Weekly Press Conference – Head Coach James Franklin (Bowling Green) – Penn State

Opening Statement: Going back and watching the film was good. Was about what we anticipated in terms of how it felt during the game and then be able to watch tape and go through and grade it. 

I think you guys already seen our players of the game. One of the things I think was interesting is, if you do a statistical comparison between our West Virginia game last year and our West Virginia game this year, no one is really talking about our defense and our defense really played well. 

If you look at last year, we gave up 15 points; this year we gave up 12. So we were better in that. Better in points per possession. We were better in explosive plays. We were better in total yards allowed. We were better in rushing yards allowed. We were better in yards per carry. We were better in passing yards allowed, yards per attempt. 

Third down efficiency was exactly the same, which was interesting. We were better in average third down yardage forced. We were better in takeaways. The only category we weren’t better in was sacks. Three last year, two this year. 

Red zone touchdown percentage, we were better. Time of possession, better. And QBR, significantly better of the opposing quarterback. 

So I think on a real positive note, our defense played better, and then not only did they play better, they played better on the road without the home environment. So those were positive. 

Turnover battle, you guys know we won. Explosive play battle, we won. Third down battle, we won. Sack battle, we won. We’ve got to clean up drive start. When I say clean up drive start, I didn’t feel like we kicked the ball as well as we’re capable of kicking. That’s kickoff, punts, field goals, really all three phases. And then penalties. Just gave too many yards away trying to be aggressive. We got to eliminate those things. 

Few more notes in terms of offensively, defensively, and special teams. Positives on offense, we were explosive and physical. We’ve got to be better in ball security and some of the pre-snap things. 

Defensively, we did a great job stopping the run. We limited explosive plays. I think we only had one. Sudden change response, that take away was huge. That was a huge play in the game. And then zero points in the third quarter.

I think you guys also know, we have the longest streak in the country of not giving up a touchdown to start a game, so that’s been a real positive for us. 

Areas for growth, the penalties, just overall…