Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Everybody's LeVar Arrington here, and yes we have another winning
edition of Quite Franklin with coach James Franklin. We'll talk
all things Penn State football. Of course, I threw a
cooking question at him in terms of game plan and
you'll be interested to hear about that. I had a
really good steak and egg sandwich today that I made
(00:21):
me and my wife prepared. We'll do some rapid fire
questions as well, so a lot to get to. We'll
talk to Franklin about the Minnesota Gophers and how they
play in the newer stadium outdoors, not indoors like the
one I played in where Minnesota Vikings played. Anyway, I'm
(00:42):
getting old, but you'll hear all of that and more
and Quite Franklin coming at you.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Three two one, let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
It's a good week. Guys are putting what would seemingly
be perceived as consistency in terms of how you guys
are are playing. Is is that an observation? What has
your takeaway been on self scouting yourself over the last
(01:21):
few games that you guys have played.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, it's kind of like the message I think I
told you last week is obviously most importantly, we got
to win, but we also have to get better, like
we got to be the most improved team in the
country since our loss, and that's got to be our
focus every single week. Let's find a way to win
the game most importantly, which I think a lot of
people take for granted, and you look across college football
(01:46):
weekend and week out.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
That's harder to do than people think. The consistency thing
that you just talked about, but.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Then also can you do that but then also get
better and I think the last two weeks we've done that.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I took up cooking because my wife was getting overwhelmed
with our kids and other duties that she's taken on.
I've gotten really good at cooking, coach, and I've gotten
pretty consistent on how I make steaks and ribs, in particular,
(02:22):
I told you about my ribs before they bangers. When
you look at what I just made a really dope
steak sandwich this morning too, it was really good, Coach.
And that's why I'm thinking about this question. When you're
cooking up your game plans from week to week, do
(02:43):
you get spicier do you keep it on the less
season side like how do you prepare if you're looking
at this in terms of you being a chef and
your kitchen, how do you pair your game plans going
into the game. Because I was really wondering. I was
(03:04):
thinking about that, like super curious. I see the structure
that you have from everything from academics to workouts to
nutrition and different things like that, and it's very very structured,
very well, how do you approach your game plans?
Speaker 4 (03:21):
So I think that's a good question.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So I think there's there's kind of a philosophy in coaching.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
That who you're going against.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
So for example, you're going against a defense and they
are super aggressive and super exotic, then typically the approach
for most people is then you simplify, because if you simplify,
then you can spend time working on all the exotic
(03:53):
things you do. But the problem with that is when
you do that, then you're kind of working right into
what they want.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
It's just like most people.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Run an up tempo offensive attack. One of the big
reasons to do that is because it simplifies the defense.
So if you end up doing that, you're doing exactly
what they want. So for us, we want to stay
true to who we are weak in and weak out
and not allow our opponent to dictate that so offensively,
(04:26):
you see, you know, we want to be creative, We
want to cause stress. We want to do a lot
of different things, formations, tempos, all different unorthodox plays and
things like that. And then defensively man coverage which is
typically based out of trying to pressure and contest all
yards and throws and by going man coverage allows you
(04:50):
to blitz.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
So for us, we're trying to create stress.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
And not allowing our opponent or the gain and dictate
how we function.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I like that. I wanted to switch things up a
little bit, just to keep things fun.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I'm gonna ask you a rapid like a rapid fire question,
right like, I'm gonna ask you one question.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I'm gonna give you the the.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Whatever it is, and then you just give me the
first thing that comes to mind for what it is?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
All right? A message? Two? That's the question. What would
your message be? Two? All right?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
First one the fans? What would your message? Just first
thing that comes to mind? What would your message be
to the fans? Right now?
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Appreciate them?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
You appreciate them, yeah, the media, appreciate them?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
All right? Your coaches.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Family Drew. Underappreciated nick football player.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Tyler.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
The word that jumps into my mind is just unusual
in terms of in terms of his production.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
And demeanor and those types of things.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
K Tron.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Hammer, Abdul, disruptive.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
J Reid, Yeah, Jay Reid.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I don't want to say the same thing again, but
it fits. He's a football player, you guy. The guy
is a foot ball player.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
M mister King.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
I think he's a throw back. I think he's a throwback.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I think he's a guy could have played in the seventies,
the eighties, the nineties.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Yeah, I'm actually throwback. And I mean that as a compliment.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
No doubt I receive him that way. He's like, he's
like I could have played with Kobe King, uh zaying.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Athletic freak.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
All right, here we go. This is inger PJ. Fleck.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
It's hard to do it in one word. I would
probably say underappreciated as well.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Okay, so Minnesota is having an so so year, four
and three in the conference, six and four overall, him
being underappreciated as a coach, But looking at the record,
how do you comprehend this team going into the matchup
(08:14):
an underappreciated coach, but the record would would let James
Franklin have that record? You know what I mean? Like
going into it, it's it's it's kind of like a
what type of game? What type of team is this?
