What they said: James Franklin believes Penn State is better equipped to handle the Michigan pass rush
The battle of the unbeaten will take place on Saturday in Ann Arbor. Michigan (6-0) hosts Penn State (5-0) and not only are both teams undefeated through the first six weeks, but this is a top-10 matchup.
The Wolverines are coming off two big wins on the road against Iowa and Indiana. While the Nittany Lions defeated Northwestern two weeks ago, but Penn State is coming off a bye week this past Saturday.
On Tuesday, Penn State coach James Franklin had his weekly press conference and he had plenty to say about Michigan. Franklin opened his statement with a heartfelt message for Mike Hart on a speedy recovery.
Franklin also talked about all three phases of this year’s Michigan team. The Nittany Lion’s coach talked about how his team is better equipped this year to handle the Wovlerines’ pass rush.
You can see below everything that Franklin had to say about Michigan prior to the game on Saturday.
Opening statement
First of all, I’d like to lead with sending our thoughts and prayers to Mike Hart and his family. Obviously Big Ten through and through as a player and a coach both at Indiana and Michigan.
Obviously, you don’t ever like to see anything like that. We truly wish his family, Mike, as well as the running backs and players at the University of Michigan, our thoughts. Hopefully he’ll be healthy enough to be involved in the game on Saturday. I hope I get a chance to see him before the game. If not, wish him nothing but the best.
Kind of moving on, obviously not going to backtrack too much. We met last week. But getting into the Michigan game and Coach Harbaugh, obviously got a ton of respect for Coach Harbaugh, for the university, for the program, for the venue.
Obviously I think they got a lot of things planned for the game, as well. Should be a great atmosphere. I know our guys are looking forward to it and preparing for it. This is why you come to a place like Penn State, to play in these types of games.
Kind of when you get into them specifically, you talk about their offense. They have co-offensive coordinators in Coach Moore and Coach Weiss. Coach Moore has been on staff, been promoted. Coach Weiss has come from the Ravens. They’ve obviously had a unique situation with the Ravens and his brother being the head coach there. Been a bunch of staff kind of back and forth between those two organizations.
Got a ton of respect for what they’re doing, how they’re doing it. Extremely efficient. I think they do a great job of staying on schedule. First down is obviously a huge factor for them in their offense. It’s going to be a challenge.
They’re able to run it. They’re able to throw it. Obviously their offensive line was considered to be the best offensive line in all of college football last year. On top of that, they’ve got maybe the most productive back in college football over the last couple years.
They got wide receivers that can make plays, tight ends that can make plays and a young and talented quarterback that’s leading the nation in completion percentage.
We know all about Blake Corum, not only from what he’s done at Michigan but also obviously right down the street here. Played his high school ball in the Baltimore, Maryland area. Ronnie bell has been doing it for a while and has been successful for a while at wide receiver there. J.J. McCarthy is obviously the new face, but extremely talented. Kind of already talked about him.
They’re similar to us. Got a deep and talented tight end room. Although they’ve had some injuries there, No. 86, Schoonmaker, is playing really well for them.
On the defense side of the ball, Jesse Minter comes from a football family. I’ve known his dad for a long time as well. Another guy that spent time with the Ravens. Last year was at Vanderbilt. Now is at Michigan as the defensive coordinator.
Also got a situation there. When you look at what they’re able to do defensively, it starts up front with Mazi Smith, who is a guy we recruited extremely hard. Kind of to me anchors their defense.
Their middle linebacker, No. 25, we’re really impressed with the production of Mike Morris, defensive end, playing at a high level. Then their corner, DJ Turner.
Maybe I don’t know if ‘surprising’ is the right term, with the departure of the two defensive ends last year that was so well thought of, for them to be able to pressure and sack the quarterback at the rate they’ve been able to do it after losing those guys has been impressive.
It will be a challenge. Multiple fronts. Talented secondary as well. They do a really good job scheme-wise of putting their players in position to be successful.
Then on special teams, again, consistency. Jay Harbaugh running the special teams has moved over to the defensive side of the ball this year. Was tight ends last year.
They have pretty good personnel as well. A.J. Henning is a man we recruited heavily. Their punt returner, kick returner, been successful. Their kicker Jake Moody and their punter Brad Robbins are all playing at a really high level. Their punter is punting as well as any punter in the country right now.
Really in all three units you’re going to have to be prepared and ready to play. We’re going to have to deal with their personnel, their scheme and the venue. Looking forward to the opportunity.
Does he feel like Penn State is better equipped to handle Michigan's pass rush?
