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TAXSLAYER BOWL: GEORGIA VS PENN STATEJanuary 2, 2016James FranklinChris GodwinJacksonville, Florida Georgia 24, Penn State 17 THE MODERATOR: We'll let Coach Franklin open up with a statement, then we'll take questions. COACH FRANKLIN: First of all, want to thank all the Penn State media, the beat writers that have been covering us all year and made the trip down to Jacksonville. Very appreciative of how you do your job. First class all the time. I want to thank you guys for that. Played a good football team. Got to give those guys credit. They're a talented team. Won nine games in a good conference. Got to give those guys credit. You can't come out and start slow the way we did and think you're going to beat that type of opponent in a bowl game. That's not just offense. I think it's easy obviously to sit here and say offensively we started slow. But I really feel defensively that was the case, and special teams as well. Defensively we made big plays later in the game, sacks, tackles for loss, momentum plays we weren't able to get going early. Offensively we weren't able to consistently run the ball and we weren't able to consistently make plays when we needed to. I thought that opening drive, we got some momentum going, then it stalled. We were trying to run the stretch play on offense versus their odd-front defense, cover guys up, get up in there, weren't able to get Saquon going. Then I thought special teams for the most part, I thought we did some good things. Left the one punt out in the middle of the field, which is the last thing we wanted to do. Talked about that all week long. We did that and that hurt us. Besides that, I thought Daniel punted the ball well besides that one. Thought Joey did a pretty good job. We had the chance to run the pop-over on the sideline. It was a check with me on kickoff, the pop-over kick based on their alignment of the last guy on the front. We had it, and we left it a little bit long. Had a chance to make a play on it. Really proud of these guys. There are no moral victories. Told the guys in the locker room how much we appreciate the seniors. I don't want them to leave the locker room until they've gone around and told each other how much they care about them because it's the last time the 2015 football family will be together. But our guys battled. They should be very proud. They should walk out of that locker room with their chest out, their head up. We got a lot of work to do moving forward. Number one, I love these guys and I'm proud of them. The future's very bright. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. On Christian Hackenberg’s Injury And Trace McSorley Play COACH FRANKLIN: I don't obviously get into specifics typically. It's the last game of the year. I don't think it's anything really serious. He came down on a shoulder joint and sprained his shoulder joint. As a quarterback, when you do that to that joint, it's painful. You lose strength. He just fell on it funny. He was able to go. He actually made some plays there. He was going to try to finish that drive. Once he went inside, the trainers, doctors, didn't feel like he was going to be able to go well enough to continue playing. He wouldn't have the strength in that arm. He'll be fine. I think they x-rayed him and everything came back normal as well. It's in that joint, once it gets inflamed, you're going to lose strength and power. Trace came in. I think it took him a little bit to get going. Couple guys made some plays for him. It built his confidence. He was able to go from there. I've told you guys before that in practice, we do two-minute drills at the end of practice a lot. Two offense against the one defense. He's been successful. I think there's a lot of confidence in our locker room. Mr. Godwin can speak on this a little bit more, but I think there's a lot of confidence in what he brings to the table. It was good to see him go out there and have some success, something to build on. Pleased with him. But, again, for us to go where we want to go, we got to find a way to win these types of games. Q. On Carl Nassib Play COACH FRANKLIN: They're good up front. They're good up front on the O-line, the defensive line. You watch bowl games across this country. The people that are winning up front are the people that are winning. I thought as the game went on, we were able to get some pressure, some sacks and tackles for loss, but we weren't early on. That's what I was talking about, about starting slow. Early on, their quarterback was able to stand in the pocket and comfortably go through his progressions. That's going to be difficult. You're going to have a long day if you're not able to put pressure on the decision-maker back there. We weren't able to do that early on. That's what I was talking about, about the offense starting slow and the defense starting slow. That's kind of who we are. When we're playing well, that's what we're doing. We're able to pressure the quarterback and get tackles for loss. Q. On Not Having Christian Hackenberg In Second Half COACH FRANKLIN: I'd love somebody to ask Chris Godwin a question. He's really sharp, articulate. Once again, Chris was going to try to finish the series if we could. We ended up pulling him. Those