Penn State head coach James Franklin recaps win over Bowling Green

always I want to uh thank you guys for coming out and covering Penn State football I want to thank the fans we had a great crowd and especially late in the G game there I think I think they really factored in uh caused them to burn some timeouts got some penalties so that was significant for us um you I think Sanders a high deck coming out and and making some big time field goals that was big and it's going to pay dividends for us moving forward most importantly you got to give you got to give Bowling Green a ton of credit um we talked about it during the week in the last three years they beat Minnesota they beat Georgia Tech Michigan last year was 14-6 at the half 32 seniors and um you got to give them credit they they played their tail off um the moment wasn't too big for them the opening drive showed that um and we were in a dog fight so got to give them a ton of credit obviously taiw waren had a big game for us both running backs had a big big game for us and then I thought in the second half uh we were able to calm down and get ahead of the sticks on defense that was the issue in the first half we were giving up too much on first down creating manageable third down situations for most of the first half uh and that was problematic so obviously we got some work to do but it's nice doing that work uh with a win uh there's a ton of teams across the country that will be trying to make corrections after a loss and we got to make a bunch of corrections after a win and obviously we got some work to do so again I want to thank the crowd and thank you guys for coming out and I open up the questions James you touched on it but how do you account for the difference in the performance of the defense from the first half to the second half is that scheme is it effort what were the things that kind of went into I know I'm going to give the answer that you guys hate but it's hard for me to to really say that right now with without watching the tape no different than when I learned a long time ago as a head coach after a win like that um we talk about being one and0 and being positive and being appreciative uh of the wins um and wins are hard to get in college football um of not going in there and starting critiquing after a win and for really the same reasons I don't want to say something that's not totally accurate uh without watching the tape yet but I think I think the biggest thing in the second half like I already mentioned on defense we were more efficient on first down um which created second and long and created third and long situations we were ahead of the sticks the whole first half we worked um I think what happens early on and it's happened for the last couple years and we got to look at this um I think early on we're trying to make plays rather than play the defense getting out of our gaps trying to make plays uh doing things that we haven't done during the week and we got to get those things cleaned up for sure Jared then Rich hey good um obviously last year we saw a little bit of Tony rooh he was a game record and what we did see through two games we've seen a bunch of that now um can you kind of talk about his role to the team and what he's contributed so far yeah I I think you guys know we've been talking positively about him really since we recruited him since he showed on campus uh you know the way his body has changed his production uh big fast smart physical can do a lot of different things and it's not just tackles in the Box he's a sideline to sideline guy as well as a guy that can um obviously make plays in coverage I think that's maybe some things that maybe people have saw on tape um he's had some opportunities to cover backs one-on-one on Wheel routes and things like that he's done a nice job and then today to be able to under cut that route and get an interception as Big Rich than Tyler James to your right next hey Rich are you usually ever here I'm usually sitting down but I like Mark Bron so I wanted to stay next to okay you've long talked about the value of Nick and KRON how valuable were those two today to this win yeah I I think you know there's a lot of buzz in I think last week according to Chris Peterson about KRON Allen and yards per carry and and production and all those types of things um you know both of these guys Nick averages 9.2 KRON a averages 7 7.2 both for over a 100 yards and to be able to have that type of balance in the passing game and in the Run game uh I think is really important the thing that we have got to get better at is we got to be better on third down because we're not just we're not getting enough plays to be able to distribute the ball around to all of our guys just don't we're not getting enough plays to do it and the way way to resolve that is be better on third down or you know obviously get the first downs on first and second down never even get the third down but we got to we got to get more ples and that will help our offense out significantly but also help our defense out significantly Tyler then pickle James um curious going back to the tight end position ask going into the week but with Andrew not being available apparently using crutes on the sideline is that a longterm injury issue that we need to be aware of and because of this it seems like Luke has been thrusted into games back to back weeks um are you increasingly comfortable with him playing the question yeah Luke's a guy that we have a ton of confidence in not only physically but just how he's approached things since he stepped on campus as a true freshman um been been very impressed with him um I can't really speak um I can't really speak at this stage on rap just because I don't know to be honest with you this this was very very recent uh this happened so I just I don't have the information to give to you and as you guys know I won't talk about injuries with you guys until I've talk to the players and their families and make sure everybody's okay with the with the information but I also again I don't know um you know again it's it's it was very recent pickle and then CL coach what can you tell us about why KJ Winston only played the first quarter I think maybe one play in the second quarter and then the guys who came in and took the snaps he would usually get how do you think initially those guys were yeah again I can't get into uh KJ Winston and and and why why he wasn't in there um as you guys know I don't I don't talk about those things but it obviously increased the amount of reps um you know for J Reid and increased the amount of Reps for um zaky uh and also kind of changed our ability to be able to get into the package where um J Reed is playing the lion position so um you know we needed to be in base a little bit more uh it's hard to get in Prowler if they don't substitute on third down which is what a lot of people are doing they won't substitute on third down so then we can't get our Prowler on the field uh which is our Rush package um which which is a smart plan right it's a smart plan um so those are some things that we're going to have to work on specifically during the bye those will be important play in The Neil coach historically you usually wear glasses clct no it's a good look historically your quarterbacks have always had that go-to receiver that they just have this trust in you know is has Tyler Warren become that right now Drew after there another really impressive performance yeah I I think I think there's a number of guys um you know I think Tyler Warren was the guy today that got a bunch of opportunities and and and made the most of them obviously his play count and opportunities went up because we didn't have R available so that was part of that as well um you know last week everybody was talk about Trey right so it's that's just kind of how things are going to go um but again we goes back to my point earlier we just got to get more plays on offense we got to get off the field on defense and we got to sustain drives on offense so that we can get more guys involved in more touches last question to Neil James I'm just a preparation question um did you feel like on defense you guys were as quick as you were last week and did having a buy next week affect how you approached this week at all no um the bid next week didn't affect how we um how we looked at this week or prepared for this week no that that didn't factor in um but in terms of you know what how we played against West Virginia on D against a team that we think is going to give people fits um obviously we were much more productive against West Virginia on the defensive side of the ball um and to your point flying around the field being disruptive making making plays again um I I'm not one of these coaches where um I'm not going to give credit to Bowling Green that's that's that's Bowling Green Giving Them credit for their plan and their players uh and then it's also us um you know making sure we're doing a good job with our plan and and our players you know going out and executing it's it's it's literally both uh no different than last week I think our defense created some of those problems and issues and cause stress so um it's you know it's weird to have a bye after your second game but I think it's going to be important for us and we're going to need to maximize this time um and then and then obviously we'll get focused on our next opponent but appreciate you guys coming out appreciate the questions and and most importantly I appreciate the fans coming out supporting Penn State football thank