Yeah, I think we’re better equipped. But I also think they’ve done a good job of making people one-dimensional, so then you’re getting in maybe not obvious passing downs, but maybe a situation where people — I don’t know if the score has always mandated that. Some of their games it has.
But people have gotten away from the run game because they’ve gotten down by too many points. Whenever you’re up by a certain margin, then you’re going to get more passing opportunities, which also creates more opportunities to rush the quarterback and pin your ears back. So that plays a factor into it, how the score goes.
Very similar to their offense and how they’ve been able to manage their offense over the last couple of years and be able to stay on schedule. If you’re in third-and-short situations or getting a bunch of yards on first down, it helps manage that for their offense and for their defense in what they’re trying to do.
Yeah, I think we’re better equipped to do it from a personnel standpoint, but I also think we’re better equipped to do it in terms of not getting away from the run and being one-dimensional. Kind of sticking with the plan.
On having a bye week to self scout and get ready for Michigan
Yeah, I think so. I think we’ve done a good job of doing self scout and really kind of having a good idea of who we are, what we are, what are the areas that we need to work on, what are the areas we need to build on.
Obviously been able to take some time going good on good at practice. Then being able to take some time and get a head start on Michigan. I think all those things are valuable.
Also the time off for the players, not so much for the coaches. I wish we could get a little bit more time off for the coaches because also being rested physically and mentally is important as well. The timing of it is pretty good. We haven’t always had great timing of the bye weeks. This one has been pretty good for us.
Managing that, one of the things we did this year that’s a little bit different is our third practice. We practiced Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That Thursday practice in the past had been more of a GA and non-travel practice from a developmental standpoint. This year we did that, but we had everybody out there, all the players were able to get a head start on Michigan, with the coordinators and GAs and things like that. We did add an extra day of meetings and extra day of practice, although it was a jog-through, more from a mental perspective than anything.
I think on top of that, I think how we have played our guys since the beginning of the season. Our depth is in a better position, not only that it’s been in the past but also how it’s been from the beginning of the season. I think there’s less question marks that you guys have as media and we have as coaches of our depth overall and at specific positions that you guys had a ton of questions about in the beginning of the season.
On facing J.J. McCarthy
Yeah, I think it would be different in they were playing both quarterbacks all the time. It was really one game, the guy played the majority of the reps, then the next game the guy played the majority of the reps. You had a good sample size of who those guys were, especially the other quarterback who played an entire season.
I think the biggest thing for us and the biggest challenge for us is what I’ve been talking about. They’ve been great on first down. When you’re able to run the ball and be as efficient as they’ve been on first down, they’re able to stay ahead of the sticks, takes the pressure off of their quarterback, takes the pressure off of their offensive coordinator because they’re in favorable down and distance situations a lot.
That’s a credit to their players, to their coaches. I think a big part of it is obviously not only Blake Corum but really their running back room. They’ve had a lot of production out of those guys. It will be a real challenge for us.
But this quarterback, I’ve been impressed with his poise. He is very poised back there. Obviously, he’s been very accurate. He can make all the throws on the field. He’s got a very strong arm. He’s got real good what people describe as arm talent.
I think part of his poise is his confidence in his athleticism. He feels like he can stand in there. If he gets pressure, he runs well enough to run away from most people and avoid hits. Able to run for a first down on the sideline, step out of bounds, but keep people on their heels.
That confidence that comes from his accuracy, that confidence that comes from his athleticism, and that confidence that comes from staying ahead of the sticks is I think what makes him and their offense challenging.
On the Penn State linebackers and that unit against the Michigan running attack
As you guys know, we felt pretty good from an experience and production standpoint about the two outside linebacker positions. But I think we probably feel even better because the depth that we’ve been able to create with Abdul behind Curtis I think has helped us.
I think everybody in the room would agree – I don’t mean to speak for everybody in the room – but most people would agree we’re in a better position from that standpoint than we were coming into the season based on what we’ve been able to see and know up to this point.
The biggest question mark was at Mike linebacker. Both Elsdon and Kobe have played a lot of football now. They’re no longer first-time starters. When you get to this point of the season, that’s no longer something that is discussed or accepted to be talking about, Well, it’s your first year starting. We’re past that point in the season.
They will be challenged in this game when you talk about the run game, the variety of the run game, the diversity of the run game, the play-action pass off of it, and the talent as well. Their talent on their offensive line, running back positions have done a really good job.
I think we’re in a much different position, a much better position than we were to start the season. Those guys continue to gain confidence and gain experience. We’re going to need those guys to play really well on Saturday based on what we’ve all seen on film.
