Blue White Illustrated

Staff views spring game as platform for PSU A few weeks ago, new Penn State of- fensive line coach Herb Hand tweeted that he was eager for his family to come up from Nashville, where they still live, and "join 80k at the B/W game" on April 12. Hand's Twitter feed has become a must-read for Penn State followers, and it has brought his family members a bit of local celebrity. But it was the second part of that tweet – the attendance tar- get – that got everyone's attention. Eighty thousand? That's an awful lot of fans for the Blue-White Game – more fans, in fact, than Penn State has ever drawn for its annual spring scrimmage. For the Nittany Lions to meet or surpass such an ambitious goal, they are going to need a lot more than just the enthusias- tic participation of the Hand family. They are going to need the rest of the Penn State community – students, grads, lettermen and subway alumni – to turn out for the game, to "pull the rope in the same direction," as James Franklin is fond of saying. And the Lions are probably going to need all those people to bring their friends. Can it be done? Franklin thinks so. The ever-effusive first-year coach has tweeted about drawing "80K MINI- MUM," and at his recent speaking en- gagements, he has talked about the po- tential impact that a big crowd would have on his staff's recruiting efforts. To that end, he's been thinking about tweaking the format from the past two years in hope of making the game more enticing to fans. Under Bill O'Brien, the Lions split up into offensive and defen- sive units and used a scoring system in which the defense was awarded points for turnovers, sacks, tackles for loss and three-and-outs, while the offense was rewarded not only for scoring plays but for plays of 15 or more yards and for making two consecutive first downs. The system sounded good in theory, but in practice, it was difficult to follow the scoring, and both teams tended to pile up points pinball-style, leaving on- NEWS & NOTES F O O T B A L L THE BLUE-WHITE GAME AT A GLANCE WHERE Beaver Stadium WHEN 1:30 p.m., April 12 PARKING/ADMISSION Free (parking lots will open at 8 a.m.) RADIO The game is set to air live on the Penn State Sports Network TV The Big Ten Network's tape-delayed broadcast begins at 6 p.m. April 12 OTHER ACTIVITIES An autograph session will take place from 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. Players will be permitted to sign one item per person. The Penn State game- day Fan Festival, with numerous displays, vendors and interactive events for kids, will begin at 9 a.m. and will be located along Curtin Road. The 5th Annual Paterno Family Beaver Stadium Run/Family Fun Walk to bene5t Special Olympics Pennsylvania is set for Sunday, April 13. Participants will 5nish at the 50-yard line in Beaver Stadium for the 3-mile run or 1-mile walk. For more in- formation, go to specialolympicspa.org/beaver-stadium-run SIGNATURE MOMENT Johnnie Troutman signs auto- graphs prior to the 2009 Blue-White Game. A school- record crowd of 76,500 turned out for the game. Annemarie Mountz lookers befuddled. In last year's game, the defense defeated the offense, 67-47. The defense prevailed the previous year, too, 77-65. Franklin would prefer some- thing a bit more straightforward. "I'd like to have a true game," he said at the start of spring practice. "I think it's more fun for the players. I think it's more fun for the fans. We'll probably go all [first-teamers] vs. everybody else. Or maybe 1's and 2's vs. everybody else. I have a little bit of concern on the O-line. Do we have enough bodies to do that? It might be a situation where we put the O-line in a different color and they run from sideline to sideline. That will get them in shape and get them a lot of reps. But we're going to do everything we possibly can to have a true game." Penn State has drawn in excess of 70,000 fans on several occasions. The best-attended games were from 2007- 09, with a record crowd of 76,500 turn- ing out for the '09 game. Spring football attendance has been on the rise nationally, as prominent schools look to use their games as recruiting showcases. Last year, Auburn led the country by drawing 83,401 fans – only 4,000 short of capacity at Jordan-Hare Stadium – and the Tigers did it despite charging $5 admission. Alabama drew 78,315, followed by Tennessee (61,076), Nebraska (60,174), Arkansas (51,088) and Kentucky (50,831). One factor that can drive up atten- dance is a coaching change. Alabama set a national spring-game record in 2007 when 92,138 fans turned out to watch Nick Saban make his debut as head coach. (Ohio State broke that mark two years later by drawing 95,722.) Auburn's strong attendance figure last year was attributed partly to curiosity about new coach Gus Malzahn, and Kentucky fans came out in force to see Mark Stoops coach his first game after arriving from Florida State. That same curiosity factor is in play at Penn State this year, with fans eager to see the Franklin era get un- der way. Of course, there are other factors that are outside of the program's control that can affect attendance. Last year, for in- stance, Penn State's uncharacteristically low attendance was attributed at least partially to the unseasonably cold weath- er. The game-day temperatures were in the 30s and 40s, and there were periodic snow squalls that forced the approxi- mately 28,000 fans who turned out for the game to take cover under blankets. But even with the terrible weather, Penn State finished third among Big Ten teams, outdrawing all but Nebraska and Ohio State (37,643). And it did far better than some prominent schools from other conferences. Forty-three Division I schools drew fewer than 10,000 fans for their spring games last year, including Boise State (9,146), Ari- zona State (6,300), Stanford (4,350) and Baylor (3,500). After Pitt drew 3,642 fans last year, coach Paul Cryst canceled this year's Blue-Gold game, explaining that the need for a more- structured practice session outweighed whatever benefits the program was get- ting from playing a game that was open to the public. When it comes to spring games, Penn State has more in common with its Southeastern Conference counterparts than with other schools in the East. While Pitt, Temple, Connecticut, Mary- land and Syracuse all drew fewer than 10,000 fans for their games last year, Penn State over the years has developed the Blue-White Game into a mini- homecoming in which alumni are en- couraged to come back for the day – or for the entire weekend – after a long, football-free winter. Moreover, the pro- gram has used the Blue-White Weekend spectacle as a way to appeal to recruits. Last year, about 80 prospects attended the game, and one of them – North Car- olina athlete De'Andre Thompkins – gave the Nittany Lions an unexpected verbal commitment. Franklin pointed out recently on Twitter that the Farmer's Almanac forecast calls for blue skies and 78-de- gree temps on April 12. That would cer- tainly be a refreshing change, but after enduring the infamous polar vortex, which was still delivering record-low temperatures as of late March, central Pennsylvanians are probably not ready to take anything for granted. Will spring have arrived in University Park in time for kickoff? Will the Blue-White Game turn out to be a hot ticket? The answers to those questions won't be known for a few days, but one suspects they are very much related. – MATT HERB W E B S U R V E Y Eugene Lewis, De'Andre Thompkins and our tight ends. Their performance is critical to the offense's production. I also would like to see if Akeel Lynch will see more playing time. Ptomaselli Pure and simple: the DEFENSE! Linebackers, defensive backs, defen- sive linemen. Are they playing as a unit yet, and how are they adapting to the new coaches/schemes? Any naturals out there? Who looks lost? Who's comfortable? Who still looks lost? Then: POSITION CHANGES. We won't have much of a chance to see special teams in the Blue-White Game, and the offense will take care of itself over time. BobE It will be a normal football game, and hopefully 80K+ will be enjoying it. And Lynch – I have a feeling he is going to go crazy. PSUriseANDfire Offensive focus: the line (namely the interior), wideouts, backup quarter- What will you be focused on in the Lions' spring game?

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