The eyes of the college football world will be on State College this weekend.

FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff show, College GameDay, Josh Pate’s “Whole New Saturday Tour”, and Bartool’s Student Section of the Year competition will be set up at the top-five matchup between Penn State football and Ohio State on Saturday.

With a noon kick and a reported visit from a presidential candidate, State College has the potential to be chaotic come gameday. Even as the matchup has grown to an event status, which may include the Secret Service, James Franklin is only worried about the product in the Lasch Building.

A contest of this caliber draws an influx of media attention to the team, and Franklin said individual player requests always spike in a week such as this one. Regardless, Franklin sticks to his typical limit of player interviews, and with the help of the administration, doesn’t have to deal with many of the events surrounding the game.

When the focus shifts to what’s going on inside Beaver Stadium on Saturday, there’s also an opportunity to showcase the atmosphere to potential recruits. According to 247Sports’ Brian Dohn, over 40 “offer-holding prospects,” are set to make the trek to Happy Valley this weekend for the Helmet Stripe game. 

Even with the opportunity the game provides, it’s still business as usual.

“Nothing changes for us. We have the same process with the players in terms of how we operate with those topics in-season. Our guys do a good job with that,” Franklin said on Monday. “I’m worried about the Lasch Football Building, the practice field, Beaver Stadium, the playing field, the locker room. All those other things outside of that, we try not to spend any time on it.”

In the Lasch Building, Penn State is preparing for its biggest challenge of the year, amplifying the need to stay consistent. Sticking to the routine worked during the road trip to USC, but Ohio State is a completely different animal.

On top of the Buckeye challenge is the injury bug. As the Nittany Lions remain without safety K.J. Winston, there’s also uncertainty at quarterback and on the offensive and defensive lines with Anthony Donkoh and Dani Dennis-Sutton as potential game-time decisions.

“I think we’ve been tested, but I think we’ve proven that we can overcome some of those things and I think we have proven that we have some pretty good depth,” Franklin said. “But when you’re playing one of the most talented teams in the country, you want to be as healthy as you possibly can.”

While the health of the team is an obstacle, the home-field advantage coupled with the hype of everything around the stadium could be a difference-maker for the Nittany Lions.

With the success of his plea for “White Out…energy,” Franklin knows he has the ability to rally the crowd. While he’s trying his best to ignore the distractions leading up to the game, Franklin wants to use the heightened atmosphere to his advantage this weekend.

“Home-field advantage is going to be something that is going to be very, very important for us,” Franklin said. “This is going to be an all-hands-on-deck game.”