It's the second Penn State bye week; how will the Nittany Lions spend it?
Penn State football had a happy flight back to State College on Saturday night after coming back to beat USC 33-30 in overtime at the historic LA Memorial Coliseum. The Nittany Lions landed in State College at 3 a.m. Sunday to officially start their second and final bye week of 2024. It will be much easier to deal with the corrections that come out of both the first six weeks and also the triumph over the Trojans since it will all take place after a victory.
“It’s going to make for a great ride home,” Franklin said after the game. “It’s going to make for a great bye week. There’s a ton of things hat I think we’re going to be able to learn from this game, and we need to learn from this game, because we’re far from perfect. We’re also 6-0 and 1-0 this week, and we’re going to take it and run.”
What will the Lions do this week? We break it all down below.
Penn State bye week schedule
Penn State hit the practice field per the usual Sunday. They are off today. They will be back on the field Tuesday and go through their usual paces, which will undoubtedly include some veteran rest days, more work for the developmental squad (likely to include a non-travel squad scrimmage), and extra work for the teams remaining on the schedule, starting with Wisconsin, of course. Franklin is expected to speak with reporters on Tuesday and coordinators will do ZOOM calls with reporters on Wednesday. There will be no players available this week per the program’s usual bye week policy.
What must the Lions accomplish this week?
Rest and recovery is by far the leader of this list. Penn State has many key contributors dealing with bumps and bruises from just the general wear and tear of the season. It’s a good time to get extra time to focus on doing everything possible to be ready for the stretch run. So, that leads the list
Number two for us is obviously fixing things that still trouble the Lions. As Franklin noted, this team might have a perfect record, but it’s far from perfect. Penn State will need to self scout to assess why it sometimes starts slow on offense and defense, for example, and also look at what teams are doing to either break or take advantage of the tendencies it established during the first half of the year.
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“I think for offense, it’s understanding that it is a bye week, but there’s still a lot of stuff that we can work on,” tight end Tyler Warren said. “What those specifics of what we want to get into are, I don’t know yet, but it’s about not just taking the off week, but getting some things done out there. Getting something productive for us as an offense.”
Away from the field, the Penn State coaching staff will hit the road to recruit later in the week. It will mark the chance to see commits, flip targets, and underclassmen alike either at school, for a Friday night football game, or possibly both.
All told, Penn State may be away from the field on Saturday. But, it’s hardly going to be off save for next Saturday. Stay tuned to BWI for the latest as the week unfolds.
