Column: Nittany Lions find new fuel from Wisconsin win
Armed with a 16-10 win to open the season at No. 12 Wisconsin last Saturday, Penn State head coach James Franklin returned to State College slightly changed.
In a literal sense, the Nittany Lions coach, now in his eighth season at the helm, is physically the same.
But since the aftermath of the program’s win over the Badgers, his first in 13 tries against a top 15-ranked opponent at a true road venue through his head coaching career, a tick of swagger has emerged.
First debating a reporter’s postgame question regarding Penn State’s defensive performance (and the program's recent successes), then making small talk for every reporter during his Tuesday press conference, Franklin followed it all with a Wednesday night post-practice scrum best described as “loose.”
Coming off a season rife with challenges and disappointments in 2020, the program’s win at Camp Randall has effectively been a shot in the arm as it looks forward with a sense of possibility.
Even standing in the corner of the end zone Saturday afternoon, a few rows of Penn State fans in the stands clamoring to hear his makeshift postgame press conference, Franklin acknowledged that potential.
“When you can go on the road and find a way to protect a lead against that type of team and that type of offense and the crowd and everything else, yeah, there's tremendous confidence that can come from this,” Franklin said. “And we see it across the board in college football. An early-season big win can do a lot of good, but all that matters is we learn from it, we correct the film, and then we got to find a way to do it next week or the questions won't be as nice.”
This week, Franklin and the Nittany Lions have been determined to follow through on that mindset.
Set to host Ball State Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m., FS1) at Beaver Stadium, the program’s first home game in front of an expected full house for the first time since the 2019 season, the conversation regarding a potential “trap game” to the reigning MAC champs was summarily dismissed this week. Rather, whether 22.5 point favorites or not, the program’s approach in treating every game with the same mindset didn’t change coming off the win.
And judging by the comments of senior receiver Jahan Dotson after practice Wednesday, just the opposite has been true this week.
Using a win, rather than a stinging loss, as the impetus for positive change, Dotson said that the Nittany Lions have doubled down on the effort that has gone into preparing for the Cardinals this weekend.
“(We’re) just focusing on getting better every single day you come in,” Dotson said, fresh off his five catches for 102 yards and a touchdown Saturday. “Coach Franklin has talked about how in the past, we’ve kind of waited for us to have a major loss for us to come in and start working harder.
“So just coming in on that Monday after a victory and going even harder, so you want to get even better for the next week, that’s been a big focal point for us this week. We’re just making sure that we’re even better than we were last week.”
Given the opportunity at hand for the program, fueled on by a 1-0 start to the season, it’s an approach the Nittany Lions will look to carry forward into Beaver Stadium Saturday and beyond.
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