Notebook: James Franklin weekly press conference
Penn State head coach James Franklin met with the media Tuesday afternoon via Zoom to discuss the Nittany Lions' upcoming matchup with No. 3-ranked Ohio State Saturday (7:30 p.m., ABC) as well as the program's setback at Indiana last weekend.
Let’s get right into some of the ins and outs of what was asked of Franklin Tuesday afternoon, how he responded, and what it will mean for the Nittany Lions this week as they gear up to face the Buckeyes this weekend at Beaver Stadium:
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1) Right off the top, Franklin did what he never, ever does:
He talked about an injury, and this one is a tough one for the Nittany Lions, folks. Penn State sophomore running back Noah Cain suffered an unspecified injury in the first quarter of the loss in Bloomington over the weekend, was unable to return after three carries for 13 yards.
And now, according to Franklin, he'll miss the remainder of the 2020 season as a result of that injury.
"As you know, I don't typically get into injuries unless they are season-ending injuries, and Noah Cain will be out for the remainder of the 2020 season," he said. "Love Noah, so much respect for Noah, he really had an unbelievable offseason and worked really hard for this opportunity. We met with Noah ahead of time and felt like this was the appropriate thing to do, to give you guys all heads up, but Noah will be out for the remainder of the 2020 season.:"
In a vacuum, this would be a tough pill for the Nittany Lions to swallow, but the reality is that this one isn't isolated given the disruption and setbacks already experienced at the running back position this year.
Learning this preseason that an unspecified "medical condition" would prevent presumed starter Journey Brown from participating in the immediate future and, potentially, for the duration of the 2020 season, Penn State has transformed as an offense. Once having the problem of too many quality running backs for whom to divvy up reps, the Nittany Lions are down their top two horses, losing the incredible excitement and anticipation for the potential of their seasons with them.
Asked how they'll approach the position moving forward through the next eight games on the schedule, Franklin acknowledged that the two true freshman backs, January enrollee Caziah Holmes and July enrollee Keyvone Lee, are going to see quite a bit of action, and no longer on the terms that were once possible.
"I think it will be similar to what we did on Saturday. We played all three of those backs on Saturday. Devyn got the majority of the carries, but Keyvone and Caziah played as well as true freshmen," Franklin said. "Obviously our circumstances have changed and everybody's dealing with this to a degree. We came into the season with our running back room considered maybe one of the strongest running backs in the room, and now, at least at this time, we've lost Journey Brown and Noah Cain.
"So those guys are going to need to step up and be ready to play. We have to create a little bit more explosive plays. That was something that we felt like Journey and Noah were gonna bring to the table for us. But this is just the nature of where we're at right now, a combination of injuries and COVID have got us to this point. When I talk about COVID, I'm talking about all of it, Michah Parsons, all the ramifications of that."
That element of stepping up and being ready to play goes for all three of the remaining running backs in the room, including second-year player Devyn Ford, following his ascent into the role of primary ballcarrier against the Hoosiers. Avoiding sugarcoating that reality, Franklin said that the program's culture of constant preparation all the way down the depth chart as if the starter is different in practice than it is as an overall philosophy.
"Although you tell everybody to approach things as if you're going to be the starter, that doesn't always happen. Again, when we got started with this, those guys were fourth and fifth on the depth chart. So now we're in a situation where they're going to play prominent roles," Franklin said. "And we've seen flashes of really good things from them during practice and training camp and meetings and things like that, but we thought we would have a little bit of time to let them gain some experience in maybe not so big moments and meaningful moments, maybe early on let them let grow into that. But here's where we are. They're both extremely talented. We have a lot of belief and confidence in them, but experience matters and we got to speed up that maturation process a little bit for them."
2) He didn't get to it right away but Franklin eventually revealed, while responding to a question about COVID-19 protocols this season, that Penn State was down a player who false tested positive for the coronavirus Saturday morning and, as a result, was forced to miss the game.
"We had a young man that wasn't able to play this weekend because of a false positive test on Saturday morning," Franklin said. "His dad called and was very upset. And more upset about his son, just hurting for his son. And we talked it all through and he understood. It was probably more of venting than it was being upset with what the Big Ten had really decided. It was more just his son's hurting and I want you to hear it, Coach.
