Franklin vows to hold Penn State staff accountable for ‘embarrassing’ penalty issues

James Franklin and Penn State football orchestrated a stifling showcase against Kent State on Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions outgained the Golden Flashes at a rate of nearly 11:1 and scored two more touchdowns than first downs allowed.

It was an almost flawless performance. Almost. The one glaring imperfection from Penn State was its seven penalties for 65 yards. Compounding the issue further, five of those penalties occurred either pre- or post-snap.

The seven penalties were right on line with the Nittany Lions’ average coming into Saturday and where it will stay coming out of the weekend. Penn State football has committed 22 penalties for 201 yards through three games. The program now ranks No. 59 in the nation and No. 12 in the Big Ten for fewest penalties this season.

“Yeah, I don’t like them,” James Franklin said when asked about the issue following Saturday’s game. “I don’t like them at all, to be honest with you. You know, if you look at the analytics and the statistics, they don’t really have a significant impact when you talk about winning and losing. But as a head coach, it embarrasses me, because it shows a lack of discipline and it’s sloppy and it makes things harder than it needs to be.

“We end up making a drive on offense harder. Everything for us, on offense and on defense, just like everybody else across the country, is you want to be ahead of the sticks. If it’s first and five because you jumped offsides on defense, you’re not going to get the sacks you want. You’re not going to get the tackles for loss you want, because they’re ahead of the sticks, and now they can run the ball, go quick game, go naked and things like that.”

James Franklin: I’m going to hold Penn State staff accountable to cleaning up penalty issues

© Grace Carella / Basic Blues Nation, 2024.

With conference play now upon them, the time for the Nittany Lions to iron out the kinks is essentially over. The competition takes a dramatic step up in scale this weekend, with Penn State hosting No. 19 Illinois for its first ranked matchup of the year.

With the Nittany Lions’ most challenging tests still yet to come, James Franklin promised to take the steps needed to correct the issue, starting in the Lasch Building.

“So, I’m going to keep my poise, but I’m going to keep people accountable. I’m going to hold the staff accountable to it,” he said. “We’re going to get it fixed. I’m totally bald now. I’m basically gray, so there’s not a whole lot left I can lose. I guess, gain weight, eating from stress and embarrassment of penalties.

“But I ain’t got a whole lot left, you know, in terms of what else, right? Maybe gray eyebrows, that’s probably the last thing that goes. But I’m not happy about it at all. So, we’re going to have a lot of discussions about it as a staff, and we’re going to work on getting it fixed.”

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