Nittany Lions football dials in self-evaluation for season's second half
Equal parts licking their wounds, correcting mistakes, developing depth, and self-examining, James Franklin set the framework for Penn State’s by week.
Without an opponent this Saturday, a first for the Nittany Lions since traveling to face Wisconsin on Sept. 4 in Madison, the head coach met with the media before departing for a three-day recruiting trip with his assistant coaches. And having completed practice that day with the full team, the third such occasion since last weekend’s 23-20 loss at Iowa, Franklin indicated that the program’s mindset hadn’t shifted in its approach to continuing to make improvements by any avenue available.
"It's just getting better this week, and doing what we have to do to win the week in terms of our practices, in terms of our academics, in terms of getting a head start on Illinois,” Franklin said. “The next opportunity to be 1-0 is Illinois, but it's also about winning today, too.
“We got a pretty good process of how we do it, how we go about it."
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Part of that process for the Nittany Lions involves a considerable amount of introspection.
Now 5-1 on the 2021 season, Penn State’s statistical performance has been something of a mixed bag. Owning an offense ranked 71st in scoring at 28.3 points per game (but having faced three of the nation’s better scoring defenses in Wisconsin, Auburn, and Iowa, two of which were on the road), the Nittany Lions conversely have the No. 4-ranked scoring defense themselves, allowing just 13.8 points per outing.
Offensive efficiencies of just 35.0 percent conversion on third downs, and a 96th-ranked rushing offense at 128.3 yards per game, stand against Penn State’s respectable 34th-ranked red zone offense (90.0 percent scoring rate). And defensively, the Nittany Lions remain stout in nearly every area, working in conjunction with a special teams unit ranked second in net punting at 45.97 yards per try this season.
What’s it all mean?
Franklin declined to get into specifics this week but did acknowledge that the first half of the bye week was spent going deep into the things that have worked, what hasn’t, what can improve, and the strengths that need to be continued.
"We did it on each side of the ball, so the offense self-scouted themselves, the defense self-scouted themselves as well, and the same thing with special teams,” Franklin said. “And then we did a day of crossover where the offensive coaches self-scouted the defense... and the defense did that with the offense as well.
“It's always interesting how the defense looks at offense compared to how the offense looks at themselves, so that was valuable.”
Still set to take on a second half of the season in which the Nittany Lions face a remaining strength of schedule that ranks 10th nationally according to ESPN’s FPI power index numbers, Penn State will have to face those challenges with a team that could be markedly different from the one that brought it to this point.
Absent quarterback Sean Clifford for three quarters last Saturday, his status still unknown as the program proceeds, the Nittany Lions will assuredly be without the services of senior defensive tackle P.J. Mustipher as questions remain for John Lovett, Jonathan Sutherland, and Devyn Ford as well.
Even so, Franklin noted that the approach the Nittany Lions take will continue to play to the strengths exhibited to this point, if possible.
“If you have a tendency, it means you're usually pretty good at something, but you need to be aware of what that is so that you can find ways to complement it and keep people honest,” he said. “We did two full days on that, and then moved on."
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