What They Said After Penn State's Win Over Maryland

Nittany Lions coach James Franklin celebrated his team's resilience in reaching the Big Ten Championship Game.

Penn State coach James Franklin claps from the sideline during the second quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Beaver Stadium. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Penn State coach James Franklin and Mike Locksley shared a moment after their game Saturday at Beaver Stadium, one that might resonate into the future. But there was a game to discuss as well, one that the Nittany Lions dominated after a skittish start.

Penn State won its 11th regular-season game, routing the Terps 44-7 at Beaver Stadium to clinch a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game against Oregon. The Nittany Lions scored 44 unanswered after allowing a touchdown pass on Maryland's first offensive play of the game. Locksley didn't like Penn State's last.

That aside, Franklin had much to describe about the win. Here's what he, and Locksley, said after the game.

RELATED: Mike Locksley calls "bull----" on Penn State's late touchdown

Penn State coach James Franklin

On whether Michigan's win over Ohio State changed the team's approach: No, we just had to find a way to beat Maryland and find a way to get better. Besides the opening drives, I thought we did that today. We played a ton of our guys, which I think is very valuable, our threes and fours against their starters that they kept in the entire game. Our threes and fours were able to get in there and did really good work, which is important for their development. 

On the emotions of the game: It was a win on Senior Day which is always emotional for me. I got emotional at breakfast this morning talking to the guys. Kaytron [Allen] doesn’t like that a whole lot, he gives me a hard time when I get emotional. Senior Day is an emotional day for me, you’re with these guys for four, five or even six years. I’m a coach that loves them hard, but also coaches them hard and I hold them accountable. Just to think about some of the journeys I’ve been on with these guys is a lot and I’m very proud of them.

On learning about Michigan's win: We knew, but I didn’t say anything to the team. I did the opposite I said, “Maryland, Maryland, Maryland…” because I think a lot of the guys were aware of it and I was trying to keep us focused. That may be why the game started out the way it did. You have to control the things that you can control, and the things outside of Beaver Stadium are not in our control. We needed to win and play well, lots of eyes were watching these games and looking at the statistics. We’re fighting to keep this family together as long as we possibly can. Wins do that, statistics do that, all those things matter. We were going to play four quarters and fight to the end and do everything we had to put ourselves in the best position to continue to the season as long as possible and be seeded as high as possible.

On tight end Tyler Warren: He's a beast and I think the point is that everybody goes into it saying you got to stop Tyler Warren. Everybody's defensive game plan is we can't allow 44 to impact the game, just like for us, it was [Maryland receiver] Tai Felton. We went into this saying Tai Felton was going to make some plays, he’s a really good player, but we got to limit his impact. Everybody said that every single week with Tyler Warren, no one's done it. They ought to bring the Mackey Award tonight, put it on a private jet, fly it to Tyler Warren, give it to him on Sunday, and then he should get an invitation to New York. He's done it week in and week out. He's a big-time player, and he's doing it when all eyes are on him, and he's the focus of the game plan. So he's a special guy. His humility is impressive. You guys ask him questions, every question he gets, it's an opportunity for him to turn the attention to his teammates. He's a stud.

On what he learned about his team: This is the most competitive Big 10 there's ever been, and to have your team ready to play week in and week out, it is very, very difficult to do, and it doesn't happen very often. You look around college football, you watch the highlights, it's not happening. So this team finding a ton of different ways to win, blowouts, comebacks, overcoming adversity, winning because of defense, winning because of offense, winning because of special teams. When you play as many games as we do now in college football, and the type of opponents that we play, you're going to have to find different ways to get it done. It may not always be pretty, but I also think that's the beauty in it, right? I'm proud of our guys, I’m proud of everybody in that locker room, because everybody played a role in it.

Maryland coach Mike Locksley

On the game: Disappointing loss. A disappointing end to a long, long season. As I've stated before, this season didn’t meet the standards that we set out with the senior group that I thought has continued to lead us through a tough year. They have left a really solid foundation for us, and for that, I thank that group of guys. I’m just disappointed, disappointed in the way this thing finished, disappointed in our inability to get things going. On offense today, we got off to a quick start like we wanted to do, but was unable to carry the momentum. Our defense, I thought early on, gave us some opportunities that we just couldn't take advantage of. With all that being said, as disappointed as I am for how this season went and for the seniors, I'm excited about what the future looks like. Because when you go through a tough year like this, it's easy to point out the things that didn't go well, but what we've gained is a ton of experience for some young, talented players that have to grow up and will be forced to grow up, and because of that, I'm excited for what the future holds. We'll learn and grow from this season, there's no doubt about it, and we'll be better for it.

On Penn State's defense: Obviously, six sacks caused some issues. There were opportunities that I thought we could have managed it a little bit better, where we took some sacks at the quarterback position, where there were opportunities to get rid of the ball, but there were also times where we've
got to line up and block people. We've got to be able to run the ball efficiently to help take some of the pressure off of the protection stuff. But when you get behind the sticks on third and long, we've got to find ways to chip, to hold, to keep the guys off our quarterback and our quarterback has to make quick decisions.

On scoring the first touchdown: It was important to get off to a quick start here, and in the Big Ten in general. We were able to capitalize off of a turnover, which we haven't had a bunch of turnovers in the last four or five games, and to get one, and then to see us execute, tt was good to get the early momentum, but we just did not take advantage of those opportunities. We had ourselves in some situations in the first half where defense held up, but on offense, our inability to stay in front and block people in the run game, in the protection piece, and then we even missed some throws off the screen game, where I thought we had opportunities for some explosive plays that we didn't get executed.

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