Penn State Head Football Coach James Franklin Photo by: Michael Corsey @ Michael Corsey Photography

Penn State vs. Indiana University Post Game
October 10, 2015

Opening Statement
I want to thank the fans and the media for coming, supporting us and covering our game. Obviously a great environment here, homecoming. We had all of our family members back in town for a family reunion. The weather was significant for us today. We’ve had some tough situations when it comes to weather. I thought out defense played really well and consistent all day long, especially after the onside kick and the fumble. We go into a point in the game where the field position was swinging more and we were punting really well. I think that factored in. We also had a kick out of bounse which factored in. Our defense was put in a few tough situations and handled it extremely well. I thought we were much more aggressive on offense in the passing game, made some plays. I still feel like we left some yards on the field. We did some nice things. It was a great team win.

I talked to our guys about thanking everyone in the locker room: the trainers, the doctors, the managers, everybody because everybody had a part in it. I thought the scout team was excellent this week. The fact that we didn’t have Akeel Lynch or Saquon Barkley, we were still able to run the ball and I think it is a sign of confidence in those guys that we’re going to be able to do some things with them as well. It’s another example. I know you guys get upset on Monday when the depth chart comes out. We were hopeful we were going to have a few of those guys back. We were told that we wouldn’t have them available until late in the week. We’re hopeful again. The depth chart will come out again on Monday. You guys will probably comment about how it hasn’t changed a whole lot and you’ll find out on game day whose playing.

Q: James, what went into being more aggressive on offense, did you see something on film with Indiana? How much did the weather play into that? Can you talk about that?
A: It’s really the same things I have been talking about for four weeks. We are going to have to play a certain style the next couple of weeks. We got to allow our offensive line time to mature. The weather factored into that. We played three games in pretty significant rain, so it was all those things. It was, at one point, I think those guys were number four in the country. The rushed defense, they had everyone in the box, they were basically daring you to throw the ball. We knew were going to have to do that, so it was all those factors that it really all probably came down. We just wanted to play some as ugly football as we possibly could for four weeks because we were just saving all of that stuff up for this week.

Q: James Christian was able to do some things with his legs today, scoring a couple touchdowns, running for some yardage. How important is that in terms of keeping a defense honest?
A: Really important, really important. Throwing the ball away, which he did a couple of times today which is important for us, stepping up in the pocket going through his progression that’s not there, being a threat to run the ball. It causes headaches. I’m on the defensive headset trying to help those guys out during the game. It’s a pain. You drop back, you got everybody covered, and now the quarterback is willing to pull them down and go get the first down. We talked to a lot of people in the off-season and everybody talks about two first downs. If a quarterback can get two first downs a game for you with his legs, you’re going to be in a really good position. Christian was able to do that today. I’ve been saying for a while that he has the ability to do that and it showed up today. I think now we will have conversations about him being a dual threat quarterback and installing the option.

Q: James, along those lines on the other side of the ball, you said one of your biggest challenges was going to be preparing for both of their quarterbacks. How do you think your defense did?
A: It’s a pain. It’s not easy. You got one quarterback whose six foot six, 240 pounds and is a traditional pocket passer. Then you got another guy whose five foot eleven whose 170 pounds and went for a 78-yard scramble against Ohio State for a touchdown. We talk about two completely different game plans. To me, the game of football week in and week out comes down to fundamentals and techniques, and your trainings and your skills. You look at penalties. We’re doing a good job with that. Were still hurting ourselves in situations on offense. The turnover battle we said all week was going to be significant. We did a good job with that. Grant Haley is a guy we talked about, who passed the ball, just seems to like him. The ball comes to him all the time whether with fumble recoveries or interceptions. That was a big play in the game for us as well.

Q: James, did you guys make a decision at halftime to try Tyler in for the next replacement kicker. What was the decision behind that after Joey missed 2 extra points and where do you stand on that going forward?
A; It’s pretty much that. We missed two extra points. You put the next guy in.

