James Franklin: “I shoot my shots, deal with it”

James Franklin had a semi-eventful press conference on Tuesday, where the focus inevitably went from the task at hand (Georgia State, Georgia State, Georgia State...) to more of the juicier items on the menu.

He started his press conference as he usually does, with acknowledgements to the fans for packing the stadium. Franklin continued by giving Saquon Barkley offensive nods, while Grant Haley and Marcus Allen combined for the honors on defense. On Special teams, Garrett Taylor, Irvin Charles, and Nick Scott got the honors.

Fraklin was pleased with the game overall, saying it was a complete effort. He also praised Georgia State for almost beating Wisconsin last season.

As we all know, Franklin chooses his words carefully as to not give the wrong message, so let’s dig in to what he was saying in his last press conference.

What he said:

I think the thing that probably jumps out to me is essentially this same team went to Wisconsin last year and was leading in the fourth quarter. So they are going to be used to playing in these Big Ten type of environments on the road. Obviously they are a talented team.

What he meant:

LOL Wisconsin how youse let this garbage team nearly beat you at your own house? These guys lost by 20 to Texas State. TEXAS STATE! AT HOME! They lost by 25 TO AN FCS TEAM! AND THEY LOST AGAIN TO ANOTHER FCS TEAM THIS SEASON! THEY GON GET GOT ON SATURDAY!

On the questions front...

Question: What was your role in scheduling Georgia State three years ago, and would you like to see your non-conference schedule continue to include one Power Five opponent more or less?

What he said:

To be honest with you, the administration handles the scheduling. I have conversations and I have input. A few years ago we did a camp at Georgia State. Had a conversation with the head coach. They were interested; we were interested. I came back and gave it to the administration and then they kind of looked into the specifics and the details.

What he meant:

Really? Stupid questions right off the bat? Y’all couldn’t even throw me one softball to warm me up? OF COURSE we scheduled them because we owed them one. You like Blake Gillikin, yeah? You like seeing Penn State not have to start every defensive possession at midfield? Oh you do? THAT’s why we’re playing Georgia State on Saturday. Next!

Also, did you not check our schedule before asking this question? We have one power 5 opponent every year for the next 10 years you... *woosah*

Question: He's been a dangerous player for you in the past. Do you feel like you need to get Saeed Blacknall more involved or not?

What he said:

It really doesn't work like that. We look at Saeed as a starter. We look at him as a big-time player. He's played a lot of football for us over the years. We've got great competition, which is excellent.

But our offense really doesn't work like that. In the old offense, we would personnel and formation to get players into certain spots. With what we do now, which I love, is depending on what the defense does, truly is going to determine what we do.

What he meant:

I hear Joe Moorhead is looking for assistants. Want a change of career? It doesn’t pay much, and we don’t promise we’ll ever take your opinion into consideration, but we’ll definitely appreciate your input. You seem to know what you’re doing more than we do. I think you could have won the Big Ten in your first year, right? I mean that’s what Joe helped us do in his first season as OC, so clearly you could to better. Next!

Question: Has the offensive line begun to fulfill your expectations yet of it becoming a strength of the offense this year?

What he said:

I think we're playing solid. I think we can play better. One of the things that is very important to me that I've been talking about since I got here and really has been a challenge my entire coaching career, is offensive linemen are the nicest human beings on the planet.

What he meant:

You tell me, moth*******. Is Trace getting blowed up by two defenders? Is Barkley not running for all of the yards? Am I missing something here? Is yinz going to ask me anything worth answering today? Next!

Question: Saquon Barkley is listed as your No. 1 kick returner. How about your philosophy on using the most talented tailback in the country as a kick returner doing that? Some would say you're risking him for more injury doing that.

What he said:

Yeah, a couple things. No. 1, Saquon Barkley has been our starting [kick returner] since camp. I didn't want that on the depth chart because I didn't want people scheming to kick it away from him. That's the reality of it.

Our team and Saquon have known that he was the starting kickoff return guy from the beginning. I just didn't want to put it on the depth chart from a public perspective because people are going to start kicking away from it. I think that's what's going to happen now. That's why having Koa Farmer as one or our up-backs is really important because he's got the ability to return the ball.

You know - again, I studied this - you look at what Stanford did with their starting tailback. Had a huge impact as a tailback, as well as a punt return guy and as a kick return guy.

One of the things that I don't really understand is everybody talks about how important special teams are, and it's just as important as offense and defense until you try to use your starters on special teams. I don't really get it. To me, it seems like talking out of both sides of your mouth, and we've never done that.

What he meant:

You guys are unbelievable. Can someone bring me a depth chart? I’m pretty sure we LISTED him as kick returner on the depth chart. Can’t read? I mean that’s he only reason why I see anyone asking me about Barkley returning kicks when WE TOLD YOU HE WOULD RETURN KICKS ON WEEK ONE!

Oh, you mean we should put Miles back there, even though he fumbled in his only carry of Saturday? You think that’s going to be good for his confidence, to muff kick after kick? Don’t you think that maybe, just maybe, having our best player put us in the best position to win might actually, you know, put us in the best position to win?

Did y’all not watch McCaffrey last year? NEWSFLASH F******! HE GOT INJURED ON A NON-SPECIAL TEAMS PLAY! Should we just never use Barkley cause I mean he might get hurt in practice. Let’s not have him practice then! It’s settled!

Alls yalls is so hypocritical. When we had bad special teams everyone was like “why not put someone there who can return kicks” now everyones like “waaaaah why are we putting someone who can return kicks back there waaaaaah” shut up.

