Every Tuesday the Big Ten holds its weekly coaches teleconference, and this week Penn State’s James Franklin and Ohio State’s Urban Meyer took their requisite eight minutes to preview their upcoming game against each other this week. Franklin went first and answered a series of questions about his team and the challenges that Ohio State will present. Here are the highlights.
+ Asked when the light came on for running back Miles Sanders, Franklin said there wasn’t one specific moment. He’s been learning and growing and building confidence since he arrived. Being in a complementary role the last two years helped, and now he is mature enough to handle being the feature back. And he is obviously very talented and still getting better. “We’re fortunate and blessed to have him.” He gets to play behind an experienced offensive line as well.
+ The biggest difference between Ohio State’s offense now and in the past, they are different in the passing game. Before it was a QB run-oriented offense. Now, they throw it to all of the different playmakers. “It makes it difficult and challenging to stop them” because of their receivers and running backs. Haskins does a great job of distributing the ball.
+ This OSU offensive line might be the best he’s seen from OSU since he’s been at Penn State.
+ Franklin isn’t concerned about addressing the meaning of this game because it happens pretty early in the season. This is a big game, but “each week for us is the Super Bowl. We approach it as such.” Franklin can’t control what the players hear externally, but he can control what is said internally.
+ “We’ve been able to play pretty good in these types of games.”
+ Franklin has been told what factors are important in terms of the CFP, but the reality is that you are still dealing with individuals and things change year to year because the personalities and the experiences in the rooms change. That’s why he doesn’t worry about it and only focuses on his team and being 1-0 this week.
+ The biggest thing this week is making sure the players know that big plays and points are going to happen and they can’t get concerned about that. They just need to keep chipping away. “They’re going to make some plays. We’re going to make some plays. There’s no doubt about that.”
+ Three out of the last four games against OSU have been seven points or less, so everyone needs to understand that this is going to be four quarters and a 12-round fight. This is two teams with sound schemes.
+ The redshirt rule has helped players transfer during the season, which is a concern. Transferring is easier than ever now, “I worry are we getting to a point where instead of staying and working and challenging yourself to overcome adversity…” There is a high percentage of players leaving and it’s very football driven. The transfer rules that were put in were supposed to be academic, but they haven’t played out that way. There is going to be fallout and byproducts that are unforeseen.