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James Franklin on rankings: Look at our preseason poll last year, it didn’t mean anything
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James Franklin doesn’t care about the extra stuff. In case you haven’t heard, all the Penn State coach is focused on is Akron, Akron, Akron.
So it should be no surprise that Franklin doesn’t pay any attention to the Nittany Lions’ No. 6 ranking in the Associated Press poll. In fact, he says it doesn’t even matter.
Franklin went on the Gio and Jones show on CBS Sports Radio recently and talked about a variety of topics. But when the two-man broadcast team asked about Penn State’s ranking, Franklin basically dismissed the question.
“Everybody’s excited,” Franklin said. “But look at our preseason poll last year. Obviously it didn’t mean anything.
“I know it’s great for the fans, I know it’s great for the media and gives people something to talk about, but at the end of the day, all that matters is how you play each week and how you prepare and how you execute. We focus on things we can control. That’s not one of them. I think that’s one of the things that I think we’ve done a pretty good job of.”
Franklin went on to admit that this was a big deal for the players, who deserve recognition from the national media. And he believes that Penn State is back and can compete with anyone in the country.
But as far as Penn State’s ranking? He’ll just leave that to the media and the fans to worry about.
You can listen to Franklin’s entire radio interview here.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB