Penn State Football
Head Coach James Franklin
Postgame Press Conference
vs. Ohio State– October 31, 2020
Opening Statement
First of all, I want to give Ohio State credit. That's a good football team. I've got a lot of respect for them. For us, offensively, we really struggled in the first half, not being able to run the ball pretty much the entire game, and not being able to protect Sean [Clifford]. He was getting hit way too much and had people in his face way too much. I thought in the second half we were able to get the ball out of his hand quicker and made some plays on the perimeter which opened up. We felt like going into the game, the quarterback running game would be something that would be a big part of the game. We weren't able to get that going either. We wanted to be aggressive. That's why we went for it early . We went into this game knowing that we were going to have to score points and score touchdowns. So we wanted to go for it as much as we possibly could in fourth down situations. And then on defense, I thought not having Jesse Luketa in the first half made it impact. Defensively, we really couldn't get them off schedule. They were in manageable down-and-distance situations pretty much entire game. And with a quarterback like that, and their offensive personnel, not getting them off schedule, it's going to be challenging. Special teams, for the most part, obviously different than last week. It wasn't a huge factor in the game. But there's a bunch of things that we got to get cleaned up. You know, obviously we got to get in here on Sunday and get a bunch of things corrected. And I know we'll do that as a staff and players.
Q: You mentioned a few nights ago this was an opportunity for your O-line and D-line. And I was just wondering how would assess their play?
A: I think at the line of scrimmage, I don't think we consistently won that matchup tonight. Our o-line, our front, tight end o-line, same thing with our defensive line. We weren't able to get them off schedule. We weren't able to get tackles for loss, or sacks. And then the same thing, same thing with our offensive line. There's a lot of things that go into that, obviously, but we did not win the line of scrimmage tonight.
Q: In the second half, you had a couple of opportunities, one where you scored, and then the defense allowed Ohio State to go the length of the field. And then the defense made a big play with Brandon Smith. And then the offense turns it over. How tough is it when you don't get that complimentary thing that you're always talking about?
A: Yeah, that's exactly right. When we would get going on offense, the defense would have an opportunity to, when we could close the gap, from a scoring perspective. We started to get a little bit of momentum there. And then you know, they were able to go to the length of the field and get a touchdown. So, early on in the game, I thought our defense was doing some pretty good things and on offense, couldn't get it going. And then the offense started to get going in the second half, are able to get the ball out of Sean's [Clifford] hand and make some plays on the perimeter. And Jahan [Dotson] did some nice things, which I think is going to be really important. Over the last number of years, we've always had that one guy whether it's KJ [Hamler] or whether it's [Chris] Godwin or whether it's Mike Gesicki or somebody that people were concerned about. Jahan and Pat [Freiermuth], it's good to see Jahan stepping up right now. So we're going to need to build on that.
Q: James, why did it look like you guys from the first half to the second half, the offense looked quite a bit different with Sean, you mentioned getting the ball out. Why do you think that was in the first half? Were they doing something different than the second half? Or why was that?
A: I think we had a couple schemes that that worked in the first half. And we went back to them, things that were giving them problems. And then we were able to build some momentum and kind of go from there. But you know, the few things that that we had success with early in the first half, we just went back to those things. We're able to get some momentum, we're able to get the ball out of Sean's [Clifford] hand, whether it was on the perimeter to Jahan [Dotson], or whether it was Pat [Freiermuth] on a misdirection pass. Those things were able to get us get us going and get some momentum, but obviously, not being able to have a running game, with a D-line like that, that can just tee off on you in the passing game, you've got to be able to be balanced. It just it makes it too challenging on the offensive line and on the quarterback.
Q: That field goal at the end of the half, one, what was the conversation with the referees, and two, how much did that help you guys get some points on the board at the end of the half there?
A: Yeah the play at the end of the half was strange. I'm not going to argue with it a whole lot. We got points out of it, but it was definitely strange.
Q: James, compared to where Sean was last year as a redshirt sophomore, through two games here in 2020, have you seen him make forward progress? And if so, what part of his game have you seen that?
A: Well, I obviously tonight thought was hard to judge that based on having people in his face all night long. So it's hard to kind of evaluate that. But you know, we'll watch the tape and make some decisions and adjustments that we have to but I think it's hard. I will tell you this, I thought for the amount of times he got hit and got pressured in the pocket, I thought his toughness was on display. It's something that he's done for a couple years now and I was impressed with that. But obviously we all got to get better, all of us.
Q: James, can you tell us what happened with the touchdown in the second quarter when your defense came back on the field after the timeout? The second quarter touchdown in what you call the defensive timeout of their defense came back out onto the field and
had trouble getting players on the field.
A: Yeah, we were in our dollar package and we had a young man that didn't go on the field and that's inexcusable. That's all on us as coaches, we call dollar and the guy doesn't go out on the field. And those are the things that are happening that should never happen. And we haven't really had those issues in six years. So those are the things that we got to spend a lot of time talking about on Sunday.
Q: Following up on earlier getting those three points, how important were they and then you follow back up and you got pretty close there.
A: I'm sorry, I should have gave you a little bit more detail. I just was going to say I wasn't going to argue how they officiated at the end because it benefited us. But yeah, I think when you talk about the middle eight and being able to end the first half with some points and then being able to come out in the second half and be able to do some good things, you know when we were getting the ball back, that was kind of our opportunity to get some momentum in the game and then get a stop and really kind of make this a game and we just were never able to do that. Every time we would get it going on offense we'd give up something on defense, and our defense would get a stop and then our offense wouldn't. It's based on the question earlier, we just really weren't playing complimentary football.
Q: James, having the very first play of the game when they gash it for 60 yards, how much that set a tone and just generally, your defense today, did you think that you're a little disappointed in the defense overall?
A: Yeah, the opening play obviously was a big play, but that's going to happen, that happens sometimes and you got to be you got to be mentally tough and you got to you got to bounce back from it, you got to be resilient. But people are going to make plays. But I understand the point that you made it kind of got us on our heels, and then we were really never able to get them off schedule after that point. I did feel like getting Jesse [Luketa] back in the second half you could feel the difference with him in there, not only his production but also his leadership. But yeah, that's it, that's a talented team, there's no doubt about it. We didn't do a good job getting them off schedule.
Q: James, have you faced a better quarterback than Justin Fields?
A: I'm not sure. He is talented, and it's not just Justin, it's all the pieces around him as well. You know, I think we got a pretty good pass rush and we weren't able to get to him a whole lot tonight, so they protected him well, he did a good job of mixing the run and the pass. They're very talented on the perimeter at the wide receiver positions as well. All the things that we knew, we had tremendous respect for them coming into the game. But obviously tonight, you know, we weren't able to make any plays. We had a few chances for some big plays and a chance for an interception on the sideline, you know, you got to capitalize on opportunities against a team like that. We weren't able to get the tackles for loss, they're always falling forward, we weren't able to get the sacks or the turnovers and then we didn't have any turnovers until the end but we weren't able to get any either.