As you all know, last week brought an embarrassing loss to Beaver Stadium for the first time this season. Coach James Franklin promised that he would ‘fix’ this during the bye week. This is good news for Penn State fans, but the task is larger than you think. So where exactly should Coach Franklin start? The defense again looked stellar at times but had their trademarked slow start, allowing Northwestern to jump out to an early 14 point lead. These issues have plagued the team throughout the season and definitely must be fixed during the off week. This issue, however, is far from the most prevalent. The offense as a whole looked terrible and this season’s rushing attack is on pace to be the lowest in school history…. yes you heard that right. But is that the biggest issue?

Many fans have pointed the blame on quarterback Christian Hackenberg, who began the season as a contender for the Heisman trophy, and has now fallen far short of that goal. Hackenberg again threw horrid passes, made bad decisions, and turned the ball over repeatedly. This type of erroneous leadership is wearing thin on fans of the team, but the true blame should not be solely on Hackenberg. After all, it is difficult to perform well with a defense swarming at you seemingly unblocked. Thats right, the true issue that needs fixed during this bye week is coach Herb Hand’s offensive line. This line left holes big enough for a truck to fit through, and gave no protection to the one person that the offense is based off of. With a quarterback as skilled as Hackenberg and no running threats whatsoever, defenses will clearly key on the pass, and the offensive line needs to be able to handle that. With big hopes for the rest of the season, its up to you Coach Franklin… fix this.