T H E 2 0 1 8 S E A S O N
O
f the many challenges that go along with being a :rst-
time o;ensive coordinator for a major college football
program, one not easily anticipated is the lack of sleep.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call just a=er the
season's midpoint, Ricky Rahne sounded as though he
was feeling the e;ects.
Not a week removed from two consecutive losses,
Penn State's new OC acknowledged that there had been
many sleepless nights and early mornings recently. A=er
reviewing and re-examining what went wrong in games
against Ohio State and Michigan State in which the Nit-
tany Lions allowed fourth-quarter leads to slip away, the
hypotheticals looped in his mind, keeping him awake.
Meanwhile, he was looking ahead and working on ways
to get the problems straightened out. A=er opening the
season as one the highest-scoring teams in the country,
the Lions began slowing down at midseason. The of-
fense hit its low point when it scored only one inconse-
quential touchdown in the :nal minutes of a 42-7 loss
at Michigan on Nov. 3, the team's third loss of the sea-
son.
To get things back on track, Rahne has been putting in
overtime, combing through :lm cutups and trying to
discover ways of moving the ball against some of the Big
Ten's more stubborn defenses. He's worked tirelessly,
but there are times when fatigue does set in. So he
knows when to call it a night and at least try to get some
sleep.
"I never sleep at the o
