Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1322704
By the usual metrics that are used to judge college football seasons, Penn State's 2020 campaign was a disap- pointment. After going into the season ranked seventh in the Associated Press poll, the Nittany Lions lost their first five games, becoming the first team in school history to hold an 0-5 record and the first pre- season top-10 team in the his- tory of the poll to open with five consecutive losses. Even after turning things around with a road win at Michigan, their first victory in the Big House since 2009, they still headed into their Big Ten Champions Week matchup against Illinois sporting a 3-5 record, making this the team's first sub-.500 regular season since 2004. But are those the metrics that ought to be used to judge a season like this one, a season in which coaches, players and support staffers had to be constantly vigilant in order to guard against a COVID- 19 outbreak, and in which there was no guarantee from one week to the next whether an upcoming game was even going to be played? The answer to that question isn't so clear. While every team in the country was having to deal with the many fears, uncertainties and inconveniences brought on by the pandemic, there was some variation from school to school and conference to conference in terms of the protocols that were put in place and how strictly they were adhered to. The Nittany Lions, coach James Franklin said, consistently erred on the side of caution. They didn't hold in-person meetings and even conducted practice in | NEWS & NOTES COVERED UP One of the pre- cautions PSU has been tak- ing has been to require masks at practice. Photo courtesy of Penn State Athletics F O O T B A L L PSU takes conservative approach to COVID safety