Q: Do you work out? You look pretty good running down the sideline for that time out today.
A: No. I actually look decent, but if I take my shirt off it’s somewhat disgusting. I’m a skinny fat guy.

Q: My question is, do you work out? You look pretty good running down the sidelines.
A: No, I actually look decent, but when I take my shirt off it’s somewhat disgusting. I’m a skinny fat guy and I need to do something. The staff tries to get on the treadmill or do something but every time I say I’m going to do it, something comes up. I need to get some exercise but I appreciate you saying that, thank you.

Q: I was just wondering, (Brandon) Polk a little more of a vertical threat today and what he brings to the past game.
A: Obviously we all see the guy can flat out run. He needs to continue to develop in terms of the mental aspect of the game. The more things he gets confident with, we can expand his role and become less predictable. I do think the speed sweeps as well as the fake speed sweeps and the handoffs, give something to the defense pause. He’s got such speed and he’s so sudden with his movements that if you’re not sound, he is going to get on the edge of you. You fake those things and you do some play action passes often as well. He’s just got to continue to grow. His package, as long as he knows what he’s doing and is confident with his assignments, can continue to grow.

Q: Could you assess Andrew Nelson’s play in his first game coming back from injury?
A: I thought it was significant getting those guys back, especially Andrew Nelson up front. He’s a leader for us. He plays at a really high level. I felt like he was practicing and playing at an extremely high level before he got hurt, so having him back was big. Having (Brandon) Bell, (Jordan) Lucas and Marcus (Allen) and all those guys back was significant for us. It looked like we got out of this game fairly healthy and I’m hopeful that we can get a few guys back for our next week’s game.

Q: You guys had some of those big play cards on the sidelines I’d never seen before, was that something you wanted to use for the quarterbacks or what do you gain by using that?
A: We found out that they spend a lot of time trying to figure out your calls on the sideline. That’s kind of the word on the street and those signs allow us to get our plays in, along with signals to get our plays and numbers with wristbands to get our plays in. So we just want to make sure that we have three different ways to call our defenses and just to make sure. That’s probably coaches being paranoid, but we love to have three different ways to get our calls in to our defense.

Q: After five-straight home games you now have a road game, do you think your guys are prepared to head on the road and take a road test after having five straight home games with your fans supporting you?
A: Our weekly press conference is Tuesday, and that will be a question for then. I want to enjoy today, I want to talk about today’s game. I want to have three hours of sanity, and then tomorrow we will start talking about our next opponent. Tuesday, after practice, we will have our little press conference and we can talk about those things and our preparation to go on the road.

Q: You haven’t had Saquon [Barkley] or Akeel [Lynch] the past couple weeks, but you mentioned having Marcus (Allen) and Nick (Scott), two guys being on the same level and the same year, how have they helped one another and how has it maybe helped them both be able to split the load evenly and both run hard?
A: I think it’s been nice, they complement each other, they both are running extremely hard, I’ve been pleased with that. I still think there’s times where we’re one-on-one and we’ve got to make the one guy miss or break tackles more consistently. But I thought those guys have been great, they’ve been very supportive of one another. I think (Charles) Huff has been doing a great job with the group as a whole. That’s why depth and development and recruiting are so important.

Q: Just talk to me quickly about what it means to have Adam Breneman back on the sidelines, fully dressed, back with the team?
A: He’s been with the team the whole time and he’s been great. Whether his pads are on or his pads are off, it doesn’t change the influence he’s had on our team.

Q: You mentioned at the beginning, the defensive stops after the on sides kick and the fumble. Did you get a sense at the time or could you tell the players that those were huge momentum changes, when the defense got those two stops in particular?
A: Yeah, it was awesome and it was significant in the game. We spend a lot of time talking about and handling sudden change situations like that and I thought our guys responded extremely well. That could have been a situation where they gained some momentum, making some plays after that. I thought our guys responded really well, I thought our defense called a really good game. The tempo simplifies you in some ways, and we didn’t try to get too complex and allow our kids to play to that and I thought that really helped us.