James Franklin shares Penn State practiced without music to prepare for Northwestern crowd

The Penn State White Out is one of the best atmospheres in all of college football. Now, the Nittany Lions are getting ready to go from that atmosphere in Happy Valley to a road test against Northwestern. To get ready for that atmosphere, head coach James Franklin is taking a unique approach in practice.

It starts, for Franklin, with being honest about the atmosphere in Evanston. It won’t be nearly as loud as it normally is for Penn State. So, to get ready, Franklin turned the music off at practice.

“I think just being honest, just being very honest about what it’s going to be like,” James Franklin said. “These guys are 2-0 at home. You look at Northwestern. They’ve typically had a good home record. Why? Because it can be challenging to play there. They’re used to the environment. Other people may not be. It’s going to be very different than what we played in last week.”

The big question for James Franklin is where Penn State’s motivation is coming from. In a unique environment, that’s going to become an important question for the Nittany Lions to answer.

“So, just being transparent and honest. Are we internally motivated or are we externally motivated? But for me to act like it’s not a factor, it is. You’ve got to get prepared for it. You haven’t had any music, even our period 20 you guys know we usually play Phil Collins and it’s usually blaring, and they were asking me to turn it up today and I said, ‘No,'” Franklin said.

“So, just little things like that, but at the end of the day it’s going to be about us executing our jobs and our assignments, and playing the game for each other and playing the game for our love for the game of football and our teammates, and playing up to our standard, no matter the circumstances.”

Penn State comes into this game with a 4-0 record, most recently shutting Iowa out 31-0 in the White Out game.

This summer, Northwestern was hit with a hazing scandal that led to the firing of long-time head coach Pat Fitzgerald. Given last season’s 1-11 record, very little was expected of the Wildcats this year. However, Northwestern currently sits at 2-2, with two wins at home.

James Franklin praised Manny Diaz

A big part of Penn State’s success has been the team’s defense, which is only allowing 8.75 points per game. That defensive effort is, according to James Franklin, largely to do with defensive coordinator Manny Diaz.

“Well, Manny’s doing a great job. He really has done a really good job of coming in, really embracing our culture and how we do things, but also bringing a perspective on his own as well. The staff has a ton of respect for him. Our players have a ton of respect for him. We put a priority on athleticism. There’s probably a few bigger defenses but we are athletic and we’re quick and we’re fast and we’re explosive and we’re playing more consistent, gap-sound defense,” Franklin said.

“Manny’s doing a great job from a big-picture leadership perspective, but then also just getting everybody to understand how do you really play defensive football and what it takes. So, obviously, we’re doing some pretty good things, and I think Mike [Yurcich] is doing a great job on offense, I think Manny’s doing a great job on defense. We’ve just got to continue building it, and obviously the assistant coaches are doing a great job in terms of reinforcing the overall plans. But Manny’s done a great job and we’re fortunate and blessed to have him and his family here with us.”