James Franklin was ready.

The second question of his weekly post-practice media session floated in Wednesday as expected, looking to spark a discussion about Penn State's new No. 12 ranking in the College Football Playoff poll. Franklin then came in hard and put it out with a swat that would've made Dikembe Mutombo proud.

Without making a single mention of the ranking, the third-year Nittany Lions coach rattled off Iowa-related statistics, game scores, rankings and a variety of other facts for almost a full minute to get across some version of this message.

We are not talking about that right now. Our focus is on the Hawkeyes.

And then he dropped this:

"All the rest of it is nice externally, that people are talking about it," Franklin said referring to the ranking. "But internally, it's Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa and Iowa. And Iowa."

If you were unclear..... Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa..... pic.twitter.com/tnzASUSNvi — Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) November 2, 2016

That message has already been heard loud and clear throughout his locker room, as three separate Lions shared the same notion to media before Franklin made his address. To a man, they said they'e proud but also mindful that such pride cannot come before a fall or their ranking means nothing. Chris Godwin also echoed that sentiment after practice.

Yet still, Penn State holds a real chance to win out and finish 10-2 on the season, a remarkable feat considering their 2-2 start and past couple seven-win campaigns. And even if the Lions refuse to opine about the future, there's still present proof that it will be bright, as Franklin detailed Wednesday.

"I think in general we're practicing a lot better," Franklin said. "Our scout teams have improved dramatically, the quality of our scout teams, which is forcing us to practice and compete at a high level. That was, to be honest with you, a struggle in years one and year two. I'm really pleased with our Tuesdays and Wednesday and things like that. We're making good progress. I like how we're working, I like their approach.

"Players on their own have been coming in and watching film; guys taking leadership roles, (Brian) Gaia and (Jason) Cabinda and (Trace) McSorley, bunch of guys. John Reid, like always. That's been something that's been really important for us as well."

Beaver Stadium will not host a Friday night Big Ten football game in 2017.

Franklin reiterates school's Friday night football stance

Soon after the Big Ten announced that Friday night football would coming to the conference beginning next fall, Penn State declared it would not host any such kickoff. Unsurprisingly, its head coach was in lockstep with that stance Wednesday.

"We're not going to do Friday night home games here. Saturdays are really special at Penn State," Franklin said. "I think we may play some road games and things like that, but I think there's a number of schools that had different opinions on how they would like to handle and what's nice is the Big Ten has allowed that ... They've made sure that they've got enough schools that were supportive of it that it was going to work.

"I'm appreciative that the Big Ten didn't force it on every school and it can still make sense for the conference overall."