James Franklin discusses the impact of sign-stealing on game preparation

The allegations of sign stealing committed by the Michigan football program have shaken the Big Ten and college football at large. One of the teams most obviously impacted by Michigan stealing signs is Penn State. With that, head coach James Franklin recently shared how stealing signs impacts a team’s preparation.

Franklin explained that teams need to be ready for signs to be stolen legally. Because of that, there needs to be a way to disguise signals, and noted that the Nittany Lions have already made some changes during their bye week.

“First of all, I think you do that in general, right,” James Franklin said. “You do that in general. You got to have a way to disguise your signals. Everybody does it, whether they do it with sheets, or boards, or whatever it may be. We made some changes after the bye week as well in how we operate on offense and defense.”

James Franklin chose not to comment on the Michigan allegations specifically but did speak about sign-stealing from a general point of view.

“Specific to that, I probably won’t won’t get into what’s going on at that other school, and the things that are going on. I probably won’t get into that. But, I think in general, we’re always aware of how we signal. Are we disguising it?”

For James Franklin, there are situations in games that might make you wonder if the opposing team has your sign. However, it doesn’t become a concern until there is a trend of the other team clearly making the right call against you when they shouldn’t.

“I mean, what happens is, you get to after games and you feel like you called a very unpredictable call in a certain situation, and they’re in the perfect defense for it. And you sit there and say, ‘Well how’s that? What would ever make you play cover two on fourth and one, and we’re in the heavy personnel group, but they’re in it, [and] you got a shot called there.’ Those things kind of make you kind of second guess and you kind of go back and look at those things and what you need to do to disguise it,” Franklin said.

“And, if it happens once, that’s one thing, but, if it happens over and over, then you’re aware of it. So, for us, that’s something that we always are looking at. But, obviously, with some of the things that are going on right now, it magnifies it.”

There has been some talk about switching to a headset system, like the NFL, where plays are transmitted directly to the quarterback. However, James Franklin explained that this might not help much because then the quarterback still needs to communicate with other players on the field in some way.

James Franklin admits it is fair to judge him for track record in big games

After losing to Ohio State, James Franklin’s poor record against elite competition and in big games has once again come under fire. This criticism, according to Franklin, is ultimately fair.

“I think it’s more than fair to judge me and my staff for all of it. That’s what it’s about. The good, the bad, the consistency, the lack of success in that game. All of it. That’s totally fair to be judged by all of those things,” Franklin said.

“I also think it’s important to judge the entire body of work, all of it. Which, I don’t need to get into today right now. But it’s totally fair to be judged based on all of those things, the whole body of work. Good and bad.”