Penn State football made a statement with its season-opening win at favorite Wisconsin, 16-10, before returning to Beaver Stadium last week to easily handle MAC favorite Ball State, 44-13.

Now, the No. 10 Nittany Lions turn their attention to No. 20 Auburn in a White Out environment that's among the best in college football.

The game just over a day away, we're recapping the week that was for Penn State football as it looks to secure a 3-0 start to the 2021 season with its most marquee non conference matchup in years.

This is the 3-2-1:

I am merely standing on the shoulders of the giants of this space, the real MVPs in recruiting, Ryan Snyder and Greg Pickel.

And yet, with Penn State set to welcome an absolute avalanche of recruits this weekend at the program’s annual showcase game, the White Out at Beaver Stadium, not leading with that storyline would be borderline criminal.

The basic details are that James Franklin called the expected numbers of recruits, their families, friends, and others “ridiculous” to the point where even Beaver Stadium’s massive capacity means some will end up being turned away. And those recruits, he explained Thursday night on his radio show, will include many of the members of Penn State’s currently No. 2-ranked Class of 2022, as well as “the top ’23, the top ’24, and I’m embarrassed to say some of the top ’25 and top ’26 recruits in the country will all be there.”

In total, Franklin ballparked 300 recruits and their guests expected to be in attendance for the game Saturday night.

If I can offer just one bit of editorializing here, one interesting element of the evolution of the game, specific to its recruiting impact, is the work the media has done to effectively grow the lore surrounding it. For as much as Penn State talks about the White Out and uses it as a massive recruiting tool, the broader element of the local media that doesn’t delve deeply into the recruiting side of things has gone in with two feet on the recruiting angle for this game specifically.

Surely, as has been the case in every iteration past, future Nittany Lions will reflect on the impression this game left on their decision to attend Penn State.

This might not qualify as the sexiest pick of a White Out week for Penn State football but, as it relates to actual news items learned, the Nittany Lions’ offensive line received more clarification this week.

Specifically, Franklin described Harvard graduate transfer Eric Wilson as the “starting left guard” for this weekend’s game with Auburn while maintaining that there would still be a rotation of “some other guys in there.”

“I think he's playing well and getting comfortable and getting adjusted to the speed, size of the game at this level,” Franklin said, “and we've been impressed with him.”

A few other points of interest here worth passing along:

- Franklin continued his praise of redshirt junior, and versatile, offensive lineman Bryce Effner after securing his first game action of the season against Ball State. Effner appeared at left guard for 11 snaps and right tackle for another eight in the win against the Cardinals.

“We’re excited about Effner both as a right tackle and a left guard. He was able to get some movement.”

- Already a starter on Penn State’s offensive line at right guard, