James Franklin On Ohio State: 'I think our guys are ready for the challenge'

Penn State head coach James Franklin met with reporters for his weekly media session on Monday. He discussed Saturday’s win at Wisconsin and looked ahead to this weekend’s Top 5 matchup with Ohio State. Franklin was asked about the health of his team, including starting quarterback Drew Allar. Here are the highlights of everything he had to say.

Started by talking about DB Jaylen Reed and DT Zane Durant who are playing well enough to be meriting national talk. They are leading the defense verbally and through their play.
Quick recap on Wisconsin: opportunities for growth, they had their first delay of game penalty and had a fumbled snap. Defensively, they had some substitution errors, including a 12-man penalty that they couldn’t stop because they were out of timeouts.
On Ohio State, a ton of respect for what Ryan Day has been able to do and OSU as a whole as a program over the decades. Playing good football “pretty much across the board.”
Chip Kelly has a reputation as a spread guy who throws it around, but if you study him, he’s always had a strong running game. Will Howard is playing really good football right now. “Obviously a young man from Pennsylvania, so he’ll have a bunch of support here from his family and his friends.”
Two really good RBs for Ohio State. Jeremiah Smith is getting a lot of buzz right now but there’s a number of receivers they could be talking about.
Jim Knowles is a PA guy who is running a multiple scheme defense. The three safeties get talked about the most. He’s doing a nice job. Caleb Downs is playing very well. Denzel Burke is as well. Two defensive ends that are challenging as well in Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau. They are both playing extremely well.
The special teams, OSU coaches it by committee, which some programs do. The kickoff coverage team has been impressive. Lorenzo Styles stands out on that unit. The punt coverage unit stands out as well. Only three returns on the year.
“We’re gonna need a tremendous environment on Saturday.” Home-field advantage is going to be important. “We need this place rocking no matter what time it is.” “We need everybody standing and screaming.” “This is going to be an all-hands-on-deck game.”
What do you need to see from Drew Allar this week before you make a decision on if he plays? “He’s played enough football for us that that timeline will go all the way up to the game.” They will get both QBs reps this week. “It’s too early to tell at this point.” They will have to get both guys ready. You could make the argument they need to get three guys ready, which is very challenging to do because of the limited reps.
Is Ohio State more physical of late? “I don’t know if that’s talk out there. I don’t know. I’m unaware of that conversation.” All he’s seen on film is really good defense under Jim Knowles. He has taken them to a new level. Offensively, there is a commitment to running the ball under Chip Kelly. He has the experience and ability to play to the strengths of his team. “I just base it off of film. I’m not sure what the Ohio State fan base and media is talking about. I’m unaware of that.”
What off-field demands do you eliminate this week? “Nothing changes for us.” They have their process that they do and they’ll stick to it. There is always media and recruiting and things like that that are required. They try to make it structured so that there is a routine regardless of the week.
How much different is this offense with Beau Pribula at QB? As a defense, it’s difficult to prepare for Drew Allar and then have to deal with Pribula being sprinkled in. But when the gameplan is flipped and Pribula is the guy, it changes what the defense is going to do and how they are going to defend you. The offense doesn’t “totally” change. They do enough things and have enough diversity in the playbook that they can focus on the strengths of the players that they have in the game. He reminded OC Andy Kotelnicki of that at Wisconsin. Just call the game playing to Pribula’s strengths. He can throw the ball fine but he’s a stronger runner. “He’s got everybody’s respect and confidence and trust.” When he went into the game on Saturday, they were confident he would be fine.
Defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton is also a guy that can recover all week and then be able to play on Saturday. They’ll see where he is with his injury throughout the week. The backups stepped in well for him last week. He’s working hard in rehab right now. If he can go, he’ll go.
What can you learn from the past 10 years in this series? Have you played as loose as you have against other teams? “They’re a really good football team. They’re as talented a roster as anywhere else in the country.” That’s how it is every year and this year too. “It’s a challenge. I think our guys are ready for the challenge. But we don’t need to change anything.” Focused on the Ohio State team this year and the Penn State team this year. This PSU team has shown that they’re going to find ways to get the job done.
Why was OC Andy Kotelnicki so attractive to you? He was on Franklin’s radar for a while. They interviewed him a while back for the TE job. He’s been calling plays for 19 years and there’s value in that kind of experience. They’ve done some good things the last couple of years but they were lacking in explosive plays, so they went and looked at who was producing explosive plays “and not just because their genetics were better.” And are they doing it against their biggest competition. When they looked at those things, the list whittled quickly. Give Kansas and Lance Leipold credit because they didn’t let him go easily.
On freshman QB Ethan Grunkemeyer: the staff is a huge fan of him. There is a lot of excitement in the program about him. He’s a nice blend of Drew Allar and Beau Pribula. “Grunk’s improvement has been dramatic and I think he’s got a special future.” Watching what happened on Saturday reinforces that those QBs need to be ready however they can get ready. You can’t spent too much time getting everybody ready because you may not get anybody ready.
On right tackle Anthony Donkoh, his injury is different in that he’s not experienced enough like Allar and Dennis-Sutton to rehab all week, miss practice, and be good to go on Saturday. They expect to play both him and Nolan Rucci at that spot but it’s too early to be certain.
How much does a division-free Big Ten change the big-picture perception of this game? “I’m not sure. I think it’s impactful.” “I do think the expanded playoffs are a good thing for college football.” Going away from divisions is good for the Big Ten. The playoffs will probably go more than 12 but it doesn’t matter, somebody will always complain. Gotta find a sweet spot for this sport and the model in general.
What is this team’s identity at this stage? “Good question and I understand the question and I’m not going to answer that question.” He tries to find the identity of the team they are playing and use that against them and try to take that away.
What does this game mean to Julian Fleming? Whenever you play an opponent that a member of the team came from, you can’t say it’s not a big game for that individual. They won’t spend time on it. They want to approach it like every other week — it’s the most important week of the season. “Julian is a super mature guy. He’s been really good in our locker room. I’m very, very proud of him. I don’t want Julian to treat this game any different than how he treated Wisconsin.” Obviously it’s a big game for him and his family.
On OSU having QBs from PA and PSU having QBs from OH: Not sure what it means but everybody is trying to find the best quarterbacks they can from all over the country. “I want our guys to take as much pride in Pennsylvania football as much as other states do.” Every program is just trying to get the best players they possibly can, and if they come from PA, “there’s nobody more excited about that than me.”
How have you seen Beau Pribula develop as a passer? Going back to high school and watching him as a senior, he was so poised and the game seemed so easy to him. He showed up on campus and he’s smart and mature and extremely competitive. He attacks it all. His teammates love him. He’s done everything the right way. Everybody talks about his ability to run but there isn’t anybody in this program that doesn’t believe he can’t do it with his arm too. He’s got a different style of mechanics throwing the ball than Drew Allar.
When Beau Pribula is in the game, he positively impacts the running game. His threat as a runner also creates opportunity in the passing game. People may feel the need to spy him. “It’s another weapon.”
On the decision of when to deploy defensive wrinkles: The biggest thing is they want to make sure they change up alignments and where guys line up so that the offense can’t choose to block them the same way every time. It’s the same principle with tight end Tyler Warren. Line him up all over the place so they can’t defend him the same way every time.