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C OA C H S P E A K| EXcERPTS FROM JAMES FRANKLIN'S WEEKLY PRESSER What do you see from the team leadership a;er back-to-back losses, and what have you tried to instill in the team in the last 10 days? You look at our team; on defense we have Mike Hull and C.J. Olaniyan, who are both seniors, starters and playing at a high level. On offense, we have Miles Dieffenbach, who is a senior and hasn't played all year, and a sophomore quar- terback, so there is just a different dy- namic there. I talked about the guys taking owner- ship in the team. I think we've really seen a shiC in the last week. I've really seen a shiC in the last few days of guys really understanding what it's going to take to be successful in our system. We've seen guys taking ownership, guys coming into my office and having really good meetings and asking really good questions and giving really good feedback. I think that's been really, really impor- tant. If there is a concern or if there is a question, we should talk about it and work through it together. I've seen some really good things. I've seen some progress. You mentioned that Ohio State's Joey Bosa jumps out the most to you guys. What does stand out specifically about him on film and what are some keys to slowing down an end like that when he's in a groove like he is? He's a rare combination. You're look- ing at a guy who is 6-foot-5, 280 pounds and is able to play with quick- ness and to play with power. A lot of times you can find guys who are ex- tremely strong and powerful and explo- sive at the point of attack, but maybe they don't have the quickness as a pass rusher. He's got a rare combination. He can beat you with speed and quickness, but he can also beat you with power. Those guys are hard to find and they don't come around very oCen. I think that's what makes him a challenge. Ob- viously, we need to be aware of him. You try to look at it from an offensive per- spective in pass protection, and in the run game. You know where your single blocks are going to be. They do a nice job about where they play him. They play him at defensive end, but they will also move him inside to defensive tackle a little bit, like we've done with [Anthony] Zettel. So you can't say you know he's always going to be the leC defensive end or always going to be the three-tech- nique. They do a nice job with that, and it creates challenges. We're going to go back to technique and fundamentals and see where we can help double-team him as much as we can. Last week, you mentioned the need to get fans excited without at the same time setting up false expecta- tions. With 46 available players on the roster, what do you consider "reasonable expectations" for this team this season? The biggest thing is that I want our players and I want our fans and I want the community to feel really good about the direction of the program and how we play. That's the thing that's impor- tant to me, that we come out and we play up to our abilities each week. I want people to be very, very comfort- able with the direction of the program, where it's going and how our guys are playing and the type of experience they're having – that's on the football field, in the community with all the community service we're doing and in the classroom. I want them to have a great experience and I want our fans to be proud of the product that we're putting on the field each week. What that means in wins and losses? I'm not sure. What I do know is we're going to work like crazy this week to get our guys prepared to go out and play Ohio State and play well. At the end of the year, we'll look back and we'll look at that and see where we're at, but right now we're focused on Ohio State. Zach Zwinak led this team in rush- ing each of the past two years and av- eraged 140 yards per game in the last four games last season, but he only had seven carries in your last two games. I'm just curious why he has seen his opportunities dry up so much, especially since your running game has struggled. It goes back to what I've been talking to you guys about all year long. We knew we had some challenges coming into the season. We had three players last season who are playing on NFL teams now – two on the offensive line and one at wide receiver. It's no differ- ent than all the other areas we're talking about. We need to be able to consis- tently get the running game going. Consistently starts up front. As our of- fensive line continues to grow and play better, then our quarterback will be protected and we'll throw the ball bet- ter, and then our running game will be more effective. All of those things are based on consistency. BAcK  ON  THE  LINE? Franklin didn't rule out the pos- sible return of injured guard Miles Dieffen- bach. Said the coach, "If he's ready this week, we would love him to be back." O c T O B E R 2 2 , 2 0 1 4 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 13 Tim Owen SEE FRANKLIN PAGE 14

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