Penn State Football head coach James Franklin met with the media for his weekly press conference Monday for the first time this season coming off of a loss for the Nittany Lions.
Franklin discussed both the film review of the Ohio State game in which Penn State lost 20-13 and moving forward to this week’s game against Washington.
In the press conference, James Franklin highlighted two areas on Penn State’s offense with room to improve to help Penn State move forward toward a College Football Playoff birth this season.
Here is what James Franklin revealed are areas where the Penn State offense must improve this season:
Running game
One of the two areas that James Franklin highlighted for needing improvement as the season progresses is the Nittany Lions’ traditional running game.
Against Ohio State Saturday, Penn State running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen ran for only 43 total yards, averaging only 2.4 yards per carry (a season low).
Penn State was able to gain 120 yards on the ground against Ohio State, mostly thanks to Tyler Warren’s 47 rushing yards on only three carries. However, Monday James Franklin discussed that Penn State must improve in the traditional running game with Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
After a hot start to the 2024 season, Penn State’s two running backs have only eclipsed the 100-yard mark once in the past four games. Franklin added that “there’s some things we gotta do in terms of scheme to make them defend the field and spread out the box as much as possible” in order to get the traditional running game back to form after the recent four game slump.
Wide Receivers in the Passing Game
The second area of concern moving forward for Penn State is the wide receiver play in the passing game.
On Saturday, only two Penn State wide receivers caught passes for Penn State, three total catches for 49 yards.
“We’ve got to be able to threaten people,” Franklin told reporters Monday, after reviewing the film over the weekend. “Stretch people, make plays, create separation, and make tough catches.” Franklin continued that “that needs to happen, that needs to be an emphasis the rest of the season.”
Franklin also discussed how there have been “significant strides made” in wide receiver play this season, but “there’s still work to do.”
Franklin noted in the weekly press conference that Penn State has “to make sure that one loss doesn’t turn into two.”
With a whiteout game against Washington coming up Saturday night, Penn State will need to improve these two areas on offense quickly to make sure to keep themselves in the College Football Playoff contention with a loss now on the record.
Penn State Football is an early 13.5 point favorite, but Penn State has come out flat after losses to Ohio State in the past.
All eyes will be on Penn State and specifically the Penn State offense to see whether the Nittany Lions can salvage the season after their first loss this past weekend.
MORE: Analyzing What Went Wrong for The Nittany Lions on Saturday
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