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needed Tommy last week, we could have played Tommy last week. So we're just probably being a little more cautious than probably we need to be. Penn State is traditionally one of the least penalized teams in the country, but those numbers are going up this year. Do you consider it a big issue at this point, and how do you get back to kind of the normal numbers here? We spend a lot of time having officials at practice and talking about the importance of it. I felt like this last game we had some things that I wasn't happy with because I felt like we extended drives and created opportunities. So for us, I think what we just try to do is we try to emphasize it every single day and talk about the importance of it. But we're probably never going to go further than that, because I actually think it can have the opposite effect. So for us, we're going to stick to our plan and we're going to stick to our process. And you know, we're still in a good place, but I agree with you. We need to be more disciplined. And I think it's magnified right now be- cause of the type of penalties and the im- pact on the game they've had. Special teams have been a real plus for you guys, the first three games. What are some of the keys to the suc- cess of your units? And are K.J. Hamler and DeAndre Thompkins two of the most talented return men you've seen in your coaching career? I would say our special teams have been inconsistent. I think our return game is more explosive right now than it's been based on [having] some guys who scare defen- sive coordinators, scare spe- cial teams coordinators and get everybody in the stadium sitting on the edge of their seat. That's what you want. I've been talking about that for a while. Last year we used Saquon [Barkley] for that very reason in some of those roles. But I think we're in a good place right now. We've got multiple guys who can make plays with the ball in their hands. That's a good thing. We'll continue to do that. I think our freshman kickers have been doing a really good job. Our kickoffs, when he hits it right, have been deep and put us in a really positive position to cover the kicks and limit opportunities. I still think we can be a little bit more consis- tent there. But considering that we've got two true freshmen kicking for us, I think both of them have done a really good job. And Phil Galiano and the staff have done a really good job managing that. The one regret that I have is that there was an opportunity on Saturday where we went for it on fourth down and obviously aBer the fact we should have kicked a field goal there. That would have been an op- portunity to get another kick in the game. I didn't manage that as well as I should have. But overall, I've been pleased. Obvi- ously, we had a kickoff return for touch- down, and we've got to make sure that that doesn't happen again. We've got to S E P T E M B E R   1 9 ,   2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 11 Franklin has been focused on ball se- curity as he pre- pares his team for its upcoming visit to Illinois. "I think the biggest factor in this game, no doubt about it, is going to be turnovers," he said. Photo by Steve Manuel

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