"As administrators, I don't want to speak for the administration and the presidents, and I don't want to speak for the presidents, but I think the way I understood it, we were just putting health and welfare as as the priority in a way that still gave us a chance to have a season and to try to balance those two topics. And neither one was going to be perfect, but try to balance it the best we possibly could. "
Citing other circumstances in which players and coaches are missing games due to false positives registering on the COVID-19 gameday tests, Franklin said that even for actual positives, required testing could be done in less time than the Big Ten's required 21-day minimum time out.
Still, seeking to find a balance in making concessions that would allow the league to play, Franklin said it's a fact of life now that programs around the Big Ten are adjusting to and trying to accommodate.
"There were going to be some compromises, there were going to be some sacrifices, and there were going to be some circumstances that came about that were hard to swallow at the moment," he said.
3) Penn State, of course, is in fact playing a football game this Saturday despite all of the setbacks endured over the past few days and weeks.
And it's a game that Franklin described in basic, and at times brutal, terms. Welcoming the 3rd-ranked Buckeyes to Beaver Stadium, recent history would suggest that the two teams are headed toward another highly competitive matchup.
"I look at the whole spectrum of it. I look at scores that Ohio State puts up against people. I look at some of the scores before we got here. And I look at how our games have gone," Franklin said. "We've found a way to beat them when very few people have, and we've played them to the wire. Sometimes those games to the wire, they're probably the most painful on everybody, the coaching staff, the players, the fans, but I wouldn't trade that. We've had opportunity to win some of those games right down to the wire, and in one year, we were able to step up and get it done, and other years they were able to.
"We're going to continue to build on that and we look forward to having a tightly contested game on Saturday. But it's a challenge, there's no doubt about it. I got a lot of respect for their program, got a lot of respect for their history and what they've been able to do. They're as talented of a roster as maybe any roster in the country."
Even after last year's 28-17 loss at the Horseshoe, one that made it three-straight for Ohio State, the two teams have played to a combined 115-105 result in the past four matchups, the Nittany Lions' lone win coming in 2016 thanks to Marcus Allen's blocked field and Grant Haley's iconic return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
Referencing that dramatic game, and the ones in between, Franklin said that the lesson to be learned is that fast starts and strong finishes take no precedence over complete efforts through all four quarters.
"If you look at our history with them, we've done it in a number of ways. We've won late with big plays, we've had early leads and battled all the way to the last play of the fourth quarter," he said. "So I think at the end of the day, to beat this type of opponent, it's not just about a fast start. And it's not about finishing strong. You're going to have to play well for four quarters. That's starting and that's finishing, and that's everything in between. To beat this type of team, it's not going to be pieces. It's going to be a whole because I think we've really done both against this team in the past. And it's worked for us in one instance and it hasn't got it done in others."
4) Certainly, the Nittany Lions are going to key in on containing likely Heisman candidate quarterback Justin Fields if they hope to emerge with a win late Saturday night.
Given Fields' performance last season, finishing with a modest 16 of 22 completions for 188 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 68 yards on 21 carries, the backbreaking nature of his runs were one of the bigger elements Penn State will focusing on limiting this time around. A constant threat with both his arms and his legs, Fields presents a perpetual state of conflict for defenders.
"That's a big part of his game. I think they try to limit it as much as they can, but it's just naturally what he does," Franklin said. "It may not even necessarily be the actual runs, but his ability to extend plays with the dynamic receivers that they have. That's challenging. I mean, if you look across college football and now in the NFL, it's similar.
"It's hard to stop all the different things that offenses are doing now. You got the traditional running game, you got the traditional pass game, and then you got the RPOs, and then you got the designed quarterback runs as well. It's challenging, and that's why being able to score points on offense and special teams and being able to create turnovers and limit offenses as much as you can, that's 2020 football. Obviously it's gonna be a focus point for us this week and it's gonna be a challenge. He's one of the best players in college football."
5) For as much as Penn State is hoping to respond to last week's loss with a win on Saturday, one factor that traditionally marks the annual matchup with the Buckeyes won't be part of the equation this year:
Fans, and the rowdy Whiteout experience they help to create.
Absent those fans due to ongoing precautions for the COVID-19 pandemic, Franklin noted strongly that the program won't attempt to recreate an atmosphere that cannot be recreated.
"I would make the argument, I think that you want to avoid that. This is the reality of what we're in and embrace it, because there's programs all over the country that are trying to recreate what we have in Beaver Stadium for a whiteout. It's hard to do under normal conditions," Franklin said. "So for us, we're just going to embrace that this is what the 2020 season is. We're excited about the opportunities and going to make the most of it."
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