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What James Franklin said as Penn State heads into Maryland matchup
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Penn State is coming off a 33-24 loss to No. 6 Ohio State. They are preparing for the game against Maryland this weekend.
The Nittany Lions are 5-3, 2-3 in the B1G play. They are in the midst of a 3-game losing streak.
Head coach James Franklin spoke to the media ahead of the matchup against Maryland.
Franklin talks about the backup QB situation.
Franklin is “hopeful “Roberson can get his full amount of reps this week so they can get a full evaluation on both Roberson and Veilleux moving forward.
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) November 2, 2021
Franklin talks about the weather coming back from Columbus on Saturday night.
PSU had a wild trip back to State College from Columbus Saturday night due to weather re-routing them to Harrisburg, staff shortages at Harrisburg airport, lack of bus drivers, not being able to get hotels… so the coaches got home around 6:45 a.m., Franklin said.
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) November 2, 2021
Franklin talked about the coaching of his OC Mike Yurcich this season.
Franklin on OC Mike Yurcich this season: “I think you gotta look at all of it. … The types of opponents that you’ve played, type of defenses that you’ve played. … When you look at your higher end opponents what are we doing as well?”
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) November 2, 2021
Franklin spoke to the media about the DT position.
“I thought they battled. I really thought they battled,” Franklin said of Derrick Tangelo, Dvon Ellies and Coziah Izzard. PSU still needs to round out that rotation with five players though. Same at DE.
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) November 2, 2021
Franklin talked about the 3-game losing streak the Nittany Lions are on.
“Looking at the team there’s obviously some ways we gotta find a way to win some of these tough games and that’s through a lot of different things,” Franklin says, mentioning preparation, recruiting, execution etc. “There was enough things last week in that game to build on.”
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) November 2, 2021
Franklin talked about backup QB Christian Veilleux.
Franklin on Christian Veilleux: “His mental preparation with Sean has been really good…He’s really adjusted well to that… He’s got really good poise and really good arm strength.”
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) November 2, 2021
Franklin spoke to reporters about Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa.
Franklin on Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa: “He’s a really talented guy. He can make plays with his arm and he can extend plays with his feet…I think their scheme does a good job of taking advantage of both of those things.”
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) November 2, 2021
Franklin talked about when he coached with the Terrapins.
Franklin on his time at Maryland: “I had a great experience there. It was really my first full-time, big-time job…I learned a lot in a short period of time.”
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) November 2, 2021
Franklin talked about this team handling adversity against Ohio State.
Franklin: “Our guys handled adversity and rose to the occasion against a really good opponent.”
Franklin specifically notes the defense’s stop after Noah Cain’s early fumble.
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) November 2, 2021
Franklin talked about the team as a whole.
Franklin: “I’ve seen some really good things from our defense. I’ve seen some really good things from our offense, at times…There’s a few plays and a few games we’d love to have back. That doesn’t happen, so you learn from them and you grow.”
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) November 2, 2021
Franklin talked about how the Nittany Lions ran the ball last week.
Franklin: “I thought we played more physical this week. I thought we were able to run the ball — mix it in there.”
Franklin adds, however, that it would be good to get Olu Fashanu and Landon Tengwall time up front.
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) November 2, 2021
Franklin spoke to the media about being more explosive on offense.
Franklin: “We gotta be more explosive on offense…I thought we did a great job defensively in the first half…Then they got two big explosive plays, and we had limited maybe the most explosive offense in the country up to that point.”
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) November 2, 2021
Penn State hits the road to take on Maryland in College Park at 3:30 ET on FS1.