Some of James Franklin’s comments after Penn State’s loss.
“Obviously we’ve all got to get better. All of us.”
“I thought not having Jesse Luketa in the first half really made an impact.”
“We did not win the line of scrimmage tonight.”
“Early on in the game I thought our defense was doing some pretty good things and our offense couldn’t get going.”
On fourth-down call early:
“We wanted to be aggressive, that’s why we went for it early. … We wanted to go for it as much as we possibly could on fourth-down in situations.”
On Jahan Dotson’s big night:
“Over the last number of years, we’ve always had that one guy (at receiver) … that people were concerned about. … It’s good to see Jahan stepping up right now. So we’re gonna need to build on that.”
Offensive difference from first half to second half:
“We had a couple schemes that worked in the first half and we went back to them, things that were giving them problems.
“The few things that we had success with early in the first half, we just went back to those things. … We were able to get the ball out of sean’s hands.”
On lack of running game:
“Not being able to have a running game with a D-line like that that can tee off on you in the passing game, you’ve got to be able to be balanced.”
On FG to end first half:
“The play at the end of the half was strange. I’m not going to argue it a whole lot. We got points out of it. But it was definitely strange.”
On Sean Clifford’s progress:
“Tonight was hard to judge that based on having people in his face all night long. … I will tell you this. I thought for the amount of times he got hit and got pressured in the pocket, I thought his toughness was on display.”
On defensive confusion on Ohio State TD in second quarter
“We were in our dollar package, and we had a young man who didn’t go out on the field. … Those are the things that are happening that should never happen. … Those are the things we’ve got to spend a lot of time talking about Sunday.”
Did the first play by Ohio State set the tone?
“The opening play obviously was a big play, but that’s gonna happen. That happens sometimes, and you’ve got to be mentlly tough and bounce back from it and be resilient. … It kind of got us on our heels and we were really never able to get them off schedule.”
Is Justin Fields the best QB he’s faced?
“I’m not sure. He is talented, and it’s not just Justin. It’s all the pieces around him, as well. I think we’ve got a pretty good pass rush. We weren’t able to get to him a whole lot tonight. … They’re very talented on the perimeter at the wide receiver positions, as well.”