Because they're not. Their record doesn't say they're bad. It
(08:37):
just doesn't say they're elite. So how do you approach
an underappreciated coach who I think a lot of people
would say is would agree with you.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
He's a really, really fine, dynamic coach.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
You know, he's going to try to hype these guys
up to try to be a spoiler to the season
that you guys are having.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
How do you go? How do you approach this game?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Well, I think most importantly for us, you got you
gotta watch the tape, and you know, I think they
won I think four straight.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Right.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
They lose the Rutgers last week, which I.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Think was I don't think anybody would have anticipated that
because I think Rutgers was on a losing streak and
Minnesota was on a winning streak. And that's no disrespect
because I got a ton of respect for Rutgers and Coachiano,
but just it seems the trajectory of where they were
both going at the time. So I guess for me,
(09:36):
they're they're a little bit of a scary team because
when you watch these guys defensively, they are playing lights out.
It's gonna gonna be one of the best defensive teams
that we've played all season. But I think you look
at some of their wins. The USC win earlier in
the season was a big win for them. They got
(10:00):
on a kind of a role and did some really
good things. So, you know, I think what we're all
working for is back to what you said earlier, consistency.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
And there's some games.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
You watch and this is a dangerous, talented team that
could play with anybody in the country. So I think
that's what we're all striving for, is consistency. Right, So
for me, I watch the games that they've played their
best and study that because we got to prepare for
that team showing up. That doesn't mean we also don't
(10:33):
look at the games they've lost and try to figure
out is there's some trends in there that we can
take advantage of. But you know, this is a this
is a this is a talented team, plays extremely hard
and maybe one of the best defensive teams we played
this year.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
My last two questions for you, how's the health of
the team? Uh, Deny, it look good. Look like it's
great timing for him to come back and be the
player that he is when he's super healthy. It looked
like Nick was back to health as well. How's the health?
And I think I think what I would want to
(11:10):
want to ask is do you guys ever bring up
the playoffs? I know it's a one to no mentality
and I bring that up to you all the time
and a one and no approach, but is that a
conversation do you guys talk about the possibility of hosting
a home game for the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
So the first question about health, knock on wood, we're
probably as healthy as we've been in a number of weeks,
and specifically at key positions and with.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Key guys like Denying Nick, like you mentioned, So we're
in a pretty good place.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
I think last week being able to get all those
young guys in the game. That helped because a lot
of our starters only played about twenty five or thirty
reps in the game, which was good, especially with Minnesota
they had to buy this past week, so that that's important.
And then the other question about the playoffs. No, we
don't talk about it. And and to me, I guess
(12:05):
what I would say, LeVar, is they know. I mean
they're hearing it, right, We're hearing it from everywhere and everyone.
So I wish I could put them in a submarine.
But like they're they're hearing it.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
But for us, you know, they know what we have
to do, which is which is win this week, and
we do what we're supposed to this week, then all
those other things will take care of themself.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
But we better control the things that we can control,
because I got enough people around me giving me information
as well, and there's a ton of people that are
unhappy with what teams are in the rankings and what
teams are out of the rankings. And we better control
the things that we can control, because when you.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Let it get outside of your control, it gets it
can get messy and get messy fast.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I mean, you been a victim of that, right we
won the Big Ten. There's somebody representing the Big Ten
in the playoffs and weren't even the champion of the conference.
So I'm sure you can sympathize and understand being in
that position.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Coach, That's really all I had for you this week.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I wish you guys the best, wish you luck, and
uh the fact that it's indoors, feel good about that.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I mean, it's not indoors. This ain't this ain't the
Detroit Lions. This is this is Minnesota. University of Minnesota,
their stadium.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
They built a new stadium.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
They built a new stadium A coming late and it's
so late.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, I played indoors when I was there. I don't
know why. I don't want to say nothing offensive. So well,
we played soda fast. I apologize.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
When we played Michigan State a few years ago, we
played in the Detroit lit.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah, I know that, but you do know Minnesota, the
Gophers played in the same facility as the Vikings. I
knew that they built a new I knew they built
a new stadium. I did know that, but I figured
it was indoors. So y'all are out the outdoors.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
All right? Well, I take it back.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I mean then now I'm glad that you guys live
in State College, Pennsylvania and not in Los Angeles, Southern
California like myself, because it's gonna be cold.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Yes, sir, yes, sir, coach is good week?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Have a good week, have another good week, and I
look forward to talking to you next time around.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
All right, brother, appreciate you man.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
All right, sounds good. All right, coach all right, that's
coach Franklin. You heard it here first, you heard it.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Here actually only uh, we'll talk, we'll talk, we'll talk
more next week. This is a big game, as you
heard from Coach Franklin. Maybe one of the best defenses
that they faced this year, this season, so this should
be a fun one to watch. Make sure you buckle
up your dial in and you support our Penn State
(14:49):
Nidney Lions. It's Quite Franklin. That's coach James Franklin. I'm
LeVar Arrington. Until next week, we'll catch you. Make sure
you check it out on disrupt you, PSU dot com
and wherever it is you get your podcasts from. Look
up the show Quite Franklin and you'll be able to
check out the podcast. All right, we'll talk to you.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
We are