What They Said After Penn State's Win Over Washington

Penn State coach James Franklin made his latest awards pitch for Tyler Warren, while Washington's Jedd Fisch discussed his quarterback change.

Penn State coach James Franklin looks on from the sideline during the fourth quarter against the Washington Huskies at Beaver Stadium. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Penn State coach James Franklin made his latest pitch for Tyler Warren to win all the awards after his do-everything performance against Washington. The tight end ran for two touchdowns, caught eight passes, attempted two passes (neither of which he completed) and generally caused havoc in the Nittany Lions' 35-6 win over the Huskies. Warren also lost a fumble, but we'll let that slide.

After the game, Franklin praised Warren, his team's first half and the general nature of its resilience. And Washington coach Jedd Fisch explained why he changed quarterbacks at halftime. Here's what the coaches said after the White Out on Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.

Penn State coach James Franklin

On the win: In my opinion, the game was won on third down. We were 77 percenton third down to their 30 percent I think we were 7-of-7 in the first half to start the game. ... The sack battle, that was a dominant aspect of the game [Penn State had five sacks and did not allow any]. I thought our O-line, we didn't give up any sacks in the game. Some of that was Drew [Allar] extending plays, but then our defense was able to get five sacks in the game.

Tyler Warren continues to make plays in a ton of different ways, and I'm proud of him there. Jaylen Reed continues to make plays for us. Abdul Carter continues to make big plays in critical moments. So it was just really cool. And then, the last thing I'd say is that their defense was one of the top passing defenses in the country. I think they were the number two pass defense in the country, and we threw for over 220 yards. They were giving up 142 per game this season. And then obviously we were able to protect the football. I think that's one of the things that Drew has done a phenomenal job of in the last two years. He doesn't get enough credit for that, but being able to protect the football, make great decisions, and be accurate is impressive.

On Tyler Warren: So, I’ve got a list here of about 35 records that Tyler Warren has broken. I'm not going to get into all of them, but he's a really good football player. I can't see how this guy doesn't win the Mackey Award and the Paul Hornung Award. I don't see how he doesn't. And they'd be proud of that guy representing their award, because he does everything right both on and off the field. He's done it that way since the day he stepped on campus. So, he’s just a great example of what a Penn State football player is.

On his team's resilience after losing to Ohio State: In our locker room and in the Lasch facility and on our practice fields, we’ve got a ton to be proud of, and we focus on that. We focus on making corrections, and I'm proud of my guys. I'm proud of my staff and how we go about our business. We value winning, and if you watch college football all over the country, it's hard to win on a consistent basis. You see it every single week, upsets and things like that. So, we value winning. We respect winning and what it takes. And we get back to work on Sunday’s, in the Lasch building and on the Lasch practice fields.

On the status of running back Nicholas Singleton: As you guys know, I don't kind of get into those types of things. You know, you'll find out when you come out to practice [Wednesday]. I don't have a whole lot more. Typically, I get in there after this, I shower, everybody's gone. I get done with the shower, and [head trainer] Andy Mutnan is waiting for me, and he goes through how we got out of the game, and what the injuries were. Typically, we don't have a whole lot of information until the next morning. But as you can imagine, I don't usually get into sharing that information with you guys.

On Penn State's execution: I think the biggest thing on offense and defense is that we were able to control first down. On offense, we averaged seven yards per play in the first half. Defensively, we were able to stay ahead of the sticks all night long, and that allows you to be in advantageous third down situations. That allows you to push the ball down the field. That allows you to be aggressive on defense to go after the quarterback. So, I think first down was a big factor in that game and how it played out.

On defensive end Abdul Carter: He’s a disruptive football player. He was that way when he played linebacker. He’s disruptive when he plays defensive end. I still think there has been an evolution for him there, in terms of playing the run on a consistent basis, rushing the passer on a consistent basis, getting good at his get-off. He’s just getting better. To me, that’s the exciting thing. He’s got a lot of football ahead of him. He finds a ton of different ways to disrupt the game.

On getting the receivers more involved: Yeah, it’s great to get those guys involved. We want to do that every single week. It’s really good to see Julian [Flelming] do some things. Trey [Wallace] did some good things today, and we need more of that. We’ll continue to invest in that throughout the week. But I’m really proud of our guys. I thought they played well tonight; I thought Trey’s catch at the sideline was a huge catch. We need those guys, so we’ll continue to invest in that.

Washington coach Jeff Fisch

On the decision to change quarterbacks at halftime: We had [71] yards of offense, [59] yards of passing. It was 28-0, and we weren’t really getting anything done other than the first drive. I thought that it was an opportunity to give Demond [Williams Jr.] a chance to play a full half of football that he hasn’t had the chance to do. I thought he did some really good things in the second half.

On Washington's offensive line: We kind of viewed it going into the season as none of the offensive lineman playing were active in spring ball and that we weren’t available to bring in players from the portal. Recruiting guys, we only had seven [offensive linemen] on the roster and two of them were coming off of ACL injuries and on top of that teach a new system. A lot of those guys didn’t have access to the weightroom due to injuries and inexperience and I think that this year and the upcoming off season is a big weightroom year for them, like Drew Azzopardi, big weightroom year for those guys.

On the switch from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten: Yes, this team has been recruited as a primarily Pac-12 team. It’s a huge adjustment. The Big Ten is a lot of physical big guards and defenders. As we continue to go eastward and play these games, as you can see the offensive and defensive lines are set about 1,100 pounds heavier than ours. It’s tough, we just got to get more physical.

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