was the right decision, especially the way we're playing defense right now. So overall, it's a great win. We're 1-0. We'll enjoy it for a little bit, and then we'll get up in the morning and start all over.
Q: James, you mentioned the red zone defense. Is there something different going on this year that they just have more confidence? And how much is that something that can build on itself? You did it really well against Wisconsin and then in this game.
A: It is what it is and I understand that, but I would I would hope when you guys make comparisons, you're making comparisons to the body of our work. And I think the body of our work's been pretty good. I think we have a really good mentality on defense. I think our leadership is really good. I think we're a mentally tough football team. I think we're a physically tough football team. We give up some yards, but we make critical plays when it matters most. And we're able to either get turnovers or hold people to field goals more times than not. What I love is even on extra points and field goals, we're almost blocking everyone. I think that's a really good sign of a football team. That and you watch kickoff, when that ball's kicked, everybody's right on the line and sprinting down the field. There's just really good evidence of disciplined football that I see in a lot of different areas that I'm proud of and we got to build on.
Q: James, that sequence where they seemed to take a place away from you, did you communicate with the officials?
A: I talked to all of them. They all agreed on the call and so did the replay. They all agreed. And I kept bringing them over and saying it's not accurate. I don't know what else I can tell you, but they all concurred with the officials. They got the headset, they talked to each other, they all agreed. They ran it by replay, they agreed as well. I don't know what else I can do or what else I can say.
Q: Three games is only three games, but you have a win against Wisconsin and a win tonight. What have you learned about your team through this portion of the season?
A: I think we got a tough-minded football team. You know, going on the road at Wisconsin which is a tough place to play. We found a way to gut out a win there and we were able to do that again tonight against a good football team—they have a veteran quarterback who's played well for them, the running back is as good as we'll see. I thought they handled the environment well, but I think we have found ways to win different ways week one, week two, week three. Obviously being tested early in the season like this, I think is going to be good and helpful. And we just going to have to build on it from there. But I'm pleased with where our football team is right now. The good thing is, we're going to go in on Sunday, and we're going to coach the heck out of this, all this film and the corrections. And really, if your processes are right, it shouldn't matter what the result was. There's a lot of things that we can get cleaned up and should get cleaned up, and good football teams do that while they're winning. They don't need a setback to do it.
Q: Offensive line play was at a premium tonight. What did you think about someone that plays guys neat? I mean, it seemed like Caden Wallace and Rasheed Walker on the ends they were able to clear guys through. And then of course pass blocking was outstanding tonight. I mean, what can you say about those guys?
A: I thought they played really well. I thought if you made a little bit of a statement early in the game when Sean was back there for like 12 seconds, scanning the field and I thought it was really good on Sean too because I think in years past, he may have stepped up in the scramble when he didn't need to. They did a really good job feeling the pocket. They made a play on the sideline, another thing I thought Sean did a really good job of. When he did scramble, his eyes went to the sideline. How many times do you see quarterbacks scramble and they look back to the middle of the field? Every once in a while, you can get a big play there, but more times than not, it's going to come back to hurt you. So, I thought that was positive. Again, I think we could be a little bit more efficient in the running game. But I thought we were able to protect well tonight against a defense I think I can run.
Q: What can you say about the tight end group?
A: I think our tight ends had 130 yards as a group. I don't want that to be a one-week on, one-week off. I think we have a really talented tight end group. We want to keep them involved. It's really difficult when you have receivers making plays, you have tight ends making plays, you're able to run the ball, we've got that type of balance. I'm not talking about run and pass bounce. I'm talking about distributing the ball to a number of different playmakers, that helps. So that's a room that we believe in, we think is super talented. And we want to keep those guys involved as much as we possibly can.
Q: What happened on the P.J. Mustipher play?
A: It was a fun play to try. I enjoyed it. Yeah, that was the plan. Fourth-and-one, we were going to go for it. I wanted to go for it in that way. We were going to go for it. I wanted to go for it that way. We've been repping that for a long time, PJ's been great at it. I think it all comes down to 'when did you think forward progress ended?' That's another one. That was a tough one. But we're going to continue working on those things. I want to keep people honest. I think you have to take on a certain amount of risks in games like that to try to swing momentum. It obviously didn't go our way. But while we're playing defense the way we are, I think you can take some of those risks.
Q: You sprung some surprise plays. Were you kind of gearing for this game, the atmosphere and whatnot?
A: No, according to Kris, you guys like the ones early in the game that worked. You didn't like the ones late in the game that didn't, according to the Twitter-verse. So, I get it. Everybody likes the ones that work and the other ones they stink, trying to get too cute. But we want to be diverse. We want to keep people on their heels. Obviously, there's an aspect you want to be able to just hammer it, when you need to whether it's in the low, low red zone or whether that is on short-yardage situations. But I also think about things like the double pass, it creates hesitation. They get concerned and they don't run downhill as fast as they could. Even just getting the play where we were going to throw the ball out of the Wildcat formation. I think it's going to give people some concerns and hesitation, hopefully it will help us down the road.
Q: Sean Clifford was in different places tonight, he had some explosive plays, but also seem to take up a defensive spirit. How do you think he played tonight?
A: I thought he managed the game really well. He's taken some criticism, so I'm super happy for him. Tough-minded guy, he's physically tough. He made the plays that he should have made today. But I also thought he made a couple plays, the play that he extended and threw it in the back of the end zone. I thought that was big time play. I'm really proud of him. I'm really happy for him. His preparation should lead to this. That's not how the world works. Life isn't fair. But for him right now, his preparation is leading towards success and I'm really happy for him. He is a great example for our program.
Q: When you talk about making decisions easier, what is your thought process?
A: Obviously, we talk about these things beforehand. But then actually on the headset, I'll flip over and ask Brent Pry his opinion because if it doesn't work, he's going to have to be comfortable with it. It's not the end all be all, but I always want to get his perspective. I click over, see what he thinks. A lot of it, obviously, is how we are playing on defense and I think we have a damn good punter. So all those things factor into it. As you know, the analytics people think you should go for a fourth and one from your own one-yard line. But we're going to be aggressive when we think it's the right thing to do.