WATCH: James Franklin identifies areas for growth as Penn State enters its first bye week

Penn State football is already a quarter of the way through its 2025 regular season schedule. While many rightly predicted that the Nittany Lions would be 3-0 and thoroughly dominating their opponents in the box score, the Blue and White’s play on the field, at times, has left something to be desired. 

That sentiment also pervades the Lasch Building. Among those casting a critical eye is James Franklin, who is satisfied but not content with where his team stands heading into the first of two bye weeks.

“I think the first thing I would say is defensively, I think up till this week, we weren’t playing as fast and as confident as I think we need to play,” he said after the Nittany Lions’ 52-6 win over Villanova on Saturday. “It seemed like we took a step in the right direction in terms of running the defense and commanding defense like I mentioned before.

“Special teams, I think, has been a real positive. I think we’ve been really good in special teams in all three games. Obviously, there’s still some things I think we can improve on, but I think that’s been a positive.”

Franklin calls out the consistency of Penn State offense 

Despite scoring 132 points, very few people who have watched Penn State feel confident about the current state of its offense through the first three games of the season. The Nittany Lions have been productive through the air and on the ground, but have not passed the eye test in terms of flair or overall rhythm. 

Even after posting its highest point total of the season on Saturday, Franklin still wants to see more from his offense before Oregon comes to town in just 13 days. 

“Then offensively, we’ve just been inconsistent. We have to improve on third down. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” he stated. “Then we got to be just more explosive overall. We’ve won the explosive play battle today, so that’s a positive. We actually met our mark of 15%; we were above that. But still, I think there’s a lot more room for growth in that area.

“We’re 3-0. I’d love to see us further ahead. I’d love to see us playing dominant in all three phases, but we know the things that we need to improve on, and we got plenty of film, and again, this bye week is going to be important for us with a real challenge coming up the following week.”

Watch James Franklin’s full remarks following the Villanova win

You can watch everything that James Franklin had to say following Penn State football’s latest win on the Basic Blues Nation YouTube page. 

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