Up next in 10
James Franklin speaks after Penn State football clinches Big Ten Championship berth
Dec 3, 2024
Penn State football coach James Franklin addresses the media following the Nittany Lions' 44-7 win over Maryland. The victory secured the program's first 11-win regular season since 2008 and earned Penn State a spot in the 2024 Big Ten Championship Game.
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0:09
so uh first of all like always I want to
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thank you guys for coming out covering
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Penn State football I also want to thank
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the fans that showed up and supported us
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uh big game big win so the fans that
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came back into town the students that
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came back into town over Thanksgiving
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break to support us uh we really
0:28
appreciate that
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um overall obviously the game did not
0:33
start the way we'd like it to start very
0:35
very sloppy um on offense and defense
0:38
but after that from that point on um
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very pleased you know we won the the
0:44
takeaway battle um three turnovers and
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and to be honest with you really five
0:49
turnovers because we had two fourth down
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stops as well I kind of look at them as
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turnovers as well uh explosive play
0:55
Battle we won that the third down battle
0:57
we won that the sack battle we won that
1:00
the field position battle we won that
1:02
the penalty battle we did
1:04
not um got to get those things cleaned
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up um and then the middle eight we won
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that so you know talk about statistics
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that we talk about being important and
1:15
impactful in college football we did a
1:17
great job with those things um but
1:20
overall we found a way to get another
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win if you if you study college football
1:26
not just Penn State if you study college
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football it's it's hard hard to win
1:30
consistently and uh the fact that our
1:33
guys were able to find a way uh to win
1:37
um 11 times this season during the
1:39
regular season I'm proud of him and um
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you know I told him in the locker room
1:45
good news and bad news good news um
1:47
excuse me bad news um is that we were
1:50
supposed to have uh practice off
1:52
tomorrow they were supposed to have the
1:54
day off we do not have the day off
1:55
anymore uh we'll be we'll be back to
1:58
work tomorrow morning um enjoy this for
2:01
a couple hours and get to work so uh
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open up the questions we'll go Mark and
2:05
then Rich James when you heard the
2:08
results of the Ohio State game does that
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change anything at all about your
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preparation or or the way you approach
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the game or is it same old same no we we
2:17
had to find a way to beat Maryland and
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we had had to find a way to get better
2:22
and besides the opening drives I thought
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I thought we did that today so um you
2:28
know we played a ton of guys which I
2:30
think is really valuable um our threes
2:33
and fours against their ones they kept
2:36
their ones in uh the entire game and our
2:39
threes and fours were able to get in
2:41
there and get really good work uh which
2:43
would be important for their development
2:45
probably not as clean as we'd like it to
2:47
be but um that that was really good work
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rich and then Johnny James when did you
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find out about the result of the
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Michigan Ohio State game and did you say
3:00
anything to the team before they took
3:01
the field no I didn't I didn't we we
3:04
knew U but I didn't say anything to the
3:06
team actually I I did the opposite I
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said Maryland Maryland Maryland Maryland
3:11
Maryland Maryland Maryland Maryland
3:13
Maryland because um I think a lot of
3:16
people were aware of it and I was trying
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to keep us focused maybe that's why the
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game started out the way the game
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started but um you got to control the
3:25
things that you can control and the
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things outside of Beaver Stadium um are
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not in our control so we needed to win
3:32
and play well a lot of eyes watching
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these games uh looking at the statistics
3:38
all those things are important uh we're
3:41
fighting to keep this family together as
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long as we possibly can um wins do that
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statistics do that um how it looks all
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those things matter so you know we were
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going to play for four quarters and
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fight till the end and um do everything
3:59
we everything we had to do to put oursel
4:02
in the best position uh to continue this
4:05
season as long as possible and also be
