Penn State Football
Head Coach James Franklin
Postgame Press Conference
vs. Michigan State – October 13, 2018
Opening Statement
First of all, I want to thank the fans for coming out and supporting us each week. They have been unbelievable, I think there was 106,000 people at the game. Getting into the game, we had a chance to put away a proud program and a good program and a very good football coach. We had a chance to put them away several times on offense, on defense, and on special teams and we didn't do it. We let them stay in the game. They were able to run the ball especially on first down which hurt us. They hadn't really been able to do that consistently all year long. They were able to get into second and six, second and five, second and four situations too often.
For the fake punt, we could not have worked on fakes more than we did all week long. The one obviously on the fake field goal was a huge play but the one on the punt we had a guy in position to do his job, he started running out for the punt return and by the time he recovered it was way too late. We knew it, and we couldn't have worked it more. Obviously, we need to work it more but we spent a lot of time on all of those fakes and critical situations in the game.
We ran the ball well against a team that hadn't been giving up more than 33 yards per game but we weren't able to throw the ball well against a team that had been giving up a bunch of yards all year long. We weren't able to protect consistently. We when needed to run when it mattered most in the four-minute offense, we were able to get them to burn two timeouts but we weren't able to get the first down and put the game away on our terms. We had an opportunity to do that and we didn't do it.
I was told on the lateral play, by the officials during the game and by people after the game that the rule says that if the arm is going forwards, whether the ball goes backwards or not it's an incomplete pass. That doesn't make sense to me. From the time I was in little league, if the ball is going backwards it is a lateral. So, it went from second and twenty to second and ten. A huge play in the game, I'm not questioning. I'm just saying from my perspective, it doesn't make sense to me. From the beginning of time, since I was in 65-pound football at Assumption CYO, if you throw the ball backwards it's a lateral. It was a big play in the game.
Overall, we have to give Michigan State credit. We didn't do what we needed to do to win the game. We lost in too many critical situations. We won the drive start battle, and were even in turnovers which we can't be even in turnovers. We put the ball on the ground way too much. The ball can not be left on the inside arm. We had a fumble where the ball was in the inside arm and they had blown the progress dead, so that's never a play that can be overturned. We didn't need to get up and snap the ball quick. If they blow the play dead it's over, that's not a reviewable play. Either way, the ball cannot be on the inside arm, it must be towards the sideline. That's something we've coached since day one. Whether you get hurt or nicked up or not you can't drop the ball. We have to protect the ball at all times.
Then penalties, they only had three and we had six for forty-one. Obviously, the one on the goal-line stand. Our goal-line stand was as good as it gets, and then we give it to them with a penalty. We lost the explosive play battle, we lost the penalty battle, we were even in turnovers and we won field position by a couple of yards. You don't win that way when you don't put people away and you don't win the critical stats.
Q: Amani [Oruwariye] has made some really big plays for you, but it looked like he was emotional after the game. What do you say to a kid like that in that type of situation?
A: I love Amani. He's made huge play after huge play after huge play for our program and will continue to do that. I love Amani, and I wouldn't trade him for anybody. Richard Sherman is a great player but I wouldn't trade for him for Amani Oruwariye. Same thing I told the players in the locker room, we get great support here. I wanted to make sure that every single one of those players knew, whether they have had it in their lives before or not, they got it from me; unconditional love no matter what. They are stuck with me for the next fifty years. I love Amani Oruwariye and I love all of our guys. We'll get closer from this and we'll get stronger from this. We're going to stick together. We have great fans here, so I know they will stick with our guys as well but I love Amani and I always will. I wanted our team and our players to know that whether they've experienced unconditional love in their lives or not, they have it from me and the coaching staff and they'll have it forever.
Q: Every game and situation is different, but for as much progress as this program has made, this is now five losses by a combined 12 points and you've had the lead in the fourth quarter of all of those games. What would you say to the people who are pointing to that as a major obstacle for the program before to take the next step?
A: I think we need to find ways, but we have won a bunch of games all the way back to year one in fourth quarters with situational football. We've lost some, obviously here, late in the last two, there's no doubt about it. But, for everyone that you've shown me that we've lost, I can show you example after example of ones that we've won like that. Obviously, all you can focus on right now is the present. What happened out there today, I get that, we've got to be able to finish. We've got to be able to finish on offense, defense, special teams, all three phases and we didn't do that today. I'd rather be in situations, although they are painful, I'd rather be in a situation where you've lost five games by 12 points than other places that are trying to figure out how to not lose games by larger margins. Our margin of error is small, our margin of defeat is small and we've got to get all those little things corrected. Same way that I saw today, there are things that are showing up on Saturday, that we do not do during the week. We need to make sure that we are approaching Sunday through Friday game-like. If we do something all week long and then on Saturday, we do it different, and then we've got to get those things corrected.
Q: Two-part question: Why were you unable to throw the ball downfield until the fourth quarter and secondly, you said this week that the team had its best practice of the year, were they ready mentally for this game?
A: Obviously, after seeing the results the first thing you question is did we get over the loss from the previous game? Obviously, you're going to question that. I didn't see signs of that during the week, during our preparation. But, let's be honest that was an emotional game, so I think we need to question that and I think we need to look at that. I don't think there is any doubt about it. I think we had some times early on in the game, I think you saw the one play Trace [McSorley] goes to throw the ball, pulls it back and throws right into the lineman. We didn't run the route we've been running all week long, all week long. We've had opportunities, but you've got to be able to make those opportunities. But, on offense, defense and special teams we've got a few mistakes and a few mistakes end up losing a game like that. We've got to get those mistakes cleaned up, there's no doubt about it. We're making too many of them that are self-inflicted.
Q: Are other teams starting to take Trace from the run or are you guys relying too much on him trying to make something happen with his feet and on the play where he ran out of bounds, I'm guessing you did not want that?
A: I think the issue isn't necessarily the running with Trace today, because this team again they only gave up 33 yards per game (prior to today). The issue was that we weren't able to throw the ball against a team that people were having a lot of success throwing the ball. That was the issue.
Q: Jake Pinegar, you guys weren't able to get him more opportunities in the beginning of the season, it didn't happen, how do you assess that position moving forward?
A: Obviously, we're not kicking the way we need to kick. That is all of it, that's protection, that's snap, that's hold, that's execution of the kick. We'll revisit that we'll take a hard look at it. Our percentages in practice are really good, but that's not showing up on game day. We all know coming into the season that we have inexperience at the kicker position. In practice, we are hitting at a real high percentage. We've got to be able to do it under the lights, pressure, consistently at this level.
Q: The amount of emotion that was put into the past two weeks, is it possible, do you double down on that? How do you handle it, because I know there was a lot of emotion from you after that game and that carried into the preparation for this game?
A: We play an emotional game, a passionate game. The fans are that way, the coaches are that way and the players are that way. I believe in investment in anything that you want to do, that you want to be special in. You've got to invest. I think the natural thing to do is, especially when you're young, is when you invest in something and you don't have the success that you think you should have, a lot of people start to pull back because that hurts. When you invest a lot in something and you don't have the success that you should have, a lot of people, a lot of organizations, invest less. I'm a big believer that, that's actually when you invest more. You continue to invest more and you drive through those situations, you drive through those circumstances. I don't know what profession, I don't know a career, and I don't know a game where you can have a high-level of success without a high-level of investment. We're going to continue to invest a high-level of effort, a high-level of emotion, a high-level of passion; we're going to continue to invest.