BY RYAN TICE
T
hrough the first four weeks of the
2014 season, things could not have
been going better for Penn State. The crip-
pling NCAA sanctions that wreaked hav-
oc on the roster were reduced and bowl el-
igibility for 2014 was restored. New head
coach James Franklin had lit the recruiting
trail on fire and appeared to be
heading towards the postsea-
son, despite numerous depth
concerns. To top it all off, the
squad survived a pair of close
scares to open 4-0 for the first
time since 2008.
However, the unbeaten cha-
rade came to an end Sept. 27
with a 29-6 loss to Northwest-
ern, which had opened their
season with losses to Cal and
Northern Illinois. Although
the Wildcats have won three
straight, including a 20-14 win
over then-No. 17 Wisconsin
last weekend, it was still a re-
vealing loss.
"Everything was positive up until North-
western," Blue White Illustrated staff writ-
er Tim Owen said. "That was a pretty dis-
heartening loss. That loss was one of the
worst I've seen in my five years covering
the team. I've been following Penn State
forever, and it's probably one of the worst
five losses in the past 10 years."
The homecoming contest was
so sobering because the PSU
offense didn't even bother to
show up. The Nittany Lions fin-
ished with just 266 total yards
— the majority of which came
through the air, which has been
a recurring theme in 2014.
"Northwestern gave them
a reality check and knocked
them back down a little bit,"
Owen noted. "The first four
games, they had a lot of things
go right. Against Northwestern,
everything that could go wrong
went wrong, and it exposed a
lot of deficiencies, particularly
on the offensive line and pass-
OCT. 8, 2014
Before coming to Penn
State, James Franklin
posted a 24-15 mark at
Vanderbilt
PHOTO COURTESY PENN STATE
Bounce Back
Penn State Was Exposed In A Loss To Northwestern,
But Had A Week Off To Regroup
