What James Franklin said at Penn State's weekly press conference
Penn State closed out its non-conference schedule in impressive fashion last Saturday, pummeling Kent State 63-10 to improve to 3-0 on the year. Now, the Nittany Lions enter conference play this Friday night.
James Franklin and Co. will travel to Champaign for a cross-division matchup with Illinois. It will serve as the B1G opener for both teams. The Illini are coming off a 25-19 loss to USF.
Here’s what Franklin had to say at his weekly press conference, talking about the Friday game, playing Illinois and improvements he’d like to see:
JF: Looks like Illinois is going to be getting some injured players back this week that they think are among their better players.
Could be the QB.
— Donnie Collins (@psubst) September 18, 2018
JF: Biggest factor in this game, no doubt about it, is going to be turnovers. Illinois hasn't turned the ball over this year.
— Donnie Collins (@psubst) September 18, 2018
"We're not talking about this week any other way than it's game week." Franklin said there's a psychological effect of thinking about it any other way, so he won't mention how much he dislikes Friday night games today.
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) September 18, 2018
JF: On PSU's red zone success, he talks about "red zone trips." That's probably as big an indicator of success as anything.
RZT. Sounds like football's equivalent to baseball's OBP. Penn State, in other words, is giving itself chances.
— Donnie Collins (@psubst) September 18, 2018
JF: Stevens injury might be a blessing in disguise for offense, as Clifford probably doesn't get the reps he has if Stevens was healthy.
"We expect to have all the guys available for this week." Says Stevens could have played last week.
— Donnie Collins (@psubst) September 18, 2018
Franklin says he expects John Reid to be back this week. Reid warmed up on Saturday and hasn't played since Week 1.
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) September 18, 2018
Franklin: "Come to practice and see… Well you guys really don't get to see much…."
Mentions how he coaches the players harder in practice than games to emphasize what they're doing right and wrong. "We spend more time focusing on the positive of what we want them to do."— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) September 18, 2018
Franklin says on the practice field the coaches need to balance one another with player interaction. "Sometimes it's good cop, bad cop. … If you see a position coach blasting a guy they don’t need me coming over and blasting him as well."
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) September 18, 2018
