James Franklin has a mission for Penn State during bye week

It’s crazy to consider a team that doesn’t want to head into the bye week. For many within the Penn State community, the bye week has not been very kind over the past several years. The balance isn’t easy between wanting players to recover but also to find a way to improve. James Franklin and the Penn State football team have been criticized for how they’ve performed following the bye week. So, coach Franklin made sure the message was clear following the Northwestern game.

James Franklin tells his team ‘this is a bye week not an off week”

The bye week is supposed to be an opportunity to install a new set of plays. To get players healthy, or even find a way to be the most prepared for the next game. But over the past several seasons it has felt like an Achilles’ heel for Penn State. The team often comes out flat during the bye week. It typically appears that the team has taken a step back and not a step forward during this time. James Franklin spoke on his approach for this week after Saturday’s win over Northwestern.

Franklin said, “We’ve really, studied, as you know, a lot of things in the offseason; one of the things that we studied in great detail was bye weeks. And what is the best way to handle it? That you can find that balance between recovery and getting the guys fresh but also getting better. This is a bye week, not an off week, we have to get better this week. And that’s the fine line, right? What can we do during the week, to allow the guys to recover the weekend will be huge. Especially if it’s handled the right way. And being able to dig into our self-scout, offense, defense, and special teams.”

It’s nice to hear that James Franklin understands that this needs to be handled better. Thankfully the Penn State football team faces UMass directly after the bye week and not Ohio State. But either way, the team needs to take advantage of this time off.

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