guys have seen Trace throw the ball well, make plays with his legs and manage the game. He's gotten a lot of really good reps in practice. Obviously you never know completely till you do it in a game, but he was able to do it. I think the other thing is guys rallied around him. One thing about playing the quarterback position is other guys stepping up and making a play for you when maybe the ball is not perfectly thrown. That's something this guy does extremely well in those types of plays. But, no, we didn't have to make a comment. Q. On This Year’s 7-6 vs Last Year’s And Building Towards Next Year COACH FRANKLIN: Awesome. I do, I think there's progress. You look at conference record, there's progress that's being made. Not as much as anybody wants. The fans, no one more than the guys in the locker room. No more than the coaches and myself. But there is progress being made. I know talking about moving forward there's an excitement that next year is the first year post sanctions where we'll be back to the 85 scholarships and have the depth and continue to be able to develop our guys. There's excitement about that. Last year we start the season not being able to go to a bowl game. That changes as the season goes on. This year we got close to 85, but not quite there. I think there's excitement about that moving forward. Got a bunch of young guys. Starts and reps and opportunities this year, that's going to continue next year as well. But I think there is progress. There's progress in terms of trust. There's progress in terms of relationships. There's progress in terms of the program and what we're doing. Very different styles over the last three regimes. It really comes down to trust. It comes down to relationships. It comes down to, once again, being back healthy as an organization. Q. On New QB And His Confidence Level In The Huddle CHRIS GODWIN: When Trace came into the huddle, he's the same confident guy that we know throughout all of our practices. He wasn't worried at all. He was confident in himself and we were confident in him as well, that he was going to be able to come in and get the job done. We're confident in Trace and his abilities. I think he showed that today. Q. On Trace Gaining Confidence And Momentum CHRIS GODWIN: Yeah, definitely. You know, when you first come in, you kind of sort of have to get your feet wet a little bit. After the first couple throws that were completed, I think you saw a little bit of a confidence boost for him. We were able to make a couple plays for him, I think that was really big. COACH FRANKLIN: I noticed the shift in him as well once we started making some plays, scored some touchdowns. He came to the sideline, was fiery, had some emotion. That's the next step. At that point up until then, he was kind of doing his job. At the quarterback position, you need that leadership as well. After he made some plays, he came to the sidelines talking, with a lot of emotion, talking to the guys, encouraging the guys. That's the next step for him. Q. On Trace Confidence Building Throughout The Game CHRIS GODWIN: I don't think there was necessarily one particular moment. When he threw that first touchdown in the corner, I think that was really big for his confidence. He was like, All right, let's go. Like coach was saying, he was fiery, showing a lot of emotion. That was big for us as well being his teammates. We all rallied behind him, Let's go, we can do it. We have confidence in our team and our ability to make a comeback. COACH FRANKLIN: I would say the same thing. He extended the play. Geno makes a play for him. As a quarterback, that's what you want to do, you want to put the ball in positions where guys have a chance to make plays, and they got to plays for him, and they did. Q. On Christian Hackenberg’s Involvement On Sideline COACH FRANKLIN: Yeah, I thought Christian was really good on the sideline. He was right next to me there with the headset on. Coach Rahne was in the booth, sent messages down a couple times we wanted to communicate with Trace. He was really good. I saw him supporting him. I saw him encouraging him. He brought up a couple things he was seeing in coverage and things like that. They have a very close relationship. Really all the quarterbacks do, all the positions do. It's great to see them supporting one another. Part of it is Christian having confidence in Trace as well. Q. On Chris Godwin Take On DaeSean And Geno Stepping Up To Make Plays CHRIS GODWIN: Yeah, definitely. Any time any of the guys in our receiving corps or on offense make plays, it's a big boost for us. Being as close as I am with the receivers, seeing DaeSean and Geno make touchdowns, it was huge, get the ball rolling. You can see it, celebrating in the end zone. Anytime somebody makes a big play, we want to celebrate and feel good about it. Q. On Trace (QB) Using A Bowl Game For Offseason Confidence CHRIS GODWIN: I definitely thinking it has the potential to be big for him. It's just a matter of how he approaches the off-season. We're all ready to get back to work. We're going to watch the film, learn from our mistakes, then we're ready to get back to work. Each other's confidence is growing. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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