Early returns show potential for James Franklin, Nittany Lions: Notebook

Penn State football head coach James Franklin returned to the Beaver Stadium podium for his weekly press conference Tuesday afternoon, though the session was again conducted with the media via Zoom.

Coming off a 44-13 win against Ball State on Saturday, with a Big Ten win at Wisconsin already under the program's belt, Penn State now looks ahead to a Saturday night, White Out matchup with No. 20-ranked Auburn at Beaver Stadium.

Here, we're taking a look at the biggest news, notes, and takeaways from Franklin’s weekly press conference:

In this case, ahead of one of the Nittany Lions' premiere games of the 2021 season, with a deserved White Out scheduled and ESPN coming into town for its College GameDay program, the news Monday that Southern Cal had fired its head coach didn't come as welcome news for Franklin.

Having been speculated as a possibly attractive hire for the Trojans in years past, even when the position had not yet been vacated by then-coach Todd Helton, Franklin again saw his name tied to the opening overnight Monday and into Tuesday.

So when asked about the job and whether or not he'd wanted to comment on it, Franklin took the opportunity to squash it.

"As you guys know, I can't stand any form of distraction," Franklin said. "So I'll discuss this today with the leadership council so that we can make sure that all of our energy is on our preparation for Auburn. And that's how we'll handle it. I'm gonna talk to the leadership council today about it."

Leaving it at that, with no solid reporting nationally beyond speculation, Franklin and the media moved on from the subject.

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Penn State's first two games of the 2021 season were studies in contrast between the two opponents the Nittany Lions faced offensively.

And, as a result, the expectations and production out of Penn State's offense have varied similarly.

Against the Badgers in the first week of the season, Penn State's offense under the direction of new OC Mike Yurcich was stifled entirely for the first half, failing to eclipse 50 yards of total offense and generating just one first down. Against Ball State, meanwhile, the Nittany Lions were effective in marching up and down the field, but didn't necessarily have the type of explosiveness demonstrated in the second half against the Badgers.

Having found success against both, though, Franklin said that what he'd like to see moving forward is a combination of the two approaches for the Nittany Lion offense.

"Two very different styles. Obviously one on the road in a hostile environment and one at home," Franklin said. "We were able to score some more points, started really fast, last week against Ball State. Game one started a little bit slower on the road.

"So what you'd like to do is kind of a marriage of the two. You’d like to gain both of those experiences and be able to learn from them and grow from them and evolve and start to kind of formulate your identity."

That identity, Franklin would go on to say, is starting to come into focus.

Asked about the explosive play differential, the NIttany Lions created a handful of gamebreaking plays against the Badgers to the tune of a 34-yard run and passing plays of 52, 49, and 42 yards. But last week, against a Cardinals defense determined to keep everything in front of it, the Nittany Lions generated 14 total chunk plays as defined by carries of 10-or-more yards and receptions of 15-or-more yards, but saw those plays top out at a 43-yard Sean Clifford run and a 25-yard Jahan Dotson catch-and-score in the passing game.

According to Franklin, though, the elements of an offense that is still ironing out some of the wrinkles has shown itself to have the solid footing that he's seeking.

"I think we've shown flashes. I think we can be more consistent there. I think we can be more explosive," Franklin said. "There have also some plays that that we've missed, whether it's missed a read or overthrew a ball a little bit or maybe a different call, it's a combination of factors. It's execution. It's all of it.

"But I think for where we're at in the season, if we just continue to get better and continue to take strides in really every area, running the ball, protection, explosive plays, I think we'll like where we're at. We're gonna have to do that on Saturday. But I think we're making progress."

Coming off the disaster of a season 2020 proved to be, particularly in its five-game stretch of losing to open in which the Nittany Lions struggled with committing turnovers, the question of ball security has been a natural component of seemingly every offseason conversation regarding the program.

And, two weeks in, the Nittany Lions have avoided those turnovers entirely while generating five defensively to stand out among the best programs in the country for a +2.5 per game turnover differential (tied for fifth nationally).

Asked about the effectiveness this season in hanging onto possession of the football, though, Franklin pushed back a little by pointing out just how much of an anomaly the program's issues were in the category a season ago.

"I think that's been who we've been for the majority of my time here and the majority of my time as a head coach," Franklin said. "We've done a pretty good job of protecting the football. You have to do that if you want to be successful."

The statistics from Franklin's four most successful seasons with the program back up the narrative.

From 2016 to 2019, the Nittany Lions' national turnover margin finished in the positive in every year but 2018. Now, having established it again as a point of emphasis this season and especially for this weekend's game against Auburn, Franklin said that the early season success must continue.

"Obviously we've done it at a very high level so far this season," Franklin said. "It's a combination of us emphasizing it like we always do. It's explaining it in meetings in a way that the players can relate to and understand the importance and the impact of it. And at the end of the day, it's about the players going out and executing the plan and also executing the fundamentals that are coached on a consistent basis.

"We got to keep it up. We got to do a great job of that today. That'll be a major emphasis in today's practice. But I think it's it's been a big part of our early success and we need to keep it going. "

Franklin was asked Tuesday how a game between Penn State and Auburn, one that was announced in 2016 in his third year with the Nittany Lions, came to fruition.

Welcoming the Tigers to Beaver Stadium Saturday night with a return date to Auburn scheduled for next Sept. 17, 2022, Franklin offered some insight into how he views marquee out-of-conference matchups and what could be considered an indication of how the Nittany Lions will move forward in that regard.

"I’m a big fan of the neutral site games," Franklin said. "I think those are things that make a lot of sense when you can play a neutral site game rather than committing to a two-game series, playing a neutral site game where you have an opportunity for both teams to treat it in some ways like a home contest in terms of the gate.

"And then it allows you to get into a region of the country where your fan base might enjoy it as well and enjoy a different venue. So I think that’s something to consider moving forward as well."

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