Franklin makes two uncharacteristic blunders at bad time

ALTOONA, Pa. -- If it had happened in just about any other game-week press conference, it wouldn't seem like a big deal. But it didn't. It happened this week, when everyone involved with the Penn State football program should be laser focused for their biggest challenge -- Ohio State.

Was James Franklin laser focused Tuesday?

Certainly not. In fact, in the coach's eight years at Penn State, he's perhaps never made two bigger speaking blunders than he made in this one press conference.

Given everything that's going on -- from his name being mentioned for other jobs, to hiring a new agent, to the fact that the Nittany Lions are playing Ohio State this week -- Franklin's mistakes Tuesday were magnified.

Again, Penn State is playing OHIO STATE this week. At the Horseshoe in Columbus.

Not at Michigan.

"Obviously, tremendous challenge going on the road to the Big House," Franklin said during his opening remarks.

Mistakes happen when people are speaking in public. So maybe Franklin should get a bit of a free pass on this one.

But how about this one? Or, more precisely, these two?

When Franklin was asked about Penn State President Eric Barron and AD Sandy Barbour and the future of the school's administration, he tried to deflect in his answer and said this:

"We're trying to be focused on Illinois and talking about Illinois as much as we possibly can."

This week's game is against Ohio State.

A short time later, Franklin was asked by Audrey Snyder of The Athletic, "Are you committed to being the head coach here beyond this season?"

"Yeah, you know, obviously I've been asked this this question multiple times," Franklin said. "And my focus is completely on Illinois and this team and this program. I think I've shown over my eight years my commitment to this university and this community. And that's kind of my statement."

His focus is completely on Illinois, last week's opponent, in a horrendous 20-18 loss in nine overtimes.

Again, people make mistakes when speaking. But James Franklin is a man who doesn't make those kinds of mistakes in press conferences. He is meticulous. He is as well prepared to talk with the media as any college coach in this country. He's ready for certain questions to be asked and is prepared to control the narrative in whatever way he wants with his calculative answers.

So, what does it say about Franklin's focus at this point that he kept saying he's getting ready to play Illinois? Now, obviously, Penn State wasn't ready to play against Illinois last week, but that's beside the point.

This week's game is against Ohio State. The Buckeyes are favored by nearly three touchdowns. They've been destroying teams of late.

Penn State is struggling, its coach is being linked to other jobs, there clearly are outside distractions. And Franklin provided Ohio State with not one but two pieces of ammunition in calling its stadium the Big House and saying that the Lions are ready to play Illinois.

We talk a lot about the notion of winning the press conference with coaches. But there certainly is the flip side, where a coach can lose the press conference. And Franklin clearly lost this press conference with those lack of focus mistakes.

Should we cut Franklin some slack here, and just chalk it up to a slip of the tongue? Perhaps. He's going through a tough time right now, his team is going through a tough time and the toughest times of all could be waiting for him Saturday in Columbus.

Not against Illinois. And not at the Big House.

I asked Franklin about distractions for his team, and if it is realistic to think that all of the players on the roster wouldn't be distracted by so much noise surrounding the coach's future.

"I think that's fair," Franklin said. "It has not been a discussion or an issue that I've heard from the staff or I've heard from the players I've met with the leadership council. We've kept it very direct. And obviously, there's things that we have discussions in great detail in our building, with our family and the players and the staff.

"So we try to do that the best we possibly can. I think we've done a pretty good job of that over my years here. And we'll continue to try to do that. There's things that we can control, and there's things that we can't control from the outside. But this has been kind of a story that's happened on numerous occasions, and we just try to keep it as focused as we possibly can. But I think it's a fair question."

More takeaways from today's press conference:

CLIFFORD CLOSE TO 100 PERCENT

Quarterback Sean Clifford was noticeably limited in the loss to Illinois, particularly when it came to running. Franklin gave this health update Tuesday:

"Sean's much further ahead now to being back to 100 percent, so that that's a positive. We feel really good about that," Franklin said. "Sean felt great physically on Sunday. ... We expect to have a 100 percent Sean Clifford this weekend."

That is obviously great news for Penn State, which struggled mightily on offense against the Illini, in large part because Clifford was no threat to run.

"That's a big part of Sean and what his game is -- his ability to extend plays, his ability to keep the defense honest and be able to make a play or two throughout the game where he picks up the first down with his legs." Franklin said.

"He was limited, obviously, in what he could do. And and we tried to limit it as much as we could, as well. So, obviously, that was the challenge when you got a guy like Sean and that's that's a big part of what he does and how he plays. That being limited obviously impacted him and us."

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Barron will retire in June, and Barbour's contract runs through August of 2023. So after that period, the leadership at Penn State could change dramatically, and if Franklin is still coaching, he will be working for a new president and could be working for a new AD.

"There's been a lot of unusual situations," Franklin said. "The timing of when I came to Penn State, I took the job here, not knowing who the president or the AD was going to be. They were both interim at the time, which is very unusual. And then obviously when when you have a president who's retiring like Eric -- Eric actually his birthday today, I sent him a message this morning wishing him happy birthday -- Eric's done an unbelievable job. We all came in at a challenging time in Penn State's history and have worked very well together and have battled together.

"But yeah, I think obviously you want to have an idea of what the future is going to hold. I got tremendous faith in our board and our board leader in Matt Schuyler, that we're going to get somebody great. But Eric is going to be difficult to replace. So yeah, there's a lot of moving parts you know. But I got tremendous faith in our leadership on the board, I got tremendous faith in our leadership that's currently on campus now, too."

DOTSON LOOKING FOR REPEAT PERFORMANCE

Jahan Dotson had a sensational game last year against Ohio State, catching eight passes for 144 yards and three touchdowns, while being covered by the Buckeyes' best corner, Shaun Wade.

"That was probably one of the best games of my career, a game that I'll never forget. To be honest, I'm trying to do the same this year, if not even better. That's kind of just the mindset that I was born with, raised with, kind of not dwelling on the past, just trying to be better this week, trying to be better than I was last year, better than I was the year before that.

"The biggest thing for me is coming out with a W. I haven't beat Ohio State since I've been here, so that's really the biggest thing for me."

ARE THERE DISTRACTIONS ON THE TEAM?

I asked Dotson how he stays focused and prepared when so much is going on with regards to outside noise, Franklin's future, etc.

"It's fairly simple," he said. "Ever since I've gotten here, Coach Franklin has really drilled in our heads about going 1-0. Me being in the program for four years now, that's just something that's engraved in my mind. That's all I'm focused on right now is going 1-0, taking it day by day, step by step.

"Monday we had off, and a lot of guys on this team -- we have a lot of vets on this team -- so a lot of guys have been in this position before. We saw that a lot of guys were in the facility yesterday, watching film. I talked to my roommate, Jesse Luketa, when I got home about 6:30. I watched film for like three hours, and he was like, I was right there in the room beside you literally watching film for 3 1/2 hours, 4 hours."