Question: I wanted to go back to the question about scheduling. —Franklin: “I did not. Next question please!”

Question: You mentioned about statistics, data, that aspect of the game; how much of is that on ongoing process for you, just a weekly basis. Who gives that you information? I imagine you're not sitting there digging through websites.

What he said:

We have a couple different companies we use, and Mike Hazel on our staff is the guy that kind of puts all that together. We have a sport scientist that studies a lot of metrics and data from practice. We study sleep. We have some technology that our players wear that studies their sleep.

We have the catapult system that measures how much they are running in practice. We have a number of different things that we're using that are helpful, and then obviously data like you're talking about on whether it's first down efficiency, second down efficiency, third down conversions, fourth down conversions, drive start; all of the stuff that's out there.

What he meant:

Yes assholes I read ya’s comments don’t front.

Question: Not to talk about last week but looking forward, how is it having the '82 title team in town? Were there any experiences that your team got to share with them and looking forward what was that like for them to have history around them and have the opportunity to be around them?

What he said:

To be honest with you, I don't think anybody was around them. I know that sounds crazy and it sounds like it's a shame.

I remember when we went to Ireland, everyone was like, ‘wasn't it a wonderful cultural experience?’ The hotel was nice. The practice field was nice. But our schedule doesn't really allow you to do that when it's an actual game week.

And then the same thing. They came into town. They are busy doing their events. They didn't get here until probably late Thursday or whatever it was, and then we're busy doing our stuff.

What he meant:

Then why the hell did you ask about last week then? I mean, if I don’t want to do something, I just don’t do it. Like, if I don’t want to get peed on, I get out of the way. Do you not get out of the way is someone is trying to pee on you?

No, we didn’t meet with the team, we were busy with playing a game. Were you aware, that we were playing a game on Saturday, yes?

Question: Damion Barber, he's been here for a month. What has he learned the most or in what area has he grown?

I really don't know yet. To be honest with you, you can probably ask me that question in about a month, I'll have a better answer for you. I don't want to feel like I'm not answering your question, and I typically don't get into specifics about guys. But he showed up and was sick, so to be honest with you, today is going to be the first day he actually practices with us.

What he meant:

Why ya keep asking me **** you ain’t getting the answer to? When’s the last time I told you anything personal about a player? No seriously, tell me when was the last time I gave you intimate, personal details about a player. I’M ASKING YOU TO TELL ME! FUUUUUUUUUUUU!

Question: One of the things, Georgia State, they have allowed two plays of 50-plus in their last 13 games and you guys kind of thrive on being explosive. What do you see from them that could limit your explosiveness?

What he said:

Yeah, it's a pretty interesting stat. To be honest with you, I just uncovered that this morning. Just kind of watching film, and watching film and go back, saw the stats come in; and study those things and take what you're seeing on film and kind of match it up with the statistics. That's a pretty impressive stat, one of the best in the country.

I think that's going to be one of the big challenges in the game. They do a great job of limiting big plays, and we do a pretty good job of creating big plays. So that's going to be one of the big storylines in the game. You have a number of ways of creating explosive plays; that's throwing it over their head or that's breaking tackles.

What he meant:

Motha******* does you think we’re Wisconsin? Want a side bet right now? We’re getting two mother******* big plays in the first quarter. Name the price. I got money.

Question: You kind of got into this last week with your Super Bowl comment; do you think it's realistic to expect a team to be at its peak emotionally 12, 13, 14 times a year, or is that an ongoing challenge? Is it realistic to expect peak efficiency emotionally every single game?

That's what we're striving to. That's what we're striving to be as consistent as we possibly can be and we feel like this approach gives us the best chance.

Yeah, I don't think you're ever going to play the perfect game at the quarterback position, but that doesn't mean you don't approach it in a way to give yourself the best chance.

So yeah, I expect and I plan for us to be playing at a peak level each week from a focus and from a preparation standpoint. But to me if you set really high standards and then you just miss those standards, you still have a chance to play pretty well and execute pretty well and prepare pretty well.

We're going to set really high standards academically. We are going to set really high standards socially. We are going to set really high standards with how we want to play the football game on Saturdays and how we want to prepare. But I think this gives us the best chance.

What he meant:

This mother*******. Y’all don’t let anything go, ain’t? Maybe I’ll just let Georgia State win so everyone can understand what it’s like to keep 18- to 22-year old kids motivated. You want that? You want us to miss the playoff again? Because I can do that, but something tells me that as soon as we do that you will start asking me why I don’t motivate my players of whatever hypocritical bull**** you’re going to come up with next.

Are you a closet Pitt fan? Did I hurt you last week? Is that it? Let the Pitt **** go already. Jesus.

Question:I know last year when men’s hockey was ranked No. 1, they struggled a little bit and [men’s hockey coach] Guy Gadowski came to you and said, How do you handle all the attention and pressure. And you guys aren't No. 1 but you're Top 5, but what is your philosophy for dealing with everything that comes with that and still performing at a high level?

What he said:

I know you guys probably don't want to hear this but this goes back to that approach. It doesn't change when times are tough and it doesn't change when times are going well. It's consistent because we believe in it.

What he meant:

Jesus Mother******* Chryst! Y’all want us to lose already? We haven’t even played anyone yet! How’s Y’all’s already this eager to see us lose a game? It’s September, chill the **** out man. **** me!

Read Full Transcript On Gopsusports.