Oct. 13, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Head coach James Franklin spent time with the media on Tuesday to preview Penn State's trip to No. 1 Ohio State.
The Nittany Lions (5-1, 2-0) and Buckeyes (6-0, 2-0) will meet in a primetime matchup (8 p.m. on ABC) inside Ohio Stadium on Saturday. Franklin reviewed Penn State's 29-7 win over Indiana and looked ahead to the first Big Ten road game on the schedule.
Behind another dominant effort from the Nittany Lion defense, Penn State reached the mid-point of the 2015 season with its fifth-straight victory. The Lions are one of only 28 teams in the country with five or more wins. Additionally, the Nittany Lions are now 2-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 2012. With all that in mind, Coach Franklin pointed to one thing as a crucial part of the team's success.
"I think a statistic that really has a big impact in those things so far is we're eighth in the country in turnover margin," Franklin said. "We preach that all the time, the importance of that statistic. I think that's been huge in our development and our opportunities to be successful."
The Nittany Lion offense is No. 6 in the country in fewest turnovers committed. Penn State has lost just four turnovers through the first six weeks of the season. The turnover battle will again be at the forefront when the Nittany Lions face their toughest test of the season on the road against the No. 1 Buckeyes.
"I think we'll learn a lot this week," said Franklin. "We'll learn a lot Saturday. I think we're resilient. I think we're resilient. I think we have found ways to be successful each week, different ways of doing it. We're getting better, like every team in the country. You're finding ways to hide some of your deficiencies or weaknesses and play to your strengths, and we're doing a better job of that each week."
In a hostile environment, Penn State is preparing for a stiff test under the lights on Saturday, but Coach Franklin sees the challenge as a great opportunity.
"I think every day we're getting closer as a team," said Franklin. "We're getting a better understanding of how to work together and how to complement one another, but Saturday will obviously be a real challenge. The way we look at it is a tremendous opportunity."
Communication will be a point of emphasis throughout the week as the team preps for a noisy environment at The Horseshoe. Ensuring that everyone is on the same page before each snap is paramount every week, but it's magnified when playing a team like Ohio State on the road.
"It'll be a hostile environment Saturday night. Communication is everything," said Franklin. "...It's the defense being able to communicate. If you get into these offenses and they're look-look offenses, which means they get up to the line of scrimmage, they use a false cadence, they look to the sideline, they've seen what kind of defense you're in."
There's a general excitement level around the Lasch Football Building about preparing for this week's trip to Ohio State. The Nittany Lions are embracing the opportunity to play against the No. 1 team in the nation. A Penn State team has only played a No. 1 team just five times in the past 25 years.
"It's awesome. It's a unique challenge," said linebacker Jason Cabinda. "That's why we came here, to be in big games against the No. 1 team in the nation. I think it's a unique challenge. It's something we're very excited about. It's going to be a great environment over there, and it's something we're going to be able to overcome and be 1-0 this week, and that's what we're going to do. We're going to prepare this week as hard as we can so we can be 1-0 at the end of the week."
The Nittany Lions will practice in pads on Tuesday and Wednesday before the final game week session on Thursday. Penn State will travel to Columbus on Friday. Saturday's game will kick at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Press Conference Notes:
- Coach Franklin announced that Christian Hackenberg (Offense), Austin Johnson and Carl Nassib (Defense) and Jordan Dudas (Special Teams) were the internal players of the week following the victory over Indiana.
- Chance Sorrell is the lone Nittany Lion on the roster from the state of Ohio. Coach Franklin mentioned that fact during the press conference as he discussed the importance of recruiting.
"If you look back historically at Penn State, we've had some great players from the state of Ohio, so that's something that we're obviously looking at and want to do a better job there. It's an area that we would consider in our footprint, and like I said earlier, there's been a lot of good players coming from the state of Ohio who've had great careers at Penn State. We want to make sure that we're continuing to do a good job there."
- Coach Franklin on limiting Ohio State's big-play opportunities:
"You look at Ohio State, a lot of their scoring in the second half are big plays. Their tailback, it seems like every game he has two or three runs of 60 yards or more. So being able to stop the big plays if something is really important - I think you guys remember last year going into the Indiana game, their running back had rushed for over 100 yards 10 straight games, had big runs, and we were able to help there. That's something our defense has done a good job. We put a huge priority on it every single week, creating big plays with our offense, stopping big plays with our defense, and that's going to be really important this week because they are fast. They are fast at wide out. They are fast at running back. They are big and physical on the offensive line."