Penn State coach James Franklin said he expects running back Nicholas Singleton to play starting in Saturday’s warmups, while UCLA coach DeShaun Foster said he held off starting quarterback Ethan Garbers because of, among other things, a “slick” field at Beaver Stadium.

Ultimately, neither played as the No. 7 Nittany Lions defeated the Bruins 27-11 in a Big Ten football game. The coaches then discussed what happened. Here’s what they said.

RELATED: Breaking down Penn State’s 27-11 win over UCLA.

Penn State coach James Franklin

To adapt the offense without Singleton: Yes, we thought we would have it on Thursday. I thought we’d have it on Friday. I thought we had him today. I only found out after warming up. (Running backs coach) Ja’Juan (Seider) and (coach) Andy (Mutnam) came into the locker room and told me it was literally a last-minute deal. Of course it’s important not to have a guy like Nick Singleton, but it was a great opportunity for Kaytron (Allen) to make some more contacts. It was also a great opportunity to get Quinton (Martin Jr.) involved there. So, you know, it’s a really good opportunity for both of those guys and I think overall we handled it well.

About tight end Tyler Warren: I think that’s the right word. He is reliable. I mean, the guy does his job and does it consistently, regardless of whether he’s blocking, whether he’s running with the ball as a ball carrier,

whether as a recipient. And again, I think you’ve heard me talk about this a lot, but if you can’t put Tyler Warren into one category, that’s what makes tight ends most valuable. You know, if he’s just a receiver, they can treat him like a receiver. If he’s just some kind of big run blocker, then that’s not a threat either. But if he can do either/or, it’s very, very difficult to defend him. And then what you’re saying is he’s reliable, if you throw the ball his way, he’ll catch it, he’ll break tackles. He will gain positive yards. So I think he’s the best tight end in college football.

On UCLA quarterback Justyn Martin and his team’s defense: I was impressed by him. I’m not sure how tall he is, but looking at him before the game he’s a big guy. He seems very balanced. The moment didn’t seem too big for him. He’s a first-time quarterback and he talks to his head coach before the game, you know, he runs 21 miles an hour on the catapult. So he was talking about a big guy who can run and he was ready. So I was impressed with every guy I really was. And I thought when you prepare all week and don’t have film on the guy, it can get a little interesting, but overall our starting defense held a Big Ten opponent to three points. They got a few points there late on because they had a lot of substitutes. But in this day and age, it’s hard to keep people committed to a field goal. And I thought our defense did a good job. There are obviously some things that need to be cleaned up. The big, explosive play, we didn’t run with tailback and man coverage, the guy that had him in man coverage, and that’s obviously going to hurt you every time they find him. So that was a huge game. But otherwise I think we played well overall.

On Drew Allar’s touchdown pass to Tyler Warren before halftime: I think we’ve done that pretty well all year. (scores) points just before halftime. We talked about the middle eight and things like that. I think that did us a lot of good throughout the year. As far as the players and coaches are concerned, I’m also very proud of the fact that we want to have all timeouts available at the end of the first half and at the end of the game. And that has value. There is power in that. So I think the combination of two minutes and 40 seconds, or whatever it is in the game, with all three timeouts is a lot of time. It allowed us to not start in the usual two minutes but give us a sense of urgency. And then, after the two-minute warning, we planned to go on the two-minute offensive right there. Since we were a third behind, we simply used it as a time out. And then if we didn’t get it, we could take some time and give them a two-minute warning if they got the ball back.

On Penn State’s defense not allowing points in the third quarter this season: I really think in my time we were generally pretty good in the second half. In my opinion, it’s more about making sure we get off to a quicker start. You know, I think in the first quarter you look at the timing of the possession and that’s not what you want. You see third down on offense and defense, not what you want. Back to the point I had with you earlier, namely that you get enough ball contacts and plays on offense and leave the field on defense. So we have to start faster. But defensively, I think you get a good feel for who they are, you calm them down and you make some adjustments. And I think that’s the main reason why we were able to play really good football in the third quarter.

I think technology has helped with that too. But overall it’s about getting our guys lined up, getting their cleats in the ground and getting them ready to play. I think we did a good job both offensively and defensively.

UCLA coach DeShaun Foster

On enduring quarterback Ethan Garbers: I think if it hadn’t been as slippery as it was out there and the grass conditions had been just a little bit better, he might have been able to go. But I didn’t want to put him in a bad situation, and he wanted to compete against the type of competitor Ethan was. It was me who held him back.

On UCLA’s performance: The defense came out and played well. We didn’t get as many points as we would have liked, but I thought my defense played well. Aside from the offense, we kept putting them on the field in situations that weren’t exactly ideal. But the way my guys fight, how resilient they are, those are really good things to build on. How much has this team run in the last few games, 250 yards? And we kept it at 85. That is definitely positive. Offensively, we were able to run the ball a little better. It still wasn’t enough. We will continue to dwell on the positive aspects.

When scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter: It was huge just for offense. You know, we stopped saying, ‘Let’s get some points and get to work.’ I just think it was huge for their confidence and for the morale of the offense for them to just come out and get one scored a touchdown. Hopefully we can build on that and like I said, we still have a few games left. Any time you have more games, that’s a positive. We will learn from this and bring about a change soon.

On Penn State’s defense in the second half: It was mainly because they applied more pressure. Up front, I mean, that’s a really good defense. Whenever you get into temporary situations and they know it’s a temporary situation, it becomes difficult. They could put their ears back and get a little further. They put a little more pressure on us, but we didn’t quite play the way we wanted.

More Penn State football

Breaking down Penn State’s 27-11 win over UCLA

What we learned from the Nittany Lions’ win over UCLA

Penn State Report Card: UCLA Edition