What Penn State’s James Franklin said about improving offense, dealing with Oregon loss
Three subpar performances in non-conference matchups were worrisome for the Penn State offense, but not the end of the world. But now that the unit struggled against Oregon, there’s plenty of reason to believe this is what the group is — average and inconsistent from snap to snap, whether it’s passing or running.
That is not what it was supposed to be heading into this season. The offensive line was supposed to be elite, and so was the running game in general. The passing game just had to be consistent, hitting on the easy stuff with an occasional explosive play. That’s what the offense was last year.
But instead things look very different, and after a third of the regular season, might have to look very different than it did in 2024.
“Those are the things I think we look at every single week. What do we need to do to be successful? What are we doing well? How can we build on those things? What are we not doing well? How can we either fix those things or pivot in a different direction?” Franklin said.
“Then I also think there is just a part of when it comes to players holding themselves accountable and coaches coaching them to get it done. We all got to own a piece of that. ... Just because this is how we did to last year doesn’t mean that’s how we have to do to this year. That’s part of leadership and that’s part of decisions that need to be made.”
The inconsistency has seeped into every facet of the offense, but it’s especially true of quarterback Drew Allar, whose highlight reel is littered with some of the best throws a college quarterback can make. The problem is, those moments are balanced out by decisions and passes that can cost the team, at the very least, a drive — and sometimes even a game.
Allar is not overly different from the quarterback he has been in the past, but his struggles to hit the easy throws have been an issue. That being said, there have been positives that Franklin has seen to build off of — even if means having him use his legs to keep the defense on its toes.
“I think when we’re running the ball, I think our play-action pass is something that we have done well,” Franklin said. “I think when we can get Drew involved in the running game I think that creates a lot of frustration for defenses. So a lot of the stuff that you saw on Saturday where we were able to run some of the read packages, option packages, however you want to look at it, with the speed sweep or quarterback power stuff, that’s difficult to defend, right? Whether it’s the zone read stuff and getting him out the backside of the run to keep the defense honest is something that we haven’t seen a whole lot this year. I think that’s valuable as well.”
Even so, the issues in this passing game aren’t entirely on Allar.
“I think we have to make sure that we’re not in run, incomplete or another run and then obvious passing downs where we don’t have clean pockets, don’t have open receivers,” Franklin said. “We got to make sure that we’re putting him in the best position as possible. There are some easier throws that we can find for him, whether it is quick game, whether it is screens, whether it is move the pocket, that we have to be able to do in these games to get him going like most quarterbacks.”
Dealing with defeat
Franklin spoke about his record against top-10 opponents at Penn State — he’s 4-21 — after the team lost to Oregon, and mentioned how it is not longer a narrative, but reality. And Monday, he talked about how he handled the loss and the 36 or so hours between the defeat and his weekly press conference.
Here’s what he said:
“We have lost to really good teams. We’ve lost to really, really good teams. And I take that very hard, and I take that very personal because I know how important it is to so many different people. I always start with myself and the things that I can control. That’s why I take things so personal, that’s why I take things so hard. And whenever you do that, you have to be careful. You try to tune out all the noise that you possibly can, again, which is difficult in today’s day and age, and I try to insulate the players as much as I possibly can.
“Whether it’s [sports information directors] Greg Kincaid or Kris [Petersen] or other people will send me cut-ups or examples of how maybe other coaches and other people handle some of these questions, and I think that perspective is good. Some of the way those things are handled at other places, I don’t think would go over very well here. If I got up at a press conference and said some things that I’ve seen other people say, I don’t think that would go over very well. So I try to be as respectful as I can. I try to answer the tough questions that you guys give. It’s not always easy to do. I wouldn’t say I enjoy this whatsoever, but I also understand you guys got a job to do, and these tough questions are gonna come.
“I will also say that I’m not going to allow one loss to define our season, and I’m not going to allow a few losses to define my career and what we have done here at Penn State. Because although I don’t think a lot of people spend a ton of time on what we have done over our 12 years here — and I get it, nobody wants to hear this right now — there’s a ton of positives. I say this as someone that’s trying to look at the positives here and move this program in the right direction and take the step that we need to take this week. I want this to come off as me stating some positives, to answer your question, and not just focus on the negatives because I don’t think that helps solve the problem. Screaming, yelling, pointing fingers, we’re not going to do. And also, there’s a part of making sure that I represent this program, this university, the right way and do it with class and integrity. And that probably shows up more in times like this than other times. But it’s not fun, and it’s not easy when you care as deeply as we care.”
This story was originally published September 29, 2025 at 4:21 PM with the headline "What Penn State’s James Franklin said about improving offense, dealing with Oregon loss."
