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Their view: Constitution’s framers were prepared for president such as Trump

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Mountain Top author to read from children’s book at Osterhout on Sept. 16

It took less than four minutes for James Franklin to mention it.This wasn&#8217;t a surprise. The Penn State coach was looking for anything for his players to seize on this week to take Georgia State seriously.&#8220;I think the thing that probably jumps out to me is this same team, essentially same team, went to Wisconsin last year and was leading in the fourth quarter,&#8221; Franklin said at the start of his weekly press conference. &#8220;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.&#8221;It would be very easy indeed for the No. 5 Nittany Lions, coming off a win over rival Pitt and looking ahead to the Big Ten opener at Iowa next weekend, to disregard Saturday&#8217;s opponent.After all, Georgia State is in just its eighth season of existence as a football program. The Panthers have a new coach after going 3-9 last season. And their 2017 opener did not go well at all, christening their new stadium with a 17-10 loss to FCS Tennessee State two weeks ago.So Franklin will break out the tape of the Panthers&#8217; trip to Camp Randall last September. Georgia State held a top-10 Badgers squad to just six points in the first half, trailed 13-10 after three quarters and then went on top 17-13 with 11:36 remaining.Wisconsin&#8217;s defense shut the door from there and the offense responded with 10 late points to pull out the win. But the Lions are naturally wary of letting anything remotely similar happen this weekend.&#8220;They&#8217;re well-coached. They&#8217;re fast,&#8221; wideout DeAndre Thompkins said. &#8220;They have guys who have played a lot of football, a lot of experience on the back end. They&#8217;re just guys who have been playing football for awhile.&#8220;So experience is always something that you can&#8217;t teach. That&#8217;s one thing that they have that I&#8217;ve been able to watch on film.&#8221;About what you&#8217;d expect the coaches and players from a 37-point favorite to say.THREE AND OUTCoaching connectionSo how does a game like this come together, when Penn State and Georgia State would seem to have no real connection?It started early in Franklin&#8217;s tenure at Penn State when he connected with then-Panthers coach Trent Miles on a satellite camp hosted by Georgia State in Atlanta.The Panthers got to attract more recruits with the allure of Penn State&#8217;s coaching staff in attendance, and the Lions got some face time with prospects in a state where they&#8217;re trying to build a pipeline.&#8220;A few years ago we did a camp at Georgia State,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;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.&#8221;Those specifics and details would include a $1.2 million payday for Georgia State, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.Miles is no longer with the program, but Franklin is also familiar with new coach Shawn Elliott from their SEC days. Elliott was an assistant for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina and took over as interim coach when Spurrier abruptly quit in 2015.Penny for their thoughtsPenn State has identified the Panthers&#8217; receivers and cornerbacks as their strengths. And one wideout in particular stands out.That would be sophomore Penny Hart, who earned Freshman All-America honors in 2015 before foot and hamstring injuries in 2016 led to a medical redshirt.But prior to that, the 5-foot-8 Hart posed a big problem, typically lining up in the slot and finishing 2015 with 1,099 yards, averaging 15.5 yards per catch.&#8220;They run a similar offense to what we go against in camp,&#8221; said senior cornerback Grant Haley, who could find himself lined up across from Hart during the night. &#8220;They have a lot of athletes, some skillful receivers and a guy who, before he got hurt was a Freshman All-American in Hart.&#8220;He&#8217;s a special player. They&#8217;re going to get him his touches and see what he can do in space.&#8221;Big-play brigadeFranklin and Penn State call them &#8220;explosive plays.&#8221; And Georgia State has been very strong in preventing them.&#8220;One of the interesting storylines is (Georgia State) is one of only two teams in the country that did not give up a play of 50 yards all season,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;And that&#8217;s our deal, explosive plays, creating those.&#8221;Elliott and the Panthers are looking for more of the same.&#8220;This is a great opportunity for us to go up there against one of the top-ranked teams in the country and measure ourselves right up against the very, very best,&#8221; Elliott said. &#8220;Sowe&#8217;ve got a lot at stake for our football program here.&#8220;Win or lose, Penn State is going to know that we came up to play a football game &#8212; I can assure you that.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Ayron Monroe (23), Marcus Allen and Penn State&#8217;s secondary will have an eye on Penny Hart and Georgia State&#8217;s receivers on Saturday night at Beaver Stadium. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_psu-gsu-pre.jpg</photo0><caption0>Ayron Monroe (23), Marcus Allen and Penn State&#8217;s secondary will have an eye on Penny Hart and Georgia State&#8217;s receivers on Saturday night at Beaver Stadium. </caption0><photoCredit0>Joe Hermitt | AP photo, PennLive.com </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>PSU GAMEDAYGeorgia State (0-1) atNo. 5 Penn State (2-0)When: 7:30 p.m., SaturdayWhere: Beaver StadiumTV: Big Ten NetworkLine: Penn State by 37</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State tries to ward off complacency against Georgia State