Penn State's James Franklin cites possession advantage as key stat against Iowa

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State’s preparations for 2-2 Northwestern are just getting started and the last few days have been good for James Franklin’s 4-0 program.

Penn State’s 2025 recruiting class is much stronger after three recent additions — New Jersey linebacker DJ McClary, Aliquippa running back Tiqwai Hayes and North Catholic tight end Brady O’Hara.

And Franklin’s Lions are coming off one of their most impressive wins during the team’s nine-game winning streak, which dates back to the final five contests of the 2022 season.

Previously unbeaten Iowa never had much of a chance Saturday night at Beaver Stadium. One big reason? The Hawkeyes rarely had the ball in PSU’s 31-0 victory. The Lions kept it for more than 45 minutes.

“Pretty amazing stat,” Franklin said at the beginning of his Tuesday afternoon press conference inside Beaver Stadium.

“After the (Iowa) shovel pass for the fumble (that Penn State recovered in the first quarter) that we just talked about, Penn State ran 80 of the next 96 plays in the game.

“There (were) 96 more plays in that game after the fumble, and 80 of them we ran, which is amazing.”

“I thought our preparation was excellent and it translated to the game,” Franklin continued.

“We’ve got to continue to build on that, our process individually and collectively of preparing each week.”

The Wildcats, who host No. 6 Penn State Saturday at Ryan Field, rallied for a 37-34 overtime win over Minnesota on Saturday. Northwestern also opened the season with a 24-7 loss to Rutgers.

Here are a few takeaways from Franklin’s news conference.

• PSU standout corner Kalen King’s toughest 2023 assignment to date has been his weekly matchups with wideout KeAndre Lambert-Smith on the practice field.

King, a potential first-round pick next spring, has rarely been tested in four games. He has just one pass breakup and four solo tackles.

“One of the really cool things that I thought happened on Saturday is after KeAndre scored his touchdown on the fade ball (early in the fourth quarter), which I thought was a really big-time play, the first guy to meet him coming off the sideline was Kalen King,” Franklin said.

“And Kalen and KeAndre’s battles at practice are, like, legendary. I think that was kind of a really good example and kind of a tip of the hat of Kalen seeing KeAndre be successful and KeAndre saying, well, you’re a big part of that success because of how we go against each other every single day at practice.”

• Franklin said Iowa’s defensive strategy was a major reason why Penn State didn’t take many chances in the passing game.

Sophomore quarterback Drew Allar threw four touchdowns passes but only had 166 yards on 25 completions. The short passing game still proved effective as Allar completed 25 of 37 passes in wet conditions and he did not throw an interception.

• Penn State’s running game started slow but the constant pounding combined with the Iowa offense’s third-down struggles — the visitors converted 1 of 9 chances — paid off during the second half. The Lions finished with 215 rushing yards on 57 attempts.

“I think we need to be able to show that we can grind it out to win, which we have,” Franklin said.

“But I also think we need to show that we can be explosive to win, as well. We’ve done that at times but probably not as much as we’ve grinded it out. But I would also say that also plays a little bit to how people were playing us,” Franklin added.

“If you look at Iowa last week, they were playing soft on the perimeter and were not going to give up the big play. They were not going to let us throw it over their head. You can even go back and watch the tape.”

• Penn State led 10-0 at halftime but in the locker room before the Lions went out for the third quarter, Franklin said he didn’t make a strong push to create big plays.

“I will tell you this: In the locker room at halftime, that was a point that I made to the offense is do not get bored,” Franklin said.

“When I say the offense, the offensive coaches. Do not get bored with grinding this game out because it is working for us in a style that is going to allow us to beat this Iowa football team.”

• Franklin knows linebacker Dom DeLuca’s impact goes beyond his play in the kicking game.

DeLuca, a former walk-on who was a star at Wyoming Area High School in Pennsylvania, is a PSU team captain in large part because of his work on special teams.

But DeLuca also returned an interception for a touchdown in the Lions’ win over Delaware. And in the last two games, DeLuca has contributed two forced fumbles, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup.

“Dom just continues to make plays and show up,” Franklin said.

“He’s been disruptive now three weeks in a row, in terms of being involved in turnovers.”