4:07
seated as high as possible Johnny then
4:09
pickle James here right can you explain
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the emotions of the you know the alma
4:13
moer after the game the scene after the
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game you know and I saw you interact
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with some seniors you know with the big
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10 title game upcoming just everything
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that went into that yeah you know I'm
4:24
I'm not sure about that I mean it was a
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a win on senior day which is always
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emotional for me uh KRON he he's the one
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guy like he he won't he won't kind of
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let me slide you know I got emotional at
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breakfast this morning talking to the
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guys and KRON doesn't like that whole
4:43
lot gives me a hard time anytime I get
4:45
emotional um but senior day is an
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emotional day for me um you know you're
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with these guys you know with four years
4:55
with Co some guys five years six years
4:59
um good and bad um I'm a I'm a coach
5:03
that I love him hard but I also coach
5:05
him hard and I hold him accountable and
5:08
it's not always puppies and
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rainbows
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um so you know to think about some of
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the journeys I've been on with these
5:17
guys it's a lot so um I'm proud of them
5:20
but it's an emotional day in general and
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then on top of that um you know an
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opportunity to go to Indianapolis
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playing the Big 10 championship game uh
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uh pretty cool so you know I I would I'd
5:32
be emotional either way but that's kind
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of like a little bit of a cherry on top
5:37
you know pick then Andrew coach right in
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front of you uh tyer Denmark called a
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touchdown there at the end of the game
5:42
what has his progress been like this
5:44
season what do you think that play
5:45
specifically can do for him moving into
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the postseason yeah he's a talented guy
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he's a talented guy he's a confident guy
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and he's a tough guy which which you
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know we put a premium on toughness in
5:59
our program
6:00
and um that guy has kind of all those
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qualities he continues to get better um
6:08
you know we're going to need him more
6:09
and more here in the offseason excuse me
6:11
in the U postseason excuse
6:14
me um but I'm proud of him he can be a
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punt returner for us he could be a slot
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receiver I think he can also play z um
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but he's a young talented player that
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we're excited about his future so pretty
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cool for him to get that touchdown um um
6:30
and and good for the threes and fours
6:32
again against against their ones to to
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you know have some success Andrew inured
6:37
coach back here the camera hey um you
6:40
talk about growth a lot right and
6:42
growing each week what does it say to
6:43
you that the beginning of the season um
6:46
people were more critical about the
6:47
defense but at the end of the season
6:49
here the defense really flipped the page
6:51
and and really carried you guys late in
6:52
the year what does that say about their
6:54
growth from week one to whose people a
6:56
lot of us sitting here in the room oh
6:58
cuz I was about say I was going to give
7:00
you guys a sound B I was going to say I
7:02
could give a but I'm not I'm not I'd
7:04
love to do that God I'd love to do that
7:06
one day
7:10
um you know again we we focus on the
7:13
things that we can control in in Beaver
7:16
Stadium and the Lash building and if
7:19
you're going
7:20
to um ride the wave of emotion and
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passion of fans uh and sometimes
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media you'll drive yourself crazy so
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I've been doing this long enough to to
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not do that um understand that you guys
7:39
got a job to do and and um again focus
7:44
on the things that that we can control
7:46
I've talked about it before um we got a
7:49
history here on the defensive side of
7:52
the ball we've had it for a long time
7:54
way before my time um every defensive
7:57
coordinator I've had since I've been
7:59
here has finished in the top 10 their
8:01
defenses pretty consistently in the top
8:04
10 uh a lot in the top
8:07
five that's a credit to those men and
8:09
their leadership it's also a credit to
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how we operate and how we do things I
8:13
think it's a telling about the culture
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of the program um
8:17
so you know uh we're playing really well
8:21
on offense defense and special teams um
8:25
and we got to get our field goal
8:26
protection cleaned up had some moving
8:29
part in there some new guys with some
8:30
