Penn State defensive end Enai White (45) sacks Florida International quarterback Keyone Jenkins (1) during the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)

Franklin acknowledged that Saturday’s game was far from perfect. There were dropped passes, a blocked field goal and FIU converted on fourth down far too many times than he would like.

The Lion receivers had five drops for the day.

“We have to catch the ball,” Franklin said. “That JUGS machine should be burning up in the Lasch building right now.”

Franklin also commented that the PSU defense allowed the Panthers to stay on schedule so much to the point that they had too many manageable fourth-down situations.

That’s not to say there weren’t some positives. Outside of the blocked field goal, special teams had a fine day, highlighted by Gabe Nwosu’s 67-yard punt.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced a reaction in the stadium for a punt like that,” Franklin said. “It was pretty cool to hear that reaction.”

Scouting Villanova

Villanova, an FCS school, opened the season on Saturday with a 24-17 win over Colgate.

The Wildcats, who are led by Mark Ferrante in his ninth year, have turned themselves into one of the better programs in the FCS. They have been to the FCS playoffs the last two years, beating Eastern Kentucky last year before falling in the second round to Incarnate Word.

Franklin said he has known Ferrante for a long time. He has been at Villanova since 1987, and owns a record of 57-33 as the team’s coach.

“The consistency that they’ve had in their program is just awesome,” Franklin said. “It’s led to really good things for them.”

Evaluating Allar

PSU quarterback Drew Allar was perhaps the first worry for fans on Saturday. Although is line of 19 for 33 for 200 yards and two touchdowns is nothing to sneeze at, it was the inconsistencies that were troubling.

Allar said after the game he may have been “overthinking” some situations throughout the game.

“He missed some throws that he normally doesn’t,” Franklin said.

Franklin also touched on the importance of learning the concept of the ‘next play.’

“No matter what happens the previous play, positive or negative, you must move on to the next one,” Franklin said. “I think a couple times that happened where he missed an easy throw that he makes 99 percent of the time. That frustrates you, and if you’re not careful that will linger. I think he got frustrated with himself and it lingered.”

Fisher returns

Saturday was the first action for defensive end Zuriah Fisher in nearly two years after he missed all of 2024 with an injury.

Fisher didn’t record any stats, but it was the principle of having an experienced player at a young position that excited Franklin.

“It was just great having him back,” Franklin said. “He played a little more than I wanted him to play in terms of rep count. He looked quick off the ball. He looked confident. He was flying around and having fun.”

Cornerback Zion Tracy also made his season debut on Saturday, making one tackle against the Panthers.

Appreciating winning

On paper, there shouldn’t be many complaints about a 34-0 win like last weekend, but there probably were a lot of bad tastes in mouths across the PSU locker room after Saturday.

“Our guys feel like we’ve done enough to win, but we haven’t played up to our expectations and standards, but I would also say that’s always going to be the case,” Franklin said. “We’re always going to feel like we can play better.”

Franklin and Co. knows that there’s a lot of work to be done, but he also doesn’t want anyone to lose sight of the bottom line of getting another tally in the ‘W’ column.

“Every Sunday I put up in front of the whole team when we have our team meeting all the teams that lost that were supposed to win. There’s a long list every Sunday.

“I look at a ton of teams across the country that were in dogfights last week that weren’t supposed to be in dogfights. At the end of the day, winning is the most important thing.”