It’s the Penn State bye week; what will the Lions accomplish in Week 6?

The first and only bye of the season is here for Penn State football. There is no opponent on the 5-0 Nittany Lions’ Week 6 schedule. But, head coach James Franklin, his staff, and their players will be anything but off or idle this week. Instead, a short week from a practice perspective will lead into self-scout opportunities, developmental scrimmages for those not on travel roster (and maybe even for some who are), film work on future opponents, and recruiting travel.

In other words, even though this upcoming five day stretch does not end with an opponent, it is a significant opportunity for the Lions to get better, both for this season and future ones.

“One of the things that we studied in great detail was bye weeks, and what is the best way to handle it that you can find that balance between recovery and getting the guys fresh, but also getting better? This is not this is a bye week,” James Franklin said. “Not an off week.

“We got to get better this week, and that’s the fine line, right? What can we do during the week to allow the guys to recover? The weekend will be huge, especially if it’s handled the right way. And then obviously being able to dig into our self scout, offense, defense and special teams, and then as I won’t talk about, but we’re also going to get ahead. The coaches will get ahead on the schedule as well during this by week. But, next week will be totally, obviously, on our next opponent. So those are the things that we’re looking at pretty hard, pretty heavy. I think some of the positions that Pat [Kraft] has llowed us to hire has helped with that as well. We just got more people to do more things.”

What will the Penn State bye week schedule look like?

Unlike many programs, Penn State does not go dark from a media perspective during the open week. Head coach James Franklin will speak to reporters after Wednesday’s practice. His three coordinators, Mike Yurcich, Manny Diaz, and Stacy Collins, speak Tuesday. There will be a Penn State Coaches Show this week, but someone else from the program will fill Franklin’s usual 6:30-7 pm ET slot on Thursday with host Steve Jones. That’s because, after Wednesday, the full staff including Franklin will be on the road recruiting through the weekend.

As for the players, rest and recovery is paramount. So, too, is finding corrections and improvements after the first five games. Everything must be intentional this week, as Franklin likes to say, so that Penn State can gain as much ground as possible before UMass week begins in earnest next Sunday.

Some coaches and players will be trying to do all of this for the first time. They will rely on those around them to maximize a key opportunity.

“I’m sure it involves a lot of film work, some practice [for the players], and the opportunity to go out and recruit, study ourselves and our opponents, and go out and find guys who can help our program,” receivers coach Marques Hagans said last week when asked what an ideal bye week would look like in his first-year with the Nittany Lions.

Added Lions’ running back Trey Potts:

“Going into the bye week, it’s not an off week for us. We’re trying to push them to get better. Obviously, we got to get some guys healthy and things like that. So, you know, just keeping our head down and keep working. You know, we got a lot of goals for the season and, you know, we’re just going to do everything we can to capture them.”