Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Ranked No. 2 in the nation and at the center of the college football world on Saturday, Penn State players got a message from their coach to start off the week.
“They’ve earned these things,” James Franklin said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “These things are nice. The rankings are nice. The fact that ESPN and ‘College GameDay’ is coming is nice. The fact that this is a White Out is nice.
“At the end of the day none of those things matter.”
So while the Nittany Lions took a moment to acknowledge that Saturday night’s game against No. 19 Michigan has some special elements to it, it was only a moment.
“Coach Franklin mentioned it once,” Lions center Connor McGovern said. “Just focus on Michigan this week. It’s all about the game.”
“It’s about our preparation,” Franklin said. “A lot of times I think probably the most important job of a head coach, in my opinion, is to eliminate distractions. If not handled right, that’s what these can be. We’re going to stick to our routine and our S.O.P., kind of go from there.”
Not that it will be easy.
Penn State is in the top two in the polls for the first time since 1999 and is hosting GameDay for the first time since 2009. The school announced Monday that ESPN will be building their on-campus set on the lawn at Old Main this time — in past trips, it had been across the street from Beaver Stadium near the Bryce Jordan Center.
Add in that it will be a 7:30 p.m. kickoff for the annual White Out game — always one of the program’s biggest recruiting weekends — and there’s plenty of things other than the actual football to focus on.
“He’s just always emphasizing to control what we can control,” cornerback Amani Oruwariye said of Franklin. “College GameDay, the White Out, rankings — this, that and that — he just wants us to focus on what we can control … and not worry about that outside stuff.”
Speaking of distractions
On Thursday, “that outside stuff” included a report by CBS Sports that Texas A&M would be interested in hiring Franklin should current coach Kevin Sumlin not return for next season.
The following morning, Franklin took to Twitter to head off speculation that he would entertain leaving Penn State. Asked to elaborate on Tuesday, Franklin said he didn’t want things to snowball among the fanbase.
“I wasn’t going to respond at all, to be honest with you,” Franklin said. “But our fans, they were wearing me out on Twitter. I think our players were perfectly fine. Our coaches were perfectly fine. I just wanted everybody to stop talking about it and let’s start talking about Michigan.”
He proceeded to repeat “Michigan” eight more times.
He was then asked if he was upset about the report had spread so quickly nationally.
“I appreciate you checking on my emotional well-being,” Franklin deadpanned before turning serious. “I’m in a good place. I’m happy. My family’s happy. I’m worried about the team and keeping our routine and our S.O.P, consistent, not allowing other things or other people to cause distractions for us.”
The Aggies, meanwhile, are now 5-2 after knocking off Florida in The Swamp on Saturday.
Counterfeit concerns
Penn State sent out an advisory Tuesday afternoon warning fans to be on the lookout for counterfeit tickets for Saturday’s game.
“Penn State officials have notified law enforcement of counterfeit tickets being in the marketplace,” the school said in a release. “Due to these incidents and the tremendous interest in Saturday’s game … Intercollegiate Athletics encourages fans purchasing tickets to only purchase them through Penn State authorized sources.”
Those sources would be the Penn State ticket office and Ticketmaster. Fans are asked to take extra caution when purchasing from third-party sites and ticket brokers.
