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NEPA-raised horse gets a shot at harness racing’s Little Brown Jug

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Man sent to hospital after early morning shooting in Wilkes-Barre

There are, James Franklin said, still holes to be patched. Bigger ones, perhaps, than a No. 4 national ranking and a 141-14 scoring margin during non-conference play would suggest.As the Penn State coach and his staff prepare for Saturday night&#8217;s Big Ten opener out at Iowa, the Nittany Lions are taking a hard look at what needs to be fixed.First and foremost, Franklin called concerns over the running game &#8220;fair.&#8221;&#8220;I think that&#8217;s an area we need to improve on offense,&#8221; Franklin said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. &#8220;That, and third down (conversions).&#8221;As to the former, the numbers aren&#8217;t terrible, as Penn State checks in at No. 50 in the nation at 187 rushing yards per game. But that&#8217;s good for only eighth in the Big Ten, and for a team with Saquon Barkley, expectations are understandably higher.Defenses have been largely selling out to stop Barkley, leading to more throws and keepers for quarterback Trace McSorley on his run-pass options. Even against lowly Georgia State on Saturday, Barkley ran for just 10 yards on his first seven carries, doing most of his damage as a receiver.&#8220;Let&#8217;s be honest,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;I mean, everybody&#8217;s going into the game plan and their defensive model is to say we are not going to allow Saquon Barkley to run the ball and beat us.&#8220;So I think we&#8217;ve been creative enough to try to get him the ball in different ways, and he&#8217;s been impactful that way, but I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s any doubt that we have to get better at consistently running the ball between the tackles.&#8221;One thing that could help against the Hawkeyes is the return of senior guard Brendan Mahon, who suited up but did not see the field last week &#8212; the Big Ten Network broadcast reported that it was a disciplinary issue.Franklin said Tuesday that he expected both Mahon and linebacker Cam Brown, who also sat out against the Panthers, to play this weekend.&#8220;I think not having Mahon last week caused some challenges for us,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;On top of that, we moved (Steven) Gonzalez over to the opposite guard, and I think that affected him a little bit. &#8230; I think having Mahon back &#8212; who is such an experienced player and such a strong, physical guy &#8212; that we feel good about what we&#8217;re going to do.&#8221;Quite the scandalDerisively referring to it as &#8220;field-goal-gate&#8221; and &#8220;timeout-gate,&#8221; Franklin opened his press conference by again addressing the timeout he took in the final minute of Saturday&#8217;s game when Georgia State lined up for a field goal while trailing 56-0.&#8220;To be very clear, I was not icing anyone. I want to be as clear as I possibly can be,&#8221; said Franklin, who reiterated his stance from Saturday night that he called the timeout because his fourth-team defense was on the field and hadn&#8217;t practiced how to even line up for a field goal block.After the timeout, the Lions put their second-team field goal block unit out (there is no third-team or fourth-team unit). The Panthers missed the kick, preserving Penn State&#8217;s second shutout in three games.Franklin said he wanted to address it again because a team spokesman made him aware of some of the national reaction to the sequence, which ranged from amusement to outrage. The latter group included famed New York curmudgeon Mike Francesa of WFAN, who went on a lengthy rant during his Monday show, calling Franklin a &#8220;stooge&#8221; along with some other choice names.&#8220;He&#8217;s gotta try and block a kick at 56 to nothing? He&#8217;s a horse&#8217;s &#8212;- for doing that,&#8221; Francesa said. &#8220;That&#8217;s a quote.&#8221;&#8220;If that&#8217;s how you think and how you feel, then you won&#8217;t ever understand me and you won&#8217;t ever understand us,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;We have a standard of how we do things. So if people don&#8217;t think that we should go block the kick at the end of the game because of the score, then you probably won&#8217;t understand us.&#8221;Infirmary reportThe Lions may have dodged a bullet as the knee injury suffered by starting defensive end Torrence Brown on Saturday hasn&#8217;t been announced as a season-ender.That doesn&#8217;t mean that the junior won&#8217;t miss some time, however.&#8220;At this point, I don&#8217;t really have any updates with Torrence,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;I&#8217;ll probably have more information down the line. That&#8217;s not tomorrow after practice. But I&#8217;ll have more information down the line. But at this point I don&#8217;t have anything more substantial for you.&#8221;With Brown on the shelf, sophomore Ryan Buchholz is the most likely candidate to start in his place opposite Shareef Miller.Weekly honorsPenn State coaches chose their players of the game against Georgia State, led by Trace McSorley getting the nod on offense after figuring in on five of the Lions&#8217; first six touchdowns &#8212; four passing and one rushing. His 258 yards passing in the first half was the most ever by a Penn State quarterback.Marcus Allen won the award on defense after coming up with his long-awaited first career interception, which he returned for 50 yards.On special teams, kicker Tyler Davis and punter Blake Gillikin split the honor. Though Davis missed a field goal in the game, he put all of his kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks, a welcome development for the Lions.Davis missed a field goal in the opener when there were issues with the snap and hold, but the senior took responsibility for the miscue against Georgia State, which the coaches appreciated.&#8220;What I love about Tyler is he&#8217;s a mature kid and he&#8217;s very honest,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;You know, he missed the one on Saturday. He came to the sideline, and he goes, &#8216;That one&#8217;s on me. I just missed it.&#8217;&#8220;To me, as a coach, there&#8217;s a lot of value in that when you&#8217;ve got a guy that is going to say, I just mis-hit it. Rather than the guy that every time he misses it, it&#8217;s the snapper or it&#8217;s the hold or it&#8217;s the wind or it the rain or whatever it is.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State&#8217;s Saquon Barkley hasn&#8217;t consistenly had room to run on handoffs so far this season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_psu-run201791914482626.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State&#8217;s Saquon Barkley hasn&#8217;t consistenly had room to run on handoffs so far this season. </caption0><photoCredit0>Abby Drey | AP photo, Centre Daily Times </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>UP NEXT No. 4 Penn State at Iowa7:30 p.m., Saturday, ABC </factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State aims to improve run game heading into Big Ten play