Inside the Den: James Franklin press conference news & notes

Penn State head coach James Franklin returned to the Beaver Stadium dais Tuesday afternoon for his weekly press conference.

His Nittany Lions, fresh off a 17-12 rock fight of a win at Iowa, are getting set to again go toe-to-toe with what will surely be another formidable opponent when No. 16 Michigan visits Beaver Stadium Saturday night for a nationally televised White Out.

With the Wolverines up next, let’s take a look at the news and notes from Franklin’s meeting with the media:

1) Given Noah Cain’s back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances, the chorus for the true freshman running back to get the bulk of Penn State’s carries continues to manifest itself in the form of questions to Franklin.

Through six games played, Cain leads the Nittany Lions with 310 yards rushing and six touchdowns on 57 attempts, nearly double the carries of Journey Brown (35), Devyn Ford (30), or Ricky Slade (28). Still, listing all four backs with an “OR” designation on the official depth chart Monday, Penn State and Franklin have no intention of making any change in course from their preseason plans for the position.

“We've got four running backs that we really like that all get along extremely well, and Coach Seider has done a really good job of that,” Franklin said. “And there's going to be a week where I come in here and you guys are talking about Devyn Ford being the next great running back at Penn State. There's going to be a week I come in and it's going to be Journey Brown. There's going to be a week that it's Noah Cain, and there's going to be a week that -- yeah, Ricky Slade. And all four of those guys have the ability to be as good as there is.

“That's what I think is so special, and that's what's so exciting. That's what's so exciting. There's going to be games, whether it's based on match-up or whether it's based on scheme or whether it's based on confidence, they just had a great week, or the opposite.”

Pointing out that the competition is so worthy between all four backs that they “better not miss class” or it will provide a reason for the coaching staff to demote them, Franklin also said that the current rotation continues to allow each player to remain “fresh” while keeping “some of the wear and tear off them.”

2) Describing his happiness for the career trajectory of former Penn State receivers coach Josh Gattis, now the offensive coordinator for Michigan, Franklin was also asked about the offense the Wolverines now run as a result.

Touching on the topic at different points throughout the press conference, Franklin essentially noted that the Wolverines run a combination of different facets from Gattis’ time with the Nittany Lions, his time with Nick Saban at Alabama, and now from the influence of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh.

The result is as follows:

“They're an 11- and 12-personnel scheme. They run the split zone, they run the zone, they run the truck scheme, they run counter, and then obviously drop-back pass and play-action pass with the zone read,” Franklin said. “I think there are aspects of it that we've done here. There are obviously aspects of what they did at Alabama, and then obviously there are some aspects probably of what Coach Harbaugh wants, too, from Michigan. I think it's a combination of all those things, no different than for us. After each year, we evolve and tweak things and you hire a new staff, come in and they bring a new idea in, as well. But they're doing a nice job.”

At 5-1 on the season, Michigan checks in at No. 84 nationally for total offense with 387.3 yards per game and, more critically, is tied at No. 58 in scoring offense at 30.3 points per game.

3) Michigan’s pass defense will not look like Iowa’s.

Rather than utilizing alignments to keep everything in front of the defense, effective for the Hawkeyes in limiting Penn State to just 117 yards passing Saturday night, Michigan will trust its corners to handle pass responsibilities and lock up Penn State’s receivers, leaving the opportunity to blitz and confuse the Nittany Lions’ quarterback and offensive line by loading up the box.

“Very different styles, very different approaches defensively,” Franklin said. “I mean, probably couldn't be any more opposite, to be honest with you.

“I think our offensive line, in general, is playing really well right now. And we're going to need them to continue to because the defensive line and the defensive front that we're going to play on Saturday is going to challenge them. And the style that they play, as well, which is to overload the box and confuse the O-line and the quarterback is who they are. And then to play a style on the perimeter to make the quarterback hold the ball with press coverage and things like that, that's who (defensive coordinator) Don (Brown) is.”

4) With a Penn State fan base still incensed by some of the officiating decisions Saturday night in Iowa City, Franklin was asked Tuesday as to whether or not he received any feedback from the Big Ten in regards to the controversial overturned Pat Freiermuth touchdown.

At first indicating “no, not really,” when pressed, Franklin indicated that he had heard from the conference but declined to go further, wishing to put the issue to rest.

“I mean, I did, but it's not appropriate to talk about here in this setting,” Franklin said. “If they want to say something, they'll say something. I'm not going to speak on behalf of the Big Ten. But Michigan, Michigan, Michigan, Michigan.”

5) Following Saturday night’s game at Iowa, Franklin touched on the evolution of Penn State’s running game since the introduction of Joe Moorhead’s system in 2016 and, more importantly, the changes that have taken place this season.

Lamenting some of the limitations of being “an inside zone team” in the past few years, Franklin said he “felt like (Penn State) needed more diversity in (its) running game.”

“Some of the counter stuff we're doing with the guard, pulling in the tight end, pulling, as well, and wrapping and leading through, a lot of that stuff showed up in our four-minute offense at the end of the game. So now not only do we have a little bit more diversity in normal downs throughout the entire game, but also when you get into some of those situations where you want to be able to run it, at times where everybody in the stadium knows you're going to run it, and have the ability to do that,” Franklin said. “I think that's the first time we've done that against that type of opponent in my six years since I've been here. I think that is a critical, critical moment in our six years on the offensive side of the football.”

In turn, having demonstrated they could switch gears with the running game into a ball-control offense to close out the game in a prime-time matchup, Franklin continued that he’s encouraged by the possibilities that it presents moving forward.

“That's kind of what I'm talking about is I think it makes it a little bit more difficult to defend, and it allows you in situational football to have some things in your back pocket that you can go to. And Ricky did a really good job of having answers. We're able to look at their front, we're able to make a call, depending on what pressure they're bringing or what front they're showing. We got what we consider our best call into that look,” Franklin said, crediting the impact of having two quality tight ends on the system. “The thing that's great is our 12-personnel has the ability to align and play like a 10-personnel team. So we can get into a spread set with our tight ends, and they're a threat. We can get into 12-personnel and line up in a traditional two-back set and be able to run two-back runs. And when you're able to do that from 11 or 12, it makes you more difficult to defend.”