Penn State football has its bye week; how will the Lions use the time without a game?

Penn State football will have three main focuses this week: Itself, future opponents, and recruiting. The Nittany Lions are enjoying their only bye of the year during the first full week of October. As we know, though, the days leading up to a fall Saturday without a game feature anything but down time.

“It is a bye week, not an off-week, a bye week, and we must get better this week,” head coach James Franklin said. “We have a tough stretch coming up with Michigan. We must get in that facility. We’ll practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, players will have the weekend off and the coaches will go recruit on the weekend.

“We’ll get a head start not only on our next opponent, but the next couple opponents. We also need to live in the training room and get as healthy as we possibly can.”

The Thursday practice is a new wrinkle. In previous years, the Penn State players would get that day off so the coaches could go recruit.

Why is Penn State ‘tweaking’ its bye week schedule?

Here’s what Franklin had to say on the topic two weeks ago during a Penn State news conference:

“I think we’re going to tweak some of the things we do during the bye week, something we spend a lot of time in the off-season studying, and then brought it up again this week. Because you can have a plan in the off-season about the tweaks, but then also want to say, okay, where are we at? How does it make sense?

“So I think we’re looking at it as both. Okay, we got this period of time; this is a time we usually give the players off; this is the time that the coaches usually go recruiting. And then how are we going to use these days? Are we using them as developmental practices to get better at Penn State? Are they getting a head start on our next opponent? And what’s the sweet spot of the balance of those two things?

“So for us, we’re going to try to do a little bit of both. We are going to do some good-on-good work, because the speed work I think is really important. We are probably going to spend some more time on our opponents than maybe we have in the past, and maybe a little bit different way of kind of looking at it.

“And then probably not be out there very long. Short, quick practices. Get on and off the field, and then have a developmental aspect as well for the young guys that haven’t played.

“We are looking at that complete window of time, and then like we do with most things in football, how do we maximize it from a current roster perspective, from a future roster perspective, and also what’s going to put you in the best position to take advantage of that bye week by getting a head start on at least your next opponent, if not multiple opponents.

“I also think that’s also where you see some of those changes in staff sizing in football. That helps with that as well, because guys are able to get ahead.”

Lions must find ways to improve

The bye week is one of the most important seven day stretches on the calendar. It can help players with bumps and bruises heal up. The staff and analysts can do deep dives on all facets of the operation through five weeks to look for improvements. And, the coaches get important face time with recruits and their high school coaches to close the week. All told, Penn State must be efficient in its practice days, film studies, and recruiting travels to make the most of this week. It will help set the path for the remainder of the season.