Penn State's James Franklin: Sometimes the 'Ugly Game' Is Needed

Franklin reflects on an uneven win over Indiana as the Nittany Lions prepare for a trip to Maryland.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. | Penn State’s 33-24 victory over Indiana was far from pretty, but coach James Franklin offered this note to encapsulate the weekend. It was courtesy of defensive tackle Dvon Ellies, who spoke in the locker room after the win: “The best teams are honest teams.”

Franklin wants his teams led by players willing to have those conversations at the front of the locker room. After a disappointing loss at Ohio State and a narrow escape against Indiana, those “honest” conversations will be what propels Penn State forward.

“There's a lot of ways to get better throughout a season, and sometimes it takes an ugly game. Sometimes it takes a setback,” Franklin said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. “You hope it doesn't, and you wish it doesn't and you do everything you possibly can to learn after wins and not have to go through those setbacks or those challenges. But sometimes it's needed.”

Franklin noted two areas of improvement during his opening statement: tackling lower defensively and protecting the football both from fundamental and decision-making standpoints (quarterback Drew Allar notably threw his first career interception Saturday). Indiana scored twice on touchdown passes of 90 and 69 yards, highlighting areas of concern for Manny Diaz’s defense.

On one, Dequece Carter’s 90-yard score, Franklin simply called it a phenomenal throw from quarterback Brendan Sorsby — admitting that teams will get home from time to time with Penn State playing heavy man coverage. “They’re on scholarship, too,” he said. On the other, Franklin called it a “total blown assignment.” Penn State bit on a play-action fake and left Donaven McCulley wide open down the sideline.

“I don't think in general on Saturday we played our best football," Franklin said in response to a question about his defense. "We've arguably been the best defense in college football. You could be a part of that argument. Manny was very honest and transparent with the defense on areas that we got to get better. We've obviously played better. I don't think there is any doubt about that. So we worked on those things on Sunday. We made the corrections that needed to be made. I think we'll be better for it.”

Offensively, Allar finally threw his first interception, which was a sufficiently ugly decision when it happened. In evaluating Allar and the offense as a whole this season, Franklin mentioned explosive plays — or the lack thereof — as factors in improvement.

Penn State struggled once again through much of the first half against the Hoosiers but broke the seal late, converting the game-winning, 57-yard touchdown to KeAndre Lambert-Smith. Penn State also converted explosive plays to Nicholas Singleton and tight end Theo Johnson, who scored a 16-yard touchdown by ripped the ball from a defender.

It was easily Penn State’s most explosive offensive performance to date, though it came against a lowly Indiana defense and not without bumps on the road. That will surely be part of the honest conversations moving forward.

“To me, if you can make a defense pay for playing an overly aggressive style, then you're going to get less of it. The more times you can do that the better,” Franklin said. “If you throw like a slant verse cover zero and they tackle you, even if it's for a first down, you could make the argument it was worth it because you were putting pressure on the quarterback and putting him in a tough spot.”

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Max Ralph is a Penn State senior studying Broadcast Journalism with minors in sports studies and Japanese. He previously covered Penn State football for two years with The Daily Collegian and has reported with the Associated Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Follow him on Twitter (X) @maxralph_ and Instagram @mralph_59.

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