UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- James Franklin wanted to make his point much so that he started Tuesday's opening statement by addressing his decision to call a timeout late in the Nittany Lions' blowout win against Georgia State.
Franklin, up 56-0 in the final seconds, said his intention wasn't to ice Georgia State's kicker. He said as much Saturday night after the game. But, with the No. 4 Lions' fourth-string defense on the field he said Penn State has never even repped a field goal block with that unit, so he took the timeout to get the field goal block unit on the field.
Why not just let the Panthers line up and kick it with the game well out of reach?
That much, Franklin said, has been asked by people who've sent inquiries to Penn State about his decision to use the timeout.
"If that's how you think and how you feel, then you won't ever understand me and you won't ever understand us," he said. "Whether it's the first play of the game or whether it's the last play of the game or whether we're losing or whether we're winning, or whether it's raining or whether it's sunny, we are going to fight for every inch on the field, every yard on the field, every second on the clock, we're going to fight."
Georgia State missed the field goal attempt, which preserved the Lions' second shutout of the season. Since then, Franklin has been criticized nationally for taking the timeout. He was featured on ESPN's 'SportsCenter' Monday night for it. For the man who preaches the team's core values and has them plastered throughout the football building -- including the value of compete in everything you do -- not trying to block the field goal wasn't an option.
Is he concerned about the perception of piling it on, which picked up nationally after the game?
“I control the things that I can control. That’s not one of them," he said.
SEEING PINK
Iowa's famous pink visiting locker room won't be something Franklin spends much time discussing with his team this week. The head coach has yet to coach a game in Iowa City, but is embracing all that comes with the first road trip of the season.
While the Lions will crank the crowd noise in practice and are anticipating a crowd that will be on top of the field, something very notable about Kinnick Stadium's proximity between the sideline and the stands, the former psychology major dodged a question about whether or not the pink locker room's intent of trying to lull the opponent to sleep is even realistic. It's been a tradition at Iowa since 1979 and in 2005 pink urinals were added.
"I'm actually going to talk to our guys about it being a really, really nice gesture by the University of Iowa to welcome Penn State, since our original school colors are pink and black," Franklin said. "What a wonderful gesture it is that they painted their locker room pink for us."
A few Penn State players already shrugged off questions about the visiting locker room thus far this week.
Franklin said his family just finished painting their house and one of his daughters even went with pink.
"It looks great in my daughter Addy's bedroom, and I think it's probably going to look cool in their locker room," he said.
NEEDING MORE
Andre Robinson and Miles Sanders both scored against Georgia State, but both players also fumbled one time each in the last two games.
Needing to spell Saquon Barkley will be important in conference play so has Franklin's confidence wavered with those behind Barkley, or was last week maybe what both running backs needed to move forward?
"Miles, I thought his run was excellent. I thought Andre's run was really, really good," Franklin said. "We're going to need them throughout the season, so we're fortunate and we're blessed. But once again, I think the programs that we want to compare ourselves to, most programs have three or four big time running backs that you feel like you can get in there and they have a chance to make big plays."
The Lions have freshman running back Journey Brown taking a redshirt this season and also have a verbal pledge from standout Ricky Slade in the 2018 recruiting class.
HERE IT COMES
Penn State's two-quarterback package resulted in a touchdown on the opening drive and I wrote in my Sunday story that Tommy Stevens' role will only continue to grow out of this package.
It was against Iowa last year when the Lions first put Trace McSorley and Stevens on the field at the same time and Stevens said after Saturday's win that it was around Ohio State or Maryland week last season when the Lions started working on it in practice.
It's put stress on a defense, having to account for Stevens who can either catch a pass, throw the ball or even run with it. Penn State safety Marcus Allen said on his conference call Tuesday afternoon that it gives the defense one more thing to account for. It also gets Stevens meaningful game reps, something that isn't easy to come by when you're the backup quarterback.
"It's a nice package," Franklin said. "It's something that we have kind of been messing around with for a while now, and we've got a bunch of accumulated reps in practice. Now obviously being able to use it in a game. And we've got a lot of different ways and a lot of different things that we can do and that we've done in practice. So I think this package will just continue to evolve."
TIGHTENING UP
Franklin wants to see more from the Lions' run defense, a group that's ranked 50th in the FBS, surrendering 126 yards per game. That will be put to the test Saturday night against the more traditional style Iowa offense, a stereotypical Big Ten team in that their bread and butter is pounding the ball and grinding out the clock.
It should prove to be a nice measuring stick for what could be an area of concern on this defense. Franklin called it a "real challenge" for coordinator Brent Pry's defense.
"Like a Michigan, like a Michigan State, like a Stanford, Iowa is going to get up and they are going to line up and they are going to try to pound you from multiple personnel groups," he said.
QUICK HITS
• Penn State's Players of the Week for the Georgia State game were: Offense: Trace McSorley. Defense: Marcus Allen. Special teams: Tyler Davis and Blake Gillikin.
• Franklin outlined the Lions' injury situation and expects linebacker Cam Brown and offensive lineman Brendan Mahon to return this week. Defensive end Torrence Brown's status is much more unclear.