James Franklin Weekly Press Conference Notes: Buffalo Week

Each week, we'll bring you news and notes from James Franklin's weekly press conference. Today, Franklin discussed the current state of the offensive line, the Temple loss, and Penn State's week two opponent, Buffalo.

• "Everyone had a role in the 10 sacks."
• Will look at the possibility of playing the best 5 guys to play at OL.
• Gotta eliminate penalties, dropped balls, etc.
• Defensively, there were issues with communication after losing Nyeem Wartman-White.
• Special teams: Liked Joey Julius, Daniel Pasquariello needs to do a better job on punts. Distance is OK, but hang time and direction need work.
• Practice depth is better, game depth is still an issue. Lose a guy and you're putting freshmen in.
• Brandon Bell and Grant Haley are questionable for Saturday. Jason Cabinda, Gary Wooten, and Jake Cooper are options at MLB.
• Wendy Laurent and Chance Sorrell might see time. Don't expect a huge influx of new starters, so much as a shuffle in positions.
• Offensive line: Communications with signaling, seems like communication was working well in practice, but it broke down in the actual game.
• Offensive staff: Evaluating what they can do a better job of in terms of game management. Need to run the ball more and move the pocket more. Need to take more shots, especially when they load the box. Another thing that could be done is to huddle in order to give the defense some more time on the sidelines.
• Tight ends: Need to get them more involved. The speed of the game may have caught up with all three tight ends as well.
• A few things could be done to mitigate sacks. Little opportunity for Christian Hackenberg. Moving the pocket, screens, taking shots, are all things the offense can do to help Hackenberg and the offensive line.
• Some of the communication issues were a failure to recognize blitzes. Temple's gameplan was to attack the OL, and it worked. That's not the last time we'll see that gameplan.
• Wooten and Cabinda are both capable of taking control of MLB. Wooten has experience and Cabinda played a lot lat season.
• On former players expressing anger: They're passionate, but we need to stay positive and work through it. Could list 15 reasons why we're in the position that we're in, but those don't matter. They are going to be upset, but that's because they care so much. Have patience, because the negativity is not going to help. We need to support our players. Good things are coming down the road.
• On John Donovan: Everybody has responsibilities, and everybody has to pull their weight. "Everybody is being evaluated." However, it's not just one thing or one side of the ball. Right when the offense started sputtering we also lost Wartman-White. The first sack changed the sideline. Gotta be mentally tough.
• Shotgun vs. under center: It's about 50-50. Having the threat of the QB running keeps the defense honest. More gun since being here, but that's due to the line.
• Thought Akeel Lynch did some good things. Will have plenty of opportunity to show he's "the guy." Would like for Lynch to take complete control and show he's the guy.
• Clarifies that the demeanor after the first sack is not quitting, but rather losing confidence.
• Wants to fight until the last whistle, that's why he left Hackenberg in. In hindsight, maybe he should have taken him out.
• Reiterated that there are specific things that need to be done to adjust to what defenses are doing.
• Palmer played like a guy starting in his first game. Will need to make some decisions this week.
• Need to tackle better in open space.
• Knows people want an easy solution, but the answer is still "it all starts up front. Both for offense and defense."
• From Jordan Lucas: They players literally buried the tape. It was apparently Hackenberg's idea. There will be no more discussion about Temple.

That's all for this week's edition of press conference notes. Look for the full transcript later this afternoon.

Watch the press conference here: http://www.gopsusports.com/collegesportslive/?media=501454