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you I will have one moving forward. I'll talk to sports scientists, I'll talk to other coaches and I'll go through every detail of what happened today and I'll make sure we have a plan to put our kids in position to be successful. We were not prepared for a three-hour and 22- minute delay, but again they had the same delay as we do." MOMENTUM SWINGSWhen the game resumed – on a waterlogged playing surface – whatever momentum the Lions had generated in building a 14-7 lead quickly vanished. Although Penn State stopped the Spartans on the possession that had been interrupted, they went on to earn a field position advantage off a Trace Mc- Sorley interception and eventually tied the score. McSorley threw three inter- ceptions and while they didn't all lead to Michigan State points, they helped the Spartans gain valuable field position. "We didn't win the field-position bat- tle. We didn't win the turnover battle. That to me is the story of the game," Franklin said. "You turn the ball over three times, you only get one, especially on the road, you're going to have a hard day. You're going to have a long day since the beginning of time. "We lost the turnover battle. We lost the field-position battle. Explosive plays were a wash. That's the story of the game. It's pretty much that simple." PASS RUSH FALTERSDefensively, the Nittany Lions had trouble corralling Michigan State quarterback Brian Lew- erke. The Spartans' signal-caller fin- ished his a?ernoon completing 33 of 56 passes for 400 yards and two touch- downs, but Franklin did not finger his secondary as the biggest culprits in Michigan State's success. Instead, with the Spartans taking just two sacks and four tackles for a loss on the day, Franklin said his cobbled-to- gether defensive line and linebackers were not creating enough pressure. "We're not getting to the quarterback enough. That has showed up the last couple weeks. They're getting to us and getting pressure on our quarterback," he said. "We rush four, we're not getting there. We rush five, we're not getting there. We rush six, we're not getting there. We're not getting the quarterback consistently enough. "Can we cover better? Yes. But I'm going to tell you the best thing for cov- erage is pressuring and sacking the quarterback." From their place two weeks ago among the nation's best in both team tackles for loss (59, good for No. 4 nationally) and team sacks (24, good for No. 4 nation- ally), the Nittany Lions have since gen- erated just 10 TFLs and only four sacks. Against two of the better quarterbacks in the Big Ten, with receivers who made big catches, the Lions have paid. "I think that was a really good quar- terback. I thought he was really good on film. I thought he was really good today," Franklin said. "He's poised. He's accurate. He can throw on the run. He can throw from the pocket and he's got mobility. He's a really good quarterback. I had a lot of respect for him coming in today, got more respect a?er watching him play. You've got to give them credit, but that's part of our issue. Do we need to cover better? No doubt about it, but we need to get the quarterback more consistently." GROUND GAME STRUGGLES Offen- sively, Franklin bemoaned a running game that has virtually disappeared since the start of the Big Ten season. Against Big Ten competition, the Nit- tany Lions entered the game ranked eighth in the league and are likely to fall further a?er another lackluster per- formance. Against a Michigan State team that is among the nation's best at stopping the run, and weather condi- tions demanding a ball-control offense, Franklin noted his Nittany Lions were in trouble. "Offensively we have to be able to get a running game going," he said. "[It's] magnified on a day like today. We have got to get a running game going." Carrying the ball 21 times, the Nittany Lions were held to just 65 yards on the ground against the Spartans, high- lighted by a 36-yard carry by Saquon Barkley in the third quarter. Boiling the issue down beyond the numbers of Barkley, though, Franklin said the PSU offense would need to re- evaluate and correct its performances. "Saquon didn't struggle today," Franklin said. "Our offense struggled at times today and we haven't been run- ning the ball consistently this year. So it's not a Saquon issue. It's a team issue, and we're going to work to get it cor- rected." N O V E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 12 W E A T H E R D E L A Y T I M E L I N E 1:07 p.m. Scoreboard warns of potential storm system moving into the area, alerting fans that they may need to seek shelter. 1:15 p.m. Weather delay announced. Teams clear the field as fans are told they must exit the stadium. 2:03 p.m. Stadium scoreboards announce 4 p.m. estimated resumption of the game. 2:25 p.m. Announcement made that the game will resume no earlier than 4:15 p.m. 3:07 p.m. Announcement made in the press box and via social media that the game won't start until 5:30 p.m. at the earliest. Halftime show also announced as being canceled. 3:09 p.m. Penn State moves into the visitors' press room at the stadium. 3:55 p.m. Weather system clears over Spartan Stadium, with slight rain still falling. 3:59 p.m. Announcement made that game will resume at 4:38 p.m. 4:06 p.m. Students begin filing back into their section as stadium workers begin squeegeeing grass. 4:08 p.m. Penn State players move back to the visitors' locker room. 4:10 p.m. Sun peeks through the clouds over East Lansing. 4:20 p.m. Penn State coaches emerge from the tunnel and proceed onto the sideline. 4:22 p.m. Michigan State players and coaches jog back onto the field, followed by Penn State players to begin warming up as a 13-minute countdown clock begins. 4:38 p.m. Penn State and Michigan State line up at the 38-yard line, and the game resumes with 7 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the first half.

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