Lions embracing unique opportunity at hand

Before Trace McSorley even walked from the bowels of Ryan Field and onto Penn State’s buses to head back to Happy Valley, he was being asked about Michigan.

Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State, to be more specific.

His Nittany Lions, 6-0 and now ranked No. 2 nationally, have an opportunity to take on three of college football’s premier programs at Nos. 19, 6 and 18, respectively, the next three weeks. A combined 16-3, the opponents’ losses have come only to Michigan State, No. 9 Oklahoma, and No. 13 Notre Dame, respectively.

And McSorley wouldn’t want it any other way.

“This is what you play here for,” McSorley told reporters. “This is what you play football for is the games that are going to kind of define your season, and that's kind of what we got coming up these next couple of games obviously. But we're going to take it one game at a time and we'll continue to do that. But this is what you've gotta be excited for.”

For his part, Penn State head coach James Franklin isn’t doing anything to tamp down that excitement level among his Nittany Lions this week.

Meeting with reporters Tuesday afternoon at Beaver Stadium for his weekly press conference, Franklin acknowledged the tremendous respect that his program has for Michigan and the opportunity that Saturday night’s game brings with it. Wanting to embrace that feeling while maintaining the same steady approach to the Nittany Lions’ preparations this week, Franklin has his players and staff concentrating not on reflections of last year, the hype surrounding the game, or anything else beyond the immediate task at hand.

“As you guys know, I'm a live-in-the-present guy. There's experiences we gained from last year. There's confidence we gained from last year. There's lessons that we learned from last year,” Franklin said, responding to a question about the impact of his team’s 49-10 loss in Ann Arbor, Mich., last season and it's potential effects on this year's game. “But no different than last year's success that we had, we were going to have to rebuild this team from the ground up, and we're doing that. We're in the process of doing that right now.

“I really don't think last season's game has a whole lot to do with this Saturday's game. I don't think past historical records have a lot of factor into this game Saturday. What we've got to do is prepare like crazy for a team, a university, a program we have tremendous respect for, do the things that we need to do to make sure our team is ready to go out and play on Saturday; stick with our routine, as you guys know I believe in strongly.”

Early indications from the Lions themselves this week have demonstrated that mature approach Franklin has consistently sought out.

Contrasting the group that went into Michigan Stadium at the tail end of September 2016 with the one that will take the field Saturday evening in State College, redshirt junior linebacker Koa Farmer said he was confident this year’s game would not take on the same characteristics.

“We're a different team. We have a different mindset and the way we prepare is crucial to our success,” said Farmer. “I’m not going to say we didn’t prepare as well. There were a lot of guys who were hurt and it wasn’t the same team as we had later in the year. I feel like this year we have a lot of chemistry. The older guys are still the older guys on the team. This is our team and our chemistry right now on special teams, offense and defense is just so amazing. It’s just a different team this year and that’s why this is going to be a different game.”

It will also, undoubtedly, be a different environment this time around.

Hosting ESPN’s College GameDay program in front of Old Main on Saturday in conjunction with what Franklin has called for as a “White Out the Valley, Light Up the Night” community wide show of support, the stage will be all set for the Lions to continue their pursuit of preseason goals.

“We're excited. Obviously it's going to be a great environment,” said Franklin. “I think people realize the only thing I like more than Christmas is a white-out football game. I'm jacked up like I am every year because the environment is special. I think Beaver Stadium on a normal game day is a top-five atmosphere. I think a white-out game day is something I think you don't really understand unless you can come experience it for yourself.”

Playing and coaching at Penn State for these very unique moments, it's an opportunity the Lions are determined not to waste.