What They Said After Penn State's Win Over Purdue

James Franklin said the Nittany Lions played their best four-quarter game of the season.

Penn State coach James Franklin motions on the sidelines during the first quarter against the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium. / Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

Penn State coach James Franklin keeps raising the awards bar for tight end Tyler Warren, who produced 190 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in the Nittany Lions' 49-10 win at Purdue on Saturday.

"I think that he’s having one of the more special years that I can remember in my 30 years [of coaching] specifically at that position," Franklin said, "and I think he’s got to the point where this conversation exceeds just the position."

While Franklin was touting his Heisman Trophy candidate, Purdue coach Ryan Walters was trying to explain the team's ninth consecutive loss. Here's what Franklin and Walters said after Penn State's 39-point win at Ross-Ade Stadium.

Penn State coach James Franklin

On the win: I thought that was the best game we played overall in terms of four quarters: offense, defense, special teams, complementary football. We were able to play 68 players in the game, which was great. It’s going to be really good from an experience standpoint.  Defensively, we continue to play dominant third-quarter football. That also has to do with our offense sustaining drives. Tyler Warren just continues to make plays in a ton of different ways. Like I mentioned before, I think he’s part of the conversation as one of the best players in all of college football, let alone the tight end position. Drew [Allar] is playing really efficient, just really good all-around football. If I was going to nitpick a little bit, a little bit more turnovers [from the defense]. ... I thought we needed to win this game and get better. I thought we did that tonight. We want to continue on that trajectory this week.

On defensive ends Dani Dennis-Sutton and Abdul Carter: Really important having Dani back. He’s played the last two but in a very limited role. So the fact that we were able to win that game [against Washington], manage him and then get him back close to 100 percent this week was really important. Abdul’s a very, very disruptive player. I also think, when it’s just Abdul on the field and not Dani, although I think Smith [Vilbert] and Amin [Vanover] are doing great things too, it’s different when we have all four of those guys rotating in. I also am surprised that Abdul does not get more holding calls. I think it’s pretty obvious that he’s an issue coming off the edge and he could get probably three or four more sacks or three or four more holds per game.

On Tyler Warren being a Heisman Trophy contender: I’ve stated it earlier in the year, I’ve stated it tonight. I think Tyler Warren should be a part of all the conversations that deal with the best football player in college football. I don’t think it’s a question, and that’s all those types of awards, including the Heisman.

On Drew Allar: I don’t think he gets talked about enough. He’s the same guy. That’s one of the things I love about him. His process doesn’t change. He works as hard as any quarterback I’ve been around. He’s a morning guy, so he’s in there all the time early in the morning. The consistency that he’s played with over the last two years is impressive. At that position, I get it, at Penn State there’s really high standards and expectations. He tends to probably hear the criticism — I’m not saying him, the position — ore than the praise. I think there are a lot of programs across the country that would love to have Drew playing quarterback for them.

… To me it’s not just the three touchdowns and no interceptions. There’s not a lot of plays you can find on tape where you can question his decision-making or his accuracy. … He is extremely hungry and he is extremely driven and he wants to win for Penn State and he wants to win for the guys in the locker room and the fans and the lettermen.

On playing a lot of young players: You’d better be ready week in and week out. I don’t think the staff and the players get the credit for how hard that is, week in and week out, to have your team ready to play. And the players are doing a great job of that and so are the assistant coaches.

On freshman tight end Luke Reynolds catching a touchdown pass: I think he’s got a really, really bright future. We think he’s playing really well. The ball hasn’t come his way a whole lot, and with what Tyler is doing, I don’t know if it will. So when he gets an opportunity like that, or some of the receivers, it’s really cool to see them capitalize on it. I think he’s got a very, very bright future and I think this is going to be extremely valuable, getting the reps that he’s getting and also watching how Tyler Warren goes about his business.

On scoring the late touchdown: I’m a big proponent of, when we get our other guys in the game, that they deserve a chance to play and play traditional football. So I thought that was really valuable late in the game as well.

Purdue coach Ryan Walters

On what was most disappointing about the game: The slow start. We’ve been talking about executing, doing it early and just missed on some opportunities. When you do that against a good team, you’re not going to win the game. I thought we had a chance going into halftime to double dip. We did a good job of moving the ball down there, got into field-goal range, missed, then went 3-and-out o the next opportunity coming out of halftime.

On Penn State's big plays on offense: It’s very disappointing. Other than that, obviously we’ll have conversations in-house, but it’s inexcusable to have guys wide open and other guys not being touched on explosive runs. That can’t happen. I know we’ve got a lot of young guys playing, but it’s happened a lot.

On the talent gap Purdue faces: When you look at the schedule, obviously it’s a tough one. But we knew that going into the season, and I think there’s a combination of a lot of things that led to where we are right now. Obviously the strength of the schedule and the combination of not executing and having mental errors, that’s not a great combination.

On how he keeps going: I think it’s awkward to ask how you keep going. This is my job. I’m competitive, and we’ve got a game on Friday. You don’t need motivation to keep going. I feel like I’m built for this. I feel like we have identified some things that need to change. We are fully prepared for going into next season and going into these last two games. There doesn’t need to be any added motivation or hanging my head and wallowing in sorrow. I’ve got a job to do.

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