James Franklin is taking responsibility for Penn State's recent inability to shine under the bright lights.

The Nittany Lions head coach addressed the impact of outside influences following Saturday's loss to Michigan State, citing factors like the college football playoff rankings as having too much of an impact on his players and the team's overall performance, according to Dan Murphy of ESPN.

"I would describe us as a young program," Franklin said. "We haven't been a part of these conversations for a long time. We haven't handled it well, and that's on me.

"When things are going well, there's a lot of noise, a lot of positivity, a lot of patting on the back. Then when you lose the game, it's the complete opposite. It couldn't be more negative. For us in the past, we haven't worried about all those things. There's playoff rankings coming out. There's this. There's that. Stuff that doesn't matter."

Franklin preached the need for the Nittany Lions to focus on the task at hand and insisted the team is getting back to what he called "the formula that I know works."

That task at hand is getting ready to play Rutgers next week, and Penn State will need a convincing win to keep any Big Ten championship hopes alive.