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portant piece of the puzzle for us over the last, really, two and a half years. We have to get better in that area. There's no doubt about it. Was fatigue on defense a factor against Michigan State like it was against Ohio State down the stretch? To be honest with you, I think defen- sively, we played good enough to win that game. If we get the turnovers that we should have gotten in that game – I think they had four fumbles and a couple inter- ceptions that we didn't get – the game is completely different than the way it played out. So that's the area that we have to get better at – [generating] turnovers. I thought we did a pretty good job. I think they had been averaging about 123 rushing yards a game. I think we held them to 123 rushing yards, so about where they had been. In the passing game, they made some plays but we also had some opportunities to make some plays and could have made more. I think that's the difference: We have to get more turnovers when we have opportunities to make those plays. I think we all realize we've got to make more of those. Are defenses doing anything different or putting more emphasis on taking away Trace's passing lanes and even running lanes? I think the biggest difference on Satur- day is that we didn't hit enough explosive plays or throw the ball well enough. When you're able to throw the ball and stretch the field horizontally and vertically, that makes it more challenging for them to de- fend Trace in the running game, because if we keep completing balls down the field, the underneath part of the defense loosens up and starts getting under those throws and that's when Trace pulls it down and [runs]. When I sit down with the defensive coaches, that's what's so challenging. We were able to run the ball Saturday better than anybody had against that defense. We were not able to throw the ball as ef- fectively as we needed to throw the ball on Saturday. That was the difference if the game. If you look over the last three years, his running comes as a byproduct of how well we're throwing the ball. Now the defense can't be right. You're running the ball, you're throwing the ball, and now Trace is able to hurt you for a cou- ple of runs a game. That's when we are our most dangerous on the offensive side of the ball, when you feel like we're able to do all three at a pretty efficient level. Tommy Stevens has only played a handful of plays since he was deemed ready to return. What needs to change for his number of snaps to increase? If I'm correct, I think he's only been available to us two games, the last two games. We talked about him earlier being available, but then we felt like it was probably still in our best interest to hold him. So we fully cleared him to go Ohio State; that's the coaches, trainers, every- body being comfortable, Tommy being comfortable. Last week, it was more of a scheme thing. We didn't think it made sense in that game. But we'll look at it every single week to see if it gives us the best opportu- nity to keep the defense on their toes and keep the defense uncomfortable, whether he's a decoy or whether he's a runner or whether he's a thrower and whether he's a receiver. We look for those options each week. A lot of it deals with formations. If cer- tain formations we look at against our op- ponent create opportunities, and they are plug-and-play plays, where we can put Tommy into that role and it makes sense against this defense in that scheme, then that's when we do it. So everything is pretty much formation-driven from that point on. Indiana held Saquon Barkley under 60 yards in the two previous games in this series. What is it about their scheme that makes it so tricky, and how do you see Miles Sanders having success this time around? Most people are going to stay to their base plan and have subtle tweaks each week. [Indiana's coaches] have a very specific plan against each formation and back alignment set on how they're going to stop what they think are the two or three things that you do the most from a tendency standpoint, and it can be pretty different, you know, watching them on tape. So I think that's where you've seen them improve defensively. They've done a really good job. They play aggressive, they play O C T O B E R   1 7 ,   2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 11 This weekend, Franklin will be looking to help Penn State avoid its first three- game losing streak since the 2015 season. Photo by Bill Anderson

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