injuries and that wasn't good enough
8:32
again today but but overall pretty darn
8:35
good I think Barker's kind of a quiet
8:37
story no one no one wants to talk about
8:40
the field goal kicker until he misses
8:43
something and he's been he's been really
8:45
good for us since taking over that spot
8:48
Jared then Tyler hey good Franklin to
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your left hey Jared um I know you might
8:52
end up sounding like a broken record
8:54
with this question again but I think his
8:56
play warrants that um Tyler Warren
8:58
breaking another record he might have
9:00
the most broken records maybe ever here
9:04
um can you just talk about his play
9:06
again and uh how impressive he was uh
9:09
for another week yeah he's a
9:12
beast and and I think the point is that
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everybody goes into it saying you got to
9:18
stop tile War everybody's defensive game
9:22
plan is we can't allow 44 to impact the
9:25
game just like for us it was Ty Fel we
9:28
went into this saying Ty Felton's going
9:30
to make some plays he's a really good
9:32
player but we got to limit his impact
9:34
everybody said that every single week
9:36
with Tyler Warren no one's done it they
9:38
ought to bring the Mackey award tonight
9:41
put it on a private jet fly it to to
9:44
Tyler Warren give it to him on Sunday
9:46
and then he should get an invitation to
9:48
New York he's done it week in and week
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out he's a big- time player and he's
9:54
doing it when all eyes are on him and
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he's the focus of the game plan to stop
9:58
him so he's a he's a special
10:02
guy his humility is impressive yeah you
10:06
guys ask him questions every question he
10:08
gets it's an opportunity for him to turn
10:10
the attention to his teammates he's a
10:13
stud he's a stud I'm going to try to
10:16
convince his parents I'm G to send them
10:18
to one of them romantic vacations up in
10:20
the Poconos and try to get the parents
10:23
to have
10:24
more um I don't know if that'll happen
10:29
last two Tyler then Neil Thanks James
10:32
I'm try to follow that one up um when
10:34
you look at this team coming off the
10:35
loss earlier this month four games ahead
10:38
uh the way you finished this month of
10:40
November in those matchups at Big 10
10:41
play additionally kind of juggling some
10:43
of those injury issues what did you
10:45
learn about this particular program this
10:47
squad right now over the course of this
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month to earn yourselves opportunities
10:51
in December yeah I
10:54
just I I what I don't think a lot of
10:56
people understand except for people that
10:58
really study game like you guys and and
11:01
um NFL people and college
11:05
coaches it's it's
11:08
hard you know especially with the
11:10
expansion of these
11:12
conferences this is the this is the most
11:14
competitive big tenders ever
11:16
been and to to have your team ready to
11:20
play week in and week out it is very
11:24
very difficult to do and it doesn't
11:27
happen very often and you look around
11:28
College football you watch the
11:30
highlights it's not
11:32
happening so this team finding a ton of
11:36
different ways to win
11:38
blowouts
11:40
comebacks um overcoming
11:44
adversity winning because of Defense
11:47
winning because of offense winning
11:48
because of special teams you know when
11:51
when you play as many games as we do now
11:53
in college football and the type of
11:55
opponents that we play you're going to
11:57
have to find different ways to get it
11:59
done done it may not always be pretty
12:01
but I also think that's the beauty in it
12:03
right um
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so I'm just I'm proud of our guys um I'm
12:11
proud of everybody in that locker room
12:13
because everybody played a role in it
12:16
I'm I'm I'm so appreciative of the
12:17
managers and how they run our practice
12:20
every single day the equipment people
12:22
the student student managers and and and
12:24
um student
12:26
trainers they're phenomenal uh the D
12:28
Squad has been great all year long the
12:31
grounds people that you know we got
12:33
newad in the stadium our our grass was
12:36
phenomenal for this time of year in this
12:38
part of the country all this stuff
12:40
matters and all this stuff adds up Pat
12:44
craft in his leadership willing to fight
12:47
for our program which that hasn't
12:50
happened in the past neie
12:52
bapy uh has been phenomenal Michael
12:55
Wayne Smith um
12:59
Skyler and now and now kinger um
13:03
Everybody deserves credit because you
13:06
don't you don't win 11 games um in this
13:10
type of
13:11
conference you know without without
13:13
everybody playing a role uh even you
13:16
guys all the positive articles you guys
13:21
write it's all
13:24
impacted it all adds up and we
13:26
appreciate it so thank you last question
13:29
good timing uh
13:33
James it didn't look like it was the
13:35
smoothest postgame handshake uh is that
13:38
the statistics and they're ones still in
13:41
there or can you explain that last
13:43
touchdown yeah I get it right at at the
13:46
end of the game we throw a
13:49
touchdown I get it but a couple things I
13:52
will
13:53
say my job is to put the threes and
13:56
fours in the game but when the threes
13:59
and fours get to go in the game they get
14:01
to play
14:03
football th those guys deserve to play
14:08
football your ones are in the game you
14:11
were you were trying to score we're
14:13
trying to
14:14
score on top of that you're you're
14:17
playing cover
14:18
zero if you don't want play cover
14:22
two so
14:24
so I'm good with it and on top of that
14:28
there's all also a change in college
14:31
football we are trying to play as long
14:35
as we can make the playoffs and be
14:38
seated as high as
14:40
possible and scoring as many points and
14:43
a point differential matters all that
14:45
matters and if you don't get that it's
14:48
really not my problem
14:50
so w one and0 I'm good with it anybody
14:54
that's not that's that's their problem
14:57
thank
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