How Penn State Has Fared In Games After Its Bye Week
No. 8 Penn State will have gone 14 days without playing a game once Saturday afternoon’s Big Ten matchup with Michigan State rolls around.
The Nittany Lions’ bye week came after a heart-wrenching 27-26 loss to Ohio State Buckeyes. Bye weeks give teams a much-needed break from their normal game-week routines, allowing players and coaches to rest and recharge for the stretch run of the season.
Head coach James Franklin is 2-3 in games coming out of the break in his tenure as Penn State’s head coach. Here’s a look back at all five of those games:
2014
Strangely enough, Penn State had an additional bye week during James Franklin’s first season as the Nittany Lions’ head coach.
The team fell to Michigan 18-13 following its first week off. That defeat was Penn State’s second consecutive loss after a home loss to Northwestern in its conference opener. Led by Christian Hackenberg, the offense struggled to get anything going against a stout Wolverine defense.
Penn State had another week off following that defeat, but dropped its third consecutive game against Ohio State under White Out conditions. The Nittany Lions scored 24 unanswered points after trailing 17-0 in the first half, but JT Barrett led a Buckeye comeback as his team escaped Happy Valley with its fifth consecutive victory.
2015
Penn State had to wait until week 11 of the 2015 season for its annual bye week and once again hosted the White Out following its week off.
Michigan beat Penn State 28-16 during the first White Out game played during the day since 2011. Tyler Davis kicked three field goals, and Christian Hackenberg threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Saeed Blacknall during what was otherwise an uneventful game for the Nittany Lions.
The loss was part of a season-ending losing streak of four games that included a heartbreaking loss against Northwestern in Evanston before the bye week. As we all know, things quickly began to look up for the Nittany Lions following their second straight seven-win season.
2016
The 2016 season was probably the most important one of James Franklin’s tenure in charge of the Nittany Lions.
Penn State rejoined college football’s elite programs thanks to a nine-game win streak, but perhaps the most famous victory of the streak took place on October 22 at Beaver Stadium.
Marcus Allen and Grant Haley combined to make one of the biggest plays in program history late in the fourth quarter. The Nittany Lions came back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to upset then-No. 2 Ohio State.
The victory ignited a lot of things, including the first of two rallies sparked by big wins that season, a Big Ten championship, and a cameo in the Rose Bowl.
2017
The White Out game was played after Penn State’s bye week for the fourth consecutive year in 2017.
The three prior White Outs were all (relatively) close games, but the second-ranked Nittany Lions blew Michigan out of the water 42-13 in front of a then-record Beaver Stadium crowd. Saquon Barkley scored a 69-yard touchdown on Penn State’s second play of the game and finished the evening with 161 total yards and three scores.
Michigan answered two quick Penn State scores with 13 points of its own at the start of the game, but the Nittany Lion defense held firm for the remainder of the game as Barkley and Trace McSorley torched the Wolverines’ otherwise-stellar defense.
Like 2015, Penn State traveled to Northwestern before the bye week, but won 31-7 behind big performances from Barkley and McSorley.
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