Penn State Football: Franklin Changes Up Tweet, Talks Recipe of Trap Games

For about as long as Penn State’s 2021 schedule has been around, fans have looked at the first few weeks of the season and seen two things.

Wisconsin in Week 1 and Auburn in Week 3.

But there is a matter of that Week 2 meeting against Ball State, the reigning MAC champions who return the vast majority of their roster including standout star receiver Justin Hall. Of course those who follow college football closely know this, and so not everyone will overlook Saturday’s meeting against Ball State.

In turn Ball State has become a popular choice for fans looking to identify the always present threat of a “trap game” or a contest snug tightly between – on paper – two more important or more interesting games. Sometimes a trap game comes before a big emotional game, sometimes it comes right after. Whatever the case might be it’s the quintessential example of overlooking an opponent.

And that’s how upsets happen, and how seasons can be turned upside down.

But are trap games real? And does Penn State coach James Franklin believe in them?

“Trap games, yeah, I believe in teams playing inconsistent because they either look forward, look back, get caught up in praise, get caught up in criticism, don’t have the correct amount of respect for the opponent or the process,” Franklin said earlier this week. “So that’s why I think you guys know, almost to the point where it’s maybe a little crazy, our routine and process is really important to me. That’s why we won’t talk about anything else but the game at hand. As you know, around here we get a lot of questions about a certain game that we have every year, not about an opponent, but a certain game. We also get a bunch of questions about a certain opponent every year.I just think those things lead to the wrong approach by a group of young men, so we try to avoid that.”

Franklin certainly is a routine oriented coach, from his afternoon walks to staff meetings to the schedule of the week being the same every week, not much changes for Franklin or his program on a regular basis. When you know what to expect each and every day, and what is expected, it streamlines the process. Penn State has largely avoided losing trap games under Franklin post-2015. The Nittany Lions have lost, but aside from the 2019 Appalachian State game going to overtime, Penn State has not fallen to a team flagrantly worse than itself.

But even the best laid plans of coaches and assistants can go awry.

“To answer your question, I do believe in trap games if you’re sending mix messages,” Franklin said. “If you’re inconsistent in your approach. It’s subtle things, little subtle things that you say in the press conference that the fans and the players pick up on, that your staff picks up on. It’s subtle things about your demeanor and approach out at practice, whether it’s a conference game or out of conference, on the road or whatever, ranked opponent or not. It’s subtle things that people pick up on. So,I try to make sure that we don’t do that and that message is consistent, so whether they go down and they’re getting gear from our equipment people, that there is no cracks in it. There is consistency. Same thing in the training room. Same with our coaches and staff and so on.”

Speaking of subtle little things, Franklin has for nearly as long as he has coached at Penn State, tweeted out the name of the next week’s opponent repeatedly every Sunday afternoon or evening. The message has always been simple: this is the task at hand, nothing more, nothing less. Some seasons it holds more weight than others, but the principle is the same: It’s Ball State, Ball State, Ball State.

This year though Franklin has opted to repeatedly tweet 1-0 instead of the name of the following week’s opponent. For a coach that does not do much of anything without a purpose, especially with his messaging, it was an interesting change in a tradition that has gone on for years.

Was there anything to the change? Well, yes and no. Like always, blame angry people online.

“Really the message hasn’t changed,” Franklin said. “In the past,I would say Wisconsin 75 times and Ball State 75 times because the message was about our entire focus needs to be on this game, this opponent, and being 1-0. The problem is our Penn State fans understand that, the media understands that, but the opponent that we’re playing, that maybe follows me for the week, doesn’t.So they think it is a slight or they think it’s a shot or something. So it’s really the exact same message and I never mean to seem disrespectful to an opponent ever. I have tremendous respect for the University of Wisconsin, tremendous respect for Ball State, tremendous respect for every opponent, every university on our schedule.

“It’s more just about, I don’t want other people misinterpreting what we’re talking about. Again, no matter what you do, people are going to find ways to complain. They say, ‘Oh, he’s saying he’s already saying they’re 1-0 last week.’ I wasn’t. Obviously,I think as the season goes on it makes a little bit more sense to people, but I’m just trying to find ways to be as concise and clear with our message. Most importantly for our players, our program, and our fans, but also to try to eliminate some of the billboard material or what other people may misinterpret. The reality is if you want to find a reason to be angry and mad, people are going to find it no matter what you do or say.”

As is so often said, the best thing you can do is never Tweet.