James Franklin all smiles, not looking ahead to Michigan after Penn State rolls Maryland

James Franklin had plenty of reason to be happy while speaking with Fox Sports’ Allison Williams after his Penn State squad had unceremoniously dismantled Maryland, 51-15, on the road. But he also has plenty to be thinking about, too.

But despite a matchup with Top 5-ranked Michigan looming next weekend, Franklin wasn’t going there just yet. Instead, when Williams asked about the upcoming clash with the Wolverines, Franklin made sure to smile for a friend of his.

“My friend Annie says I don’t smile enough. I’m not talking about Michigan, but I’ll smile for Annie,” Franklin said, looking into the camera and flashing his grin before heading off to the locker room.

As for the Nittany Lions performance on Saturday, one in which Maryland finished with negative rushing yards and the Penn State offense clicked along, Franklin was plenty content.

“Well we just played really good complementary football. Offense, defense and special teams. We were able to get off the field on defense and created some turnovers on defense. We’ve done a really good job of protecting the ball on offense all year long, but we were a little more explosive. Then on special teams, obviously the big return and obviously the field goals were big for us,” Franklin said.

And after experiencing a decent share of struggles in recent weeks, the offense and quarterback Drew Allar looked calmer and crisper on Saturday afternoon.

Allar finished 25-of-34 for 240 yards and four touchdowns, one of his best days as the Penn State starting quarterback. And Franklin noted it had to do with more than just Allar.

“I thought we were able to stay on schedule on first and second down, which allowed manageable third down situations. I thought he worked through his progressions extremely well. You can’t do that without the offensive line protecting. So I think all those things factored in to it,” Allar said.

Penn State debuted a package that Franklin previewed earlier in the week

Penn State rolled out both Allar and fellow quarterback Beau Pribula in a number of situations, mainly near the goal line, to much success.

It’s a wrinkle Franklin discussed earlier in the week.

“We’ve been working on it all year,” James Franklin said. “I think I’ve mentioned it a couple different times.”

One reason why James Franklin likes this package is that Beau Pribula has a different skillset than Drew Allar. Namely, he’s a dual-threat quarterback.

“I think when you put Beau in the game, defensively, there’s a certain mindset of how you defend a dual-threat quarterback. Or, a lot of the stuff they’ve seen on Beau has been mainly as a, almost like a Wildcat quarterback in some ways. So, you’re going to defend that differently than if Drew’s on the field as well.”