With unbeaten Penn State ranked seventh and one-third of the way through its regular season, coach James Franklin is getting antsy.
He wants to see the Nittany Lions (1-0, 4-0) improve every day and avoid complacency as they prepare to face new Big Ten opponent UCLA (0-2, 1-3) Saturday at noon (TV-FOX) at Beaver Stadium.
“We have to get better each week, individually and collectively,” Franklin said Monday. “We have to get better, there’s no doubt about that. I don’t want to be one of those teams that waits until you have a loss for the wakeup call to happen.”
Penn State has a couple primary issues, namely too many penalties and too many missed field goals.
The Lions were flagged seven times for 76 yards in their 21-7 victory over Illinois last Saturday. They rank 83rd in the country with seven per game and 96th with 66.0 yards per game. No. 1 Alabama, by the way, is worse in both categories.
Nevertheless, Franklin wants to see more discipline from Penn State players.
“That’s just making things harder than things need to be on offense and defense,” he said. “You take the penalties out of the (Illinois) game, the ones that we can control, then that game wouldn’t have been as hard as it needed to be.
“We have been a disciplined team. We need to get that fixed.”
And the placekicking. Sander Sahaydak, the Liberty High School grad, missed two 40-yard field goal tries and was replaced on the final extra point by Ryan Barker.
Sahaydak has made just 2-of-5 attempts this season and 3-of-9 in his career. Barker, a redshirt freshman from Kennett High School, and Chase Meyer, a transfer from Tulsa, will compete with Sahaydak in practice this week.
With games against USC, Wisconsin and Ohio State coming up, Franklin wants to have a dependable kicker.
“Sander had won the job during training camp,” Franklin said. “All the data and the statistics backed that up. It was a closer battle during the spring. Then Sander slowly but surely took the lead, but it was close.
“We’ll factor all of that this week in making the decision. There will be a competition, but it won’t just be based on practice data alone. You have to factor in the game data as well.”
The performance of the offensive line so far might be Penn State’s most pleasant surprise. The Lions are ranked ninth in the country and first in the Big Ten in rushing (251.0 yards per game). They’ve allowed five sacks in four games.
They lost All-American tackle Olu Fashanu (New York Jets), tackle Caedan Wallace (New England) and center Hunter Nourzad to the NFL after last season.
Veteran guards Sal Wormley and Vega Ioane have been solid, as expected. Tackles Drew Shelton, Anthony Donkoh and Nolan Rucci have played well. Parkland High School grad Nick Dawkins, a fifth-year senior, has been outstanding at center.
“I think Nick Dawkins is a big story there,” Franklin said. “He’s a guy who’s been waiting for his opportunity and his time. We had high expectations for him. I think he’s actually playing better than we anticipated not only physically but mentally in terms of calls and leadership. He’s been really good.”
Penn State also had to replace defensive ends Chop Robinson (Miami) and Adisa Isaac (Baltimore), who are in the NFL. The Lions are fourth in the nation in scoring defense and seventh in total defense and rushing defense.
They held Illinois to 219 total yards, including 34 on the ground.
“I thought we played very well up front against a team that is built to win games in the Big Ten up front,” Franklin said. “It’s one thing to hold a team to 34 rushing yards; it’s another to do it against a team that’s committed to running the ball.
“They were committed to stopping the run and not giving up explosive plays. We were able to run the ball and do it in a very physical way.”
