On Friday night, there was a lot of social media buzz about Penn State entering the postseason undefeated. On Saturday night, there was a lot of social media outrage at what ESPN called “the biggest loss since 2001.”
Penn State was 4-0 for the first time since 2008, due largely in part to how well the team has bonded. Quarterback Christian Hackenberg called his team a “tight-knit group,” and the players have responded well to head coach James Franklin’s program. His involvement-above-all approach to the team has him spending long nights in his office to prepare for the next day’s practice and meeting with the freshmen at least once a week to keep them connected with the rest of the players. He gathers his team, both coaches and players, on Sundays to analyze the previous day’s game and to look forward to the next week.
Franklin’s leadership led the Nittany Lions to a fantastic start of the season – Penn State’s rushing defense was ranked first in the nation before the Northwestern game, and Hackenberg is consistently listed among the top 10 passers. On paper, Penn State should have a 5-0 start.
So, what went wrong last week?
During the Northwestern postgame conference, Franklin spoke for just 10 minutes and eight seconds, but he punctuated his words nine times with a promise that “we will get it fixed.”
A lot of his proposed “fix” revolves around Hackenberg – getting him more options on the ground and protecting him better after he took a lot of hits on Saturday is one of Franklin’s priorities.
Franklin was looking forward to getting in the film room and picking apart exactly what went wrong. He knew that the team would eventually break down, admitting that they haven’t played “pretty” all year and that it caught up to them on Saturday.
“We’ve been able to come back and rally in so many games; you can only do that so many times,” Franklin said.
In their opening four games, the Nittany Lions have proven that they can play well, but they need to prove that they can hold up under pressure. On Saturday, they had trouble overcoming what may turn out to be their fiercest enemy – themselves. When Penn State shows up to play, it has the ability to dominate. However, they have a stunning inability to adapt. They become ravaged with frustration and fall apart when their game doesn’t go exactly according to plan, evidenced when Hackenberg and running back Bill Belton exchanged heated words after an incomplete pass.
With the bye week coming up, the team will look to correct their mistakes and move on to Michigan. Mike Hull, the senior linebacker who had a career-high 16 tackles on Saturday knows that his team needs to put in the work to get where they want to be, but believes in them nonetheless.
“I think everyone’s done a good job of handling last weekend’s game. We came in on Sunday and kind of pushed the reset button, watched the film, learned from our mistakes and now we’re ready to work out our kinks during this bye week,” said Hull.
Hull understands just what frustration can do to the team and wants to address it.
“We have to get out there and play intense from the first play so that doesn’t happen again. A lot of it just has to do with getting into the flow of the game and getting a feel for what the team’s doing offensively,” he added.
He hopes to lead by example in the upcoming weeks.
“I think that as a leader that myself and all the other seniors have to be extra cautious this week that everyone is upbeat and ready to go and not too down on themselves because there’s still a lot of season left,” he said.
The Nittany Lions recognize that they’ve hit their first bump in the road, but they also understand that starting the season 4-1 isn’t the worst thing in the world. They are still riding four wins as they head into the bye week, but for right now, resting and preparing for upcoming opponents like Michigan and Ohio State is the number one concern as Franklin looks to build consistency and find momentum for the rapidly approaching games.
