Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/893965
O c T O B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 7 C O A C H S P E A K • E X C E R P T S F R O M J A M E S F R A N K L I N ' S P O S T G A M E P R E S S E R ON THE KICKING GAMESpecial teams was the story of the game for us, be- cause if you look at the yards, the yards didn't make any sense. We had a kickoff return for a touchdown and we had an- other kickoff return for a huge play, so the stats didn't really tell the story. Even when you look at time of possession for most of the game it was pretty bal- anced, so yes special teams played a huge part but once again, blocked punts. If you look statistically, if you get a punt block against you you're going to have hard time being successful. It's kind of like turnovers. ON OHIO STATE'S GAME PLANIt's very similar to what we've been seeing all year long, but they're doing it with re- ally good athletes. They're extremely explosive, extremely athletic with a lot of the same schemes that we've been seeing all year long. ON THE RUNNING GAME We're not able to consistently run the ball at the end of games to finish the game with a four- minute mentality. Obviously, we're playing really good teams with really good talent and really good coaches and those types of things. We just have to keep chipping away to close the gap on these types of opponents in really every single area. I don't think there's any doubt that [it's necessary to] run the ball more consistently, especially in sit- uations when you have the lead and you're trying to run the clock out. … We weren't able to protect or consistently run the ball down the stretch. ON THE TEAM'S INJURIES We lost a number of guys tonight who are good players for us. They either came out or were limited and tried to go back in and weren't able to get it done. There's no doubt about it. We have better depth than we've had, but obviously when you're playing that type of opponent and you don't have your starters on your field and you're down a few more guys, it's magnified. ON THE PLAY OF THE DEFENSE We just had a hard time slowing them down. The momentum was getting to the point where we had a hard time slowing them down. ... I thought we did a pretty good job against them in the running game, but when your quarterback is able to stand back in the pocket that comfortably, he just got momentum. They have a bunch of players who can make plays in space. You can't cover those types of athletes that long. We've got to get to the quarterback.