Penn State football coach James Franklin was blunt Monday in explaining why the Nittany Lions struggled to run the ball and score touchdowns in the red zone in their opener.

“We had some missed assignments that made the game more difficult than it needed to be,” Franklin said about the 46-11 blowout win over Nevada. “We need to get those things fixed.”

Penn State rushed 36 times for 135 yards, a pedestrian 3.8 average, and scored touchdowns on just 5-of-9 trips inside the Wolf Pack’s 25-yard line.

“On one of the drives we’re running an outside-zone (scheme) on the first play,” he said. “We don’t block the 3-technique (defensive tackle) and they get a tackle for loss. Now you’re off schedule. That’s what we still have to get cleaned up.”

Franklin also mentioned that Nevada used a five-m

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