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Travel complications after Ohio State game force Penn State football to tweak weekly schedule

IMG_1698 5 (1)by:David Eckert•11/02/21•

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Questions about James Franklin's future is dominating discussion about Penn State recruiting right now. (Steve Manuel/BWI)

A difficult night became even tougher for Penn State football after the final whistle blew to conclude the Nittany Lions’ 33-24 loss to Ohio State in Columbus.

Fog prevented Penn State’s return flight from landing at the University Park airport early Sunday morning.

The plane was forced to touch down in Harrisburg instead. The Nittany Lions didn’t roll into the Lasch Building on campus until around 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, with most of the players and staff finally arriving at their homes around 7 a.m.

“Some people were able to get some sleep on the plane or on the busses,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “What we did is we pushed everything back in the morning so people could go home and a few hours of sleep.”

After bad weather forced the Penn State plane to divert course to Harrisburg, logistical issues caused further delays.

Penn State had some difficulty tracking down bus drivers available to drive the team back to State College so early in the morning. Franklin said Penn State’s staff tried to find rooms to stay the night in Harrisburg, but that proved fruitless as well.

“Based on all of that, waiting to see if we could fly into State College, trying to get staffing in Harrisburg, and then also trying to find busses to drive us back, or find rooms to stay the night, we ended up not getting back to Lasch until about 6:30 in the morning,” Franklin said.

Another consequence of the delay proved to be the cancellation of the scrimmage Penn State typically holds on Sundays. The scrimmage usually involves the players not on the travel roster, or select travel players who may not have seen the field that week.

Those scrimmages have provided a chance for true freshman quarterback Christian Veilleux to get some full-speed work, Franklin said. Veilleux served as the Nittany Lions’ backup quarterback in Columbus this week due to the limited status of Ta’Quan Roberson.

“I do think that the scrimmages that he’s been able to get — him and Ta’Quan — on Sundays, I think it’s been really valuable,” Franklin said.

Back on schedule by this point in the week, the Nittany Lions must now prepare to take on the Maryland Terrapins in hopes of halting their three-game losing skid.

Maryland claimed only its third victory in 44 all-time matchups between these two programs last season at Beaver Stadium.

Penn State out-gained the Terrapins 434-405 and nearly doubled Maryland’s first down total in that game. But Penn State lost heavily in the end, 35-19.

Three turnovers by the Lions ensured that outcome, as did 144 receiving yards and two touchdowns by wideout Rakim Jarrett.

Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. from Maryland Stadium and Fox Sports 1 will air the game.

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