What They Said After Penn State's Win Over Kent State

Nittany Lions coach James Franklin praised the victory. Kent State coach Kenni Burns called Penn State a playoff team.

Penn State coach James Franklin (right) hugs Kent State Golden Flashes head coach Kenni Burns following the game at Beaver Stadium. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Penn State coach James Franklin was pleased with his team's 56-0 victory over Kent State on Saturday, a game in which the Nittany Lions set a school-record with 718 yards of offense. One aspect really frustrated him, however.

Meanwhile, Kent State coach Kenni Burns, whose team has lost consecutive games to Tennessee and Penn State by a combined score of 127-0, said he saw two playoff teams in a row. Here's what the coaches had to say following the game.

RELATED: The Penn State football report card: Kent State edition

Penn State Coach James Franklin

Opening Statement: I want to thank the fans [attendance was announced at 109,526]. thought that was impressive. You guys know how we approach it each week, that that was a Super Bowl for us, but sometimes certain opponents, certain fan bases, won't show up, like that, and we don't have that problem here at Penn State, week in and week out, the fan base shows up. And not only that, all types of discussions out there about possible bad weather, thunder, lightning, this doesn't happen. So, we don't take it for granted whatsoever. Got the best fans in America, and it is special. I know I've been here 11 years now, but I do not take it for granted whatsoever. It is awesome. So, I want to thank the fans.

On Beau Pribula's early interception: We didn't do a great job with the turnover, really kind of a tough situation with Beau in the game. I think they called a twist, which is what you do a lot of times when you're trying to defend a quarterback draw or the quarterback running game, and the defense [end Kameron Olds] just twisted right into it. There's no way you're going to see it. The kid made a hell of a play. We didn't win the turnover ratio, that was probably the one thing that we didn't do a great job of. But we had much better balance on offense. We were able to distribute the ball to a ton of different
players.

On setting the Penn State single-game record for offensive yards (718): Obviously, when you're able to score that many points and that many yards and be explosive, you know, we put up some pretty big numbers in the past, but whenever you're able to set a school record at a place like Penn State, it's something to be proud of, and it's something to build off of. I don't think there's any doubt about it. To me, the more important stat is the yardage differential. It’s the point differential. When you're able to get 718 yards on offense but only give up 67, I'd be interested to see that, right? That'd be a great stat. What's the largest yardage differential at Penn State in our history? That'd be good. To me, that's an important stat.

On receiver Omari Evans: I think sometimes when I talk about guys, you think I'm just like, being super optimistic and things like that. But he's a guy that we always had a ton of respect for the type of athlete he was. I mean, his running, jumping, strength numbers are freakish. I would also say, when he

first got here, he's probably a little bit more of a track guy than a football guy. I guess I'd say to you, just like I say to the players, you’ve got to run your race. ... Everybody's journey is different. And we used to quote all the time, “comparison is the thief of joy.” Run your race, and I know you guys got to see it. You don't want to just hear it from me, but Omari has shown flashes, really, since we recruited him and he came to camp, but it's about consistency, and he's practicing more consistent. He's competing more consistently. He's gaining confidence. And I think I told you guys, if he has some success, his career could go through

On committing seven more penalties: Yeah, I don't like them. I don't like them at all, to be honest with you. You know, if you look at the analytics and the statistics, they don't really have a significant impact when you talk about winning and losing, but as a head coach, it embarrasses me, because it shows a lack of discipline and it's sloppy and it makes things harder than it needs to be. We end up making a

drive on offense harder. Everything for us, on offense and on defense, just like everybody else across the country, is you want to be ahead of the sticks. If it's first and five because you jumped offsides on defense, you're not going to get the sacks you want.

You're not going to get the tackles for loss you want, because they're ahead of the sticks, and now they can run the ball, go quick game, go naked and things like that. So, I'm going to keep my poise, but I’m going to keep people accountable. I'm going to hold the staff accountable to it. We're going to get it fixed. I'm totally bald now. I'm basically gray, so there's not a whole lot left I can lose. I guess, gain weight, eating from stress and embarrassment of penalties. But I ain't got a whole lot left, you know, in terms of what else, right? Maybe gray eyebrows, that's probably the last thing that goes but I'm not happy about it at all. So, we're going to have a lot of discussions about it as a staff, and we're going to work on getting it fixed.

RELATED: The Penn State-Kent State game breakdown

Kent State Coach Kenni Burns

On Penn State vs. Tennessee: They are both very elite football teams, both are two teams I expect to be in the playoffs. They don't have many weaknesses on offense or defense. They play extremely hard. Both teams do. And when you put talent with effort, you got something special. I expect both

those teams to be in the playoffs.

On getting two quarterbacks injured: You know what? We play football. So, there's going to be a physical element to it, and you're going to get banged up here and there. This game was probably a little bit more than normal. But I thought our guys kept battling. I thought to get some young guys going there and compete at a decent level. So, you know, this is football. I've been a part of worse games than that, from an injury standpoint, from the emotional standpoint, no, I thought our guys

came back the second half, and they kept competing, kept trying to do their job. We've got to learn how to do it better. That's just the bottom line. Still a very, very young football team. You look out there a ton of freshmen playing ton of freshmen, true freshmen, and they got to learn from this and take what they've learned in the conference play.