Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1045949
that we can do better from a scheme standpoint to put our guys in better posi- tion. We just need to be more consistent. We do some really good things on special teams, but then we've also had some plays that have really hurt us. There's no doubt about it, we need to be better there and we need to be more consistent there, and then obviously going on the road against a really good opponent in a challenging en- vironment, we can't afford to make the type of mistakes that we made on Satur- day. I think we all recognize that and are working really hard to mature in that area and grow in that area. But we've made a bunch of big plays, as well. We've just got to get rid of the plays that are hurting us. Against Iowa, you guys were at 25 percent on third-down conversions. What has to be done for that to im- prove, especially against a Michigan team that's one of the best in the coun- try at stopping teams on third down? Yeah, that's going to be a real challenge. You look at Michigan defensively, and it really doesn't change a whole lot by field zone or situation. They are who they are. So it's going to be a real challenge. They're not just good in one area, they're really good in general on defense. I mean, statis- tically they are dominant. They are domi- nant. Obviously, their time of possession has been impacted because they get off the field on third down and continue to give the ball back to their offense over and over and over again by being great on first and second down and creating challeng- ing third-down situations and either get- ting to your quarterback or breaking the ball up. So that's going to be a big story- line for the game: Can our defense get off the field on third down and create oppor- tunities for our offense, and then is our offense going to be able to execute on third down and try to swing that time of possession back into more of a balanced situation and put our defense in a better situa- tion and put our offense in a better situation. That's going to be a big sto- ryline of the game, I don't think there's any doubt about it. But it's not just third down, it's all of it. And like I said, there's not a whole lot of change in how they try to defend you. It's aggressive, in-your-face, and they've got a bunch of different calls and different wrinkles that they do. But for the most part, you're going to have to be able to handle the pressure, not only in terms of your quarterback, them trying to get to your quarterback, but also run blitzes and then also what they do on the perimeter with their defensive personnel in terms of press coverage in your face and challenging every throw. Why do you think you guys have been so good in the red zone, and what role does play-calling have in that? I think we've been good in the red zone this year for a couple of reasons. I think our improvement on the O-line and at tight end and with what Miles [Sanders] is doing have had a huge impact on our red zone [performance]. Obviously, as you get down there in the red zone, your playbook starts to shrink because you don't have a lot of the vertical concepts in your passing game. The teams that typically are the best teams in the red zone are the ones that are able to run the ball, so I think that's probably one of the bigger differences this year. Our ability to run either with the quarterback or with the running back down there has been helpful, and I think we've made some plays. I think our tight end development at that position has helped us in the red zone, as well, really with all of those guys, [Jonathan] Holland, [Nick] Bowers and [Pat] Freier- muth, so I think that's been a part of it, too. And I think our offensive staff has done a really good job of studying it, has a really good idea of who [the oppo- nents] are, how they want to attack them and cause conflict in their assignments O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 11 Franklin's team will face one of its biggest challenges of the season when it travels to Michigan this weekend. The Nittany Lions lost, 49-10, in their most recent visit to Ann Arbor two years ago. Photo by Steve