Blue White Illustrated

T H E 2 0 1 7 S E A S O N lean on its offensive and defensive lines, and those star-studded units delivered a one-point victory. That's what talent does for you. It keeps you competitive even when you're having a bad day. Ohio State has recruited brilliantly under Meyer's leadership, just as it did under Tressel. Its five most recent classes were rated second, third, ninth, third and second in the Rivals.com team rankings. This year's class is rated first overall. There are going to be a lot of cel- ebratory high-fives at the Woody Hayes Athletic Complex next month when the fax machine starts spitting out letters. Over that same span, Penn State's classes were rated 43rd, 24th, 15th, 21st and 12th. This year's class was second as of this writing, making it the first class of the Franklin era to be roughly on par with its scarlet-and-gray counterpart. Of course, player development matters too, as Penn State has shown during the past two seasons. It went into the Ohio State game with former three-star prospects and late additions at a number of key positions. The list includes its starting middle linebacker and free safety, both starting cornerbacks and both defensive tackles. On offense, its starting quarterback was thought by some to have a brighter future at safety when he arrived on campus, and its run- ning back had been committed to Rut- gers before Penn State swooped in and flipped him. And yet these guys came within a play or two of completing only the third sweep of Michigan and Ohio State since Penn State began Big Ten competition in 1993. So while the Lions have come a long way, there's still a need for patience as the staff works to amass the across- the-board talent and depth that other elite teams like Ohio State possess. "People may not like what I'm going to say, but I'm going to stay positive, and progress is still being made," Franklin said. "Three years ago when we went there, we lost 38-10. There are no moral victories. As the head football coach, I've got to be very honest with myself and I've got to be very honest with our players and I've got to be very honest with our coaching staff and ask the tough questions and be critical of the things that we need to be critical of, starting with me. "I also need to be aware of the progress that's being made and be able to tell the players and the coaches what we've done well and what we need to do better. We're making progress. You have to give Ohio State and Coach Urban Meyer and their program all the credit in the world, but we've got to learn to finish." In a larger sense, that's the biggest question facing Penn State's program right now: Will Franklin and his staff be able to finish the project they began four years ago when they showed up in Uni- versity Park jabbing their index fingers in the air in every photo op as if to signal that they were aiming to win national championships? It's not going to happen in 2017, and the future gets hazier after that. But we do know this: They're off to a pretty good start. ■ P R E S S C O N F E R E N C E S people who are going to mesh charge. When they're doing it with really good athletes, it magni:es it, there's no doubt. Changing our tempo up, chang- ing our back's alignment up, motion and shi=, it's a combination of all those things. It's making sure that we're putting our guys in the best position to be success- ful, which we've done a large portion of the time. It's making sure that we are pulling the ball and throwing the ball when we're supposed to. It's being will- ing to lower your shoulder and get three yards when there's not a great situation. There's blocking on the perimeter. It's all of us. It's myself and everybody else doing a better job. Again, I don't know if I would describe it exactly the way you did. Is there any way to prepare a defense in practice for sudden-change situa- tions, or is it something that's mental and has to be overcome during a game? I think it's a combination of both. We talk about the situation, explain the sit- uation, what to expect in those situa- tions. A lot of people, when they get a sudden change, have the momentum, and they're going to try to keep the mo- mentum by taking a shot. We talk about that, the importance of not allowing them to get the big play in that situation and keep the momentum. We've been good at it in the past. So it's not like it's a philosophical change or things like that. We're going to keep em- phasizing it in practices and meetings, keep coaching, explaining what to ex- pect, what are the plays they run in those situations, what kind of shot plays can we expect? It's all those things that factor in. Media and fans seem to think Saquon Barkley is getting the ball from a stand-still position as opposed to going forward. Is there anything to that? Is that a misconception people have? Is that a real concern where you want him bursting forward? We're doing it very similar to what we've done for the last two years with one of the most explosive o

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