Even at 5-0, Penn State sees things to improve during bye week

Don’t call it a week off.

James Franklin wants that to be known. There’s a difference, he said, between a bye week and a vacation. In other words, Penn State’s coach doesn’t believe his team has earned the latter just yet.

So as Penn State approaches its lone bye week of the season, it does so at 5-0, as a top-10 team, with a rejuvenated running game and a defense that leads the nation in pass breakups and has forced more turnovers (12) than it has allowed touchdowns (eight).

But after back-to-back lackluster offensive showings in wins — against Central Michigan on Sept. 24 and in a pouring rain against Northwestern on Saturday — Franklin and his staff are eager not to work on minor tweaks heading into a critical Oct. 15 game at Michigan, but changes necessary for a team whose hopes for a Big Ten title run have not been dashed.

“We must get better this week,” Franklin said after Saturday’s 17-7 win over the Wildcats. “We have a tough stretch coming up with Michigan. We must get in that facility. We’ll get a head start not only on our next opponent, but the next couple opponents. We also need to live in the training room and get as healthy as we possibly can.”

Penn State players will get a brief respite in the name of getting healthy, of course. Next weekend, they will be off, but that also gives coaches a chance to get on the road to recruit for the class of 2023 and beyond. By the time they return to the practice field next Sunday, Franklin hopes what the coaching staff preaches during practices Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will have taken hold.

Most of the major fixes need to come on offense.

Franklin said he would like starting quarterback Sean Clifford and his backups, including true freshman Drew Allar, to work on not putting the ball at risk on pass downs, which Clifford admitted after the game he did twice Saturday — once on an interception by linebacker Bryce Gallagher, and another on a throw into coverage that was nearly intercepted.

“Second half was kind of inconsistent,” Clifford said. “I thought that the pick was controllable, and then there was a second one that I thought that the guy made a pretty good play. I thought I read it correctly, but he actually peeled off and made a pretty good play on that.”

There also will be a focus on improving their success rate in short-yardage situations. But Saturday’s four-fumble flop from the running backs, albeit in the rain, have provided the impetus for Franklin to drive home his “the ball is the program” mantra. The turnover margin that had been Penn State’s friend all season nearly cost it the game against Northwestern.

Defensively, the Nittany Lions will focus on their performance on third-and-long, which has been a bit of a bugaboo the first five weeks, even as well as the unit is playing overall.

On special teams, the search for consistency will press on, especially on kickoffs and the protection team for extra points, which have seen two kicks blocked this season.

“There’s a lot of areas,” Franklin said. “We will look at ourselves. We’ll do across-the-ball self-scout, and then, obviously, we’ll also get a head start on our opponents. And that’ll be kind of a blend this week and both weeks.”

Penn State got through the first five games with the record it wanted, and it has as much momentum as it did last season, when it also started 5-0 before injuries sapped them of that momentum in the second half.

With the White Out game against West-contending Minnesota sandwiched by games against two teams currently ranked in the nation’s top-4 — the Wolverines and Ohio State on Oct. 29 — Penn State knows any championship hopes rest on coming out of the bye week strong.