How is Penn State preparing for the White Out? That and more from James Franklin
Saturday’s game against Oregon will be a stark contrast for Penn State in comparison to its first three games. Yes, the Ducks are a top-10 team in the country and the first few opponents for the Nittany Lions were all well below that. But those games were also mostly dormant in comparison from an outside noise perspective.
They were games the Nittany Lions were supposed to win by a wide margin, and did. It was more akin to a preseason slate than anything else, with talk about rotating players and getting starters out leading most of the conversation heading into the games.
But that will change this week.
Penn State is now one of the focal points of the college football world, with ESPN’s College GameDay making the trip to State College and hype building ahead of the team’s White Out game against Oregon. But that won’t change the program’s approach. Penn State head coach James Franklin leans into routine with how he handles his program, with, as he put it, a Tuesday ahead of Nevada being the same as a Tuesday ahead of Oregon.
That doesn’t mean the game won’t feel different, though, but it isn’t something Franklin feels the need to address with his players.
“I don’t think I need to tell them. They’ve been hearing it all offseason. They’ve been hearing it when they walk around campus (and) when they’re getting the requests for tickets,” Franklin said at his weekly Monday press conference. “...I don’t think it’s anything that I need to address with them. It is a special deal and we’re fortunate and honored to coach in it and play in it, but I don’t think it’s something that needs to be addressed.”
Try as they might to make everything the same — it won’t be. The crowd will be louder. The competition will be higher. The nerves will be more prevalent. It’s human nature to feel the weight of the moment when it happens. But instead of falling victim to the pressure, Franklin will continue treating it as he always does.
That’s possible, in part, because most of his players have either played in a White Out or attended one as a recruit.
Still, even the head coach admitted there will be a brief moment where he will allow himself to feel what is happening in Beaver Stadium — before quickly pivoting to the task at hand.
“I’ll take my eight seconds when we walk out of the tunnel and take it all in and feel the energy, and then once you run on the field you’re locked in and focused on the opponent and the challenge,” he said.
Preparing for an elite Oregon offense
The Nittany Lions will be facing a team it should be fairly familiar with when they take on the Ducks — particularly on offense. They played Oregon and offensive coordinator Will Stein in the Big Ten title game in December in a game that was a 45-37 shootout. And while Penn State’s defense has plenty of its own returning personnel and is preparing for a similar offense, it should still be a very different unit.
That’s largely because of defensive coordinator Jim Knowles — who took on the Ducks twice last season when he was at Ohio State — and what he brings to the table.
“I think we didn’t have enough tools in our tool belt,” Franklin said about last year’s game. “What I mean by that is we were majority a man coverage team. Sometimes they were able to get matchups that were in their favor. If we’re not able to solve that issue with a sack or pressure, then we had some challenges. Being able to play man is definitely one of our weapons, but also being able to have zones and zone pressures and a lot of those different things we’re now doing more of I think is valuable.”
The biggest difference on Oregon’s side will be at quarterback, where Dante Moore is now leading the offense with Dillon Gabriel off to the NFL. Gabriel was able to act as a facilitator more than a creator against Penn State, getting the ball to his weapons in space and allowing them to go to work.
Moore, a former five-star recruit, is more likely to create some of those big plays on his own. That’s true both with his arm and with his legs. The latter is the biggest difference Franklin sees with the quarterback.
“He’s a throw-first guy, very accurate, can extend plays,” Franklin said about Moore. “Obviously has a ton of playmakers around him... I would say that Dante runs a little bit more. You know, runs a little bit more than maybe they had in the past.”
Quick hitters
- Franklin said he’s texted with former Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry, who was fired last week as Virginia Tech’s head coach. Pry has an extensive history with the Penn State head coach, and was with the Nittany Lions from 2014-2021 and was with Franklin at Vanderbilt from 2011-2013.
- Penn State emphasized building chemistry between the team’s starters at wide receiver and quarterback Drew Allar, according to Franklin, which contributed to limited playing time for Tyseer Denmark and Koby Howard at the position. Those starters — Trebor Peña, Devonte Ross and Kyron Hudson — are all in their first year with the program after transferring in from Syracuse, Troy and USC, respectively.
- Franklin commended safety King Mack’s approach after not initially winning a starting job at safety out of fall camp. Mack did not start the first game but has seen significantly more snap’s since that game against Nevada and could be the starter against Oregon.
