Penn State has climbed very high in the polls for the first time in years. The Nittany Lions have to find a way to stay there, and they have already been given some help with a loss by Michigan to Michigan State. This team is in position to grab a spot in the College Football Playoff, and they have also been aided immensely by Oklahoma's loss to Iowa State. What does Penn State have to do to stay near the top? They need to stop listening to all the outside noise.
The broadcast
There is a fantastic radio broadcast every Saturday on ESPN, and they have great commentators who are listening and watching as they talk about college football all day.
If you tuned in while the Nittany Lions were having trouble on Saturday, you heard one of the announcers pestering the others about Saquon Barkley. Barkley had a pretty pedestrian day on the field, but he needs to play well against Ohio State to sort of solidify the Heisman Trophy candidacy. If he does not listen to distractions, he should be fine.
Stay the course
The dumbest thing that any football team ever did was stop doing the things that they know work for them. There are a lot of people who think that Penn State will have to change up their offense a little bit to play well against Ohio State or a team in the College Football Playoff. It would be unwise to go away from what they do well, and there are plenty of reasons to get desperate if the Penn State Nittany Lions ever fall behind.
James Franklin needs to be really steadfast, and they need to be sure that they basically ride Barkley until their season is over. They can do something else when Barkley starts playing on Sundays, and it would be stupid for them to do any less. Penn State is in a good position in the Big Ten, and they are clearly ready to compete with other teams in the league for years to come.
If they establish themselves now, they can keep doing this balanced attack.
Play with purpose
Penn State does not have to tiptoe around anymore because they are afraid of offending someone. No one on this team or on the staff has anything to do with the debauchery that occurred when Joe Paterno was the coach. That chapter of this team's history is over.
It is very hard for us to fault Penn State of the present for what the Penn State of the past did. I hope that the Nittany Lions can have some school pride and perhaps give some school pride back to their alumni. It must have been very hard to weather such a storm and honor the victims of such terrible crimes. Maybe now Penn State can stand up for what is right while chasing a title.
