Good time for a bye? James Franklin fiery before leaving on recruiting trip

For the first seven minutes of his usual post-practice, midweek interview session with the media Wednesday, James Franklin waited patiently.

Surely expecting a rash of questions about his starting quarterback, Sean Clifford, who left early in the second quarter of the Nittany Lions’ 23-20 loss at No. 3 Iowa on Saturday, those expectations were met from the jump.

Declining comment on Clifford’s health, Franklin acknowledged only that Ta’Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux have been splitting reps at practice so far this week.

Also acknowledging that Penn State senior defensive tackle and captain P.J. Mustipher would be out for the season, Franklin answered questions one after another with brevity and some level of impatience.

That is, of course, until Franklin finally was given the opportunity to address the behavior of Iowa fans, coaches and staff during injury timeouts for the Nittany Lions on Saturday and, consequently, the ongoing controversy sparked further by head coach Kirk Ferentz’s accusatory statements made Tuesday. Implicating strongly that Penn State had faked some of its injuries during the game, the notion first generated a response from Franklin after the game and again Wednesday evening.

And it was both extensive and passionate.

Spanning nearly six minutes of a media session that typically lasts about 12, Franklin detailed all of the reasons for his objections to the booing and, maybe more important, the very suggestion that his team had employed a method that he detailed as nonsensical.

"How does this strategy make sense against a huddle team? People use this strategy to slow people down; spread offenses, tempo offenses. They huddle, so that strategy did not make sense in this situation,” Franklin said. “And in our six years of playing them, six years straight, 4-2 with our record, has that ever shown up? Has anybody seen that? In my eight years as a head coach, has that shown up at Penn State? In my 12 years as a head coach, has that shown up? Has not shown up.”

On an evening when Franklin expressed his displeasure and frustration repeatedly, here’s a look at the other news, notes, and observations to emerge from his extended Wednesday media session:

While Penn State’s top-line players are done for the week, set for a run Thursday before dispersing Friday and Saturday and returning for practice Sunday, the Nittany Lions coaching staff will all be on the road.

For Franklin, that begins Wednesday evening as he was set for a flight immediately after the press conference in which he planned to hit six states over the next three days.

Meanwhile, his state-of-the-program reflection on the first half of the season could be best summarized by his response to a question about the timing of the bye week for his program. Now 5-1 with a No. 7 ranking in the AP poll, returning to action for a Homecoming game Oct. 23 against Illinois, and with major uncertainties existing due to injuries that ended the season for P.J. Mustipher and forced Clifford, John Lovett, Devyn Ford, and Jon Sutherland all out of the game Saturday, Franklin acknowledged the time was good for an off date.

"I mean, I'd prefer to go into the bye week with a win, and going on the road, and a lot of good mojo and those types of things,” he said. “But yeah, obviously from a banged-up perspective, the timing, timing has been good."

Sometimes Franklin can’t help himself when it comes to injuries, as much asking reporters and fans to read between the lines as committing to not discussing the nature of those injuries as a program policy.

So it was the case when he was asked about the spirits of Clifford in the wake of the injury, having already acknowledged that it wasn’t a season-ending deal for the signal-caller.

"Yeah, (his spirits are) good,” Franklin said. “I mean, it's part of the game right, and Sean's had issues in the past. He's doing everything he possibly can to get back as soon as he possibly can and go from there. I mean, what he's dealing with is not uncommon at the quarterback position."

Offering no more than that, Franklin left plenty of possibilities and unknowns out there for his starting quarterback and his timeline for a return, but his response should also temper some of the worst-case hypotheses.

Beyond Clifford, Franklin also offered a not-so-subtle hypothetical when talking about what forced Arnold Ebiketie to draw medical attention Saturday.

“AK, maybe our best defensive player, and he probably looked at worst. He went down,” Franklin said. “Maybe it's because he plays so hard and he was cramping, but am I going to tell AK to go down and not play a play on defense? Does that make any sense?”

While Franklin detailed the plan for the program the rest of the week as a developmental squad practice on Thursday, his comments regarding Roberson and third-stringer Christian Veilleux offered something of a helpful clarification.

Because, with Clifford not out at practice Wednesday and very much in doubt to play against Illinois, both Roberson and Veilleux will be getting that extra practice work with the developmental squad.

“This week will be telling for both of them,” Franklin said. “We've only really had two practices since then. Next week will be important as well. We also have a practice tomorrow that those guys will be involved in.”

Asked later about the nature of how the two backups to Clifford stack up, Franklin left open the possibility of movement when asked whether or not the position could be characterized as competitive.

"Yes,” Franklin said, “it's always a competitive situation."

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