Penn State head coach James Franklin's weekly press conference: Minnesota
Penn State head coach James Franklin met with the media on Tuesday to discuss the Nittany Lion’s loss to Michigan and preview the upcoming White Out game against Minnesota. Franklin started with a review of the critical statistics that led to last week’s loss. Then, he discussed the turnover battle, penalties, and explosive plays, among other key areas.
“We did not play or handle that as we should have, obviously,” Franklin said to start his opening statements.
Franklin won’t comment on Penn State quarterback injury situation
Penn State’s head football coach then took questions from the media. The topic on almost everyone’s mind was the health of quarterback Sean Clifford. The sixth-year passer exited the loss against Michigan in the fourth quarter with an injury and didn’t return. Will he start on Saturday? Or will backup Drew Allar play? Franklin spoke about the situation when asked.
Another topic of the conversation dealt with Franklin’s comments after the game. He said that his team needs to be bigger on both sides of the line of scrimmage but specifically mentioned the Penn State defensive tackles. Franklin went into more detail about those thoughts on Tuesday.
The Penn State offense was another hot topic on Tuesday after a ten-point performance aided by a defensive score to get to the final tally of 17. Franklin explained that he thinks his team has shown their identity already this season, and it’s about getting back to that on a consistent basis.
Press conference rundown
00:00 press conference start
00:12 Michigan review
01:00 Minnesota preview
03:50 Sean Clifford health, Drew Allar
04:35 Tight End usage
05:30 What went wrong against Michigan and can Minnesota replicate that?
06:39 What is Penn State’s offensive identity and have you achieved it yet?
07:40 Backup quarterback
09:20 Olu Fashanu and the right tackle rotation
11:20 Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen
12:50 Franklin’s comments about size after the game
14:37 Evaluation of Mike Yurcich’s ability to adjust a gameplan to team’s personnel
15:40 What is the disconnect between getting players to the size you want and what happens?
17:10 Can Sean Clifford call an audible for a QB sneak? What happened in the tunnel with Michigan? 19:34 Is the lack offensive explosion more about hitting the shots called or calling more shots?
20:33 How have you seen the defense respond to what happened Saturday?
21:41 What factored into this game being the White Out and not Penn State vs. Ohio State?
22:30 Do you anticipate Landon Tengwall playing this week?
23:22 How has Hunter Nourzad been since returning?
24:00 How much do you feel the need to change something after a big loss and when do you know that changes are truly needed?
