Penn State football: 3 things to fix during the bye week

Penn State football is ranked sixth in the nation after a 5-0 start and now has a bye week before facing UMass on October 14. The Nittany Lions have looked dominant on defense, while the offense has much to prove.

The bye week hasn’t been great under James Franklin with Penn State going 3-7 after open dates during his tenure. The big difference from years past is that this bye week doesn’t have Ohio State or Michigan following it.

However, Penn State shouldn’t sleepwalk through UMass as they would love to upset a highly ranked Penn State team in Beaver Stadium.

The Nittany Lions simply cannot let this be a trap game with Ohio State coming the following week. They need to keep their focus. They can use this bye week to fix some things they haven’t done thus far.

Penn State football needs to fix the run game

Penn State currently ranks 28th in rushing offense which is one behind Rutgers.

On the season, the Nittany Lions have 231 rushing attempts with 974 rushing yards (4.22 Yards Per Rush and 194.8 Yards Per Game) and 13 touchdowns.

The expectation was that this offense had Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen who would explode after huge freshman years, but don’t blame the running backs for this issue, the offensive line is the largest issue.

Both backs are getting a lot of contact at the line of scrimmage on most of their runs which forces them to break tackles and avoid tacklers from the moment they get the ball. This also means there are likely zero holes to run through for an explosive run play.

This needs to be fixed for UMass, especially with Ohio State lurking.

Penn State football needs to get healthy during the bye week

Penn State is banged up from the offensive line to the wide receivers. Kaytron Allen was taken out of the Northwestern game and never got back in but he was seen practicing this week.

Another player who hasn’t played much due to injury is Harrison Wallace III, but he was also seen at practice this week.

Franklin was also asked about JB Nelson who went down during the Northwestern game.

The best thing about the bye week is getting back to or at least near 100 percent before getting the game in so this should be an issue Penn State can fix by just taking it easy and resting those guys.

Penn State football needs to find some explosive plays

Penn State lacks that big, explosive play on offense and it’s not due to a lack of talent or coaching. The offense is built to pound a defense down and wear them out.

Penn State’s offense ranks first in time of possession in all college football (that includes Air Force, Army, and Navy.) The explosive plays aren’t something we need as fans, but rather a want.

I would love to see Drew Allar drop a 75-yard touchdown pass to one of the receivers or watch Nicholas Singleton run for a 57-yard touchdown.

The time this may hurt Penn State is against teams like Ohio State and Michigan who have elite defenses and if you can’t get one or two big plays, they could suffocate your offense.

The most explosive play from Penn State this season was the first touchdown of the year.

Penn State shouldn’t be worried as those big plays will occur, but I wouldn’t expect them to happen often.

One honorable mention I would give Penn State is getting ready for future opponents such as Ohio State but Manny Diaz was asked about this and this was his response:

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