Penn State football coach James Franklin says Nittany Lions ‘gotta get it done’ after 0-2 start
James Franklin can point to a handful of reasons for why Penn State is 0-2. The seventh-year head coach mentioned that his team’s confidence in the “different philosophy” and “different offense” under first-year offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca isn’t where it would be if the Nittany Lions would’ve had the opportunity to play easier nonconference foes to open the season.
But Franklin also knows that with Maryland headed to Beaver Stadium this Saturday, there’s no time for excuses.
“It’s a little bit of mental; it’s a little bit of physical,” Franklin told reporters on a Zoom conference call Tuesday afternoon. “But again, I know nobody wants to hear that. We’ve gotta get it done, and I’m confident in what we’re going to be able to do this week.”
Maryland hasn’t beaten Penn State since 2014. Last year, the Nittany Lions shut out the Terrapins 59-0 on the road. And in the teams’ past three matchups, Penn State has outscored Maryland 163-6.
But the Terrapins are coming off a 45-44 overtime win over Minnesota on Friday night — a game in which sophomore quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa became just the third player in Big Ten history to throw for at least 350 yards and three touchdowns and rush for two touchdowns.
“You watch that Minnesota game, it’s hard not to be impressed,” Franklin said of Tagovailoa. “You look at the completion percentage. You look at the decision-making. You look at his ability to make plays with his feet, as well as extend plays in the pocket. It was impressive.”
Franklin also has some history with Maryland. He served as the Terrapins’ wide receivers coach from 2000-04 before returning to the program in 2008 to become the team’s offensive coordinator until he accepted a position to be the head coach at Vanderbilt in December 2010.
“Obviously, I know this university and this program well,” Franklin said. “I spent a number of years there ... I have a lot of memories there — a lot of respect for that area, for that community and for that university and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get out and play.”
LACK OF RUNNING GAME
Franklin said the biggest factor offensively in his team’s loss to Ohio State was not being able to get the running game going.
The Nittany Lions ran a total of 27 times against the Buckeyes for 44 yards — an average of 1.6 yards per carry. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Sean Clifford ran more times than he threw in the first half, and he finished the game with 18 attempts each through the air and on the ground.
Clifford was able to create plays with his legs against Indiana in Penn State’s season-opener to finish with 119 rushing yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. But against Ohio State, the 6-foot-2, 217-pound quarterback ended the night with 5 total rushing yards.
“We went into Ohio State specifically with the understanding that we were gonna have to be aggressive in that game and run the quarterback,” Franklin said. “We knew that’s a thing that’s given them issues and challenges in the past. That was a big part of our game plan. There are going to be weeks that we do that, and there are going to be weeks that we try to limit that.”
It also didn’t help that sophomore running back Devyn Ford — who Franklin said must be “the guy” in the absence of redshirt junior running back Journey Brown and sophomore running back Noah Cain — only carried eight times for 36 yards.
Neither freshman running back Caziah Holmes nor freshman running back Keyvone Lee received a single carry.
“They’re gonna have to have a bigger role,” Franklin said. “And we’re excited about Devyn and what Devyn’s gonna be able to do this week and moving forward, but we need those complimentary pieces. We can’t just ride Devyn all year long.”
MISSING PLAYERS
Two players who were expected to see the field a decent amount this season for Penn State haven’t played any snaps so far through two games.
Redshirt junior receiver Cam Sullivan-Brown — listed as a starter in the Nittany Lions’ Week 1 and Week 2 depth chart — hasn’t played yet. Sophomore cornerback Keaton Ellis has been behind redshirt freshman cornerback Joey Porter Jr. on all three of Penn State’s depth charts, but he hasn’t played a single down either.
Sullivan-Brown had eight catches for 56 yards in 2019. The 6-foot, 191-pound receiver was expected to take a step forward this season for a receiving corps that didn’t return much talent from last year. Without Sullivan-Brown, the Nittany Lions have turned to freshmen receivers Parker Washington and KeAndre Lambert-Smith. Penn State’s depth chart this week lists Lambert-Smith as a starter over Sullivan-Brown.
“He had some things going on that weren’t gonna allow him to play the way he wants to play and that we know he’s capable of playing,” Franklin said of Sullivan-Brown. “So he’s available, but KeAndre is a guy that we saw do some really good things during camp but was still a true freshman.”
Franklin also didn’t offer many specifics on Ellis’ status. Instead, he just said Ellis “wasn’t available” last week.
“As you guys know, I don’t get into those things a whole lot,” Franklin said. “We’re hopeful to get him back sooner rather than later. As you know, he’s played a lot of football for us already as a true freshman (last season), so we’d love to get him back.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 5:38 PM.
