Between the end of the Auburn game and Penn State’s trip to Michigan in the middle of October the Nittany Lions will have played just two games over a 26-day span, courtesy of an off week before traveling to Ann Arbor to face the Wolverines.
Of course, Penn State still has to contend with Central Michigan this weekend and Northwestern the following week, but having survived an opening slate of games featuring two difficult road tests, a directional Michigan team and the Wildcats appear to be a far less daunting sequence of home games. That’s not to say the Nittany Lions won’t give each team their full attention, but that doesn’t mean an incoming trio of games — at Michigan before hosting Minnesota and Ohio State — won’t get its fair share of attention as well.
However, not all days are created equal. There are limitations regarding how much time a team can practice and teams plan accordingly. For example, Penn State is off on Mondays after going over corrections on Sunday. That makes Tuesdays and Wednesdays some of the most important days of the week to prepare on the field after hours and hours of film work. So while there are 26 days, there are only so many practices. So do you measure the time — those 26 days? As days, or as practices? And how do you use them?
“I would say really, both [days and practices]” James Franklin said on Tuesday morning. “It’s funny we talked about this morning— [Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz] brought up some things in the staff meeting this morning about it. I think we’re going to tweak some of the things that we do during the bye week. It’s something we spent a lot of time on in the offseason studying and then brought it up again this week, because you’re going to have a plan in the offseason about the tweaks. But then you also want to say ‘OK, where are we at? How does it make sense?’”
That, of course, is the benefit of being a team that appears to have things in order. If the Nittany Lions were not 3-0, or perhaps coming off a string of troubled performances, the time could be spent on a bit more internal damage control more than opponent preparation. While it might be a bit presumptuous to assume Central Michigan and Northwestern won’t provide Penn State with anything to think about, the prospect of working ahead toward Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio State — even if that prep doesn’t make the field just yet — doesn’t seem like the worst thing for a Penn State program that reached 5-0 a year ago and didn’t have much to show for it after that fact. The issue under Franklin, after all, has never been getting to the big games; it has been wining them.
“I think we’re kind of looking at it as both OK, we got this period of time. This is the 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?” Franklin said. “Are we using these days as just developmental practices to get better as 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?”
“For us, we’re going to try to do a little bit of both. We’re gonna do some good on good work … but we’re probably going to spend some more time on our opponents than we have in the past, 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 of it as well for the young guys that haven’t played so we’re looking at that complete window of time.”
It’s hard to really quantify the sorts of internal changes that Penn State makes on a year-to-year basis because Franklin doesn’t often offer up those kinds of things unless you happen to ask about them. In turn, it’s challenging to say with much authority how frequently Penn State changes or modifies its approach to practice plans and approach.
That being said, between a willingness to find true freshman quarterback Drew Allar playing time — a move that helps Penn State now and in the future and is a change somewhat from the past — and an admitted change in approach to the off week after potentially starting the year at 5-0 yet again, it’s at least noteworthy that Franklin and company aren’t approaching the season with the “doing the same things again” mindset. It’s probably a bit unfair to assume that these sorts of changes haven’t taken place before, but some of them being more public makes it easier to note them.
“And then like we do with most things in football, how do we maximize it from a current roster perspective, a future roster perspective and also what’s going to put you in the best position to take advantage of that by week by getting a head start on at least your next opponent if not multiple?” Franklin added. “I also think that’s also where you see some of these changes in staff sizing in football that helps with that as well because guys are able to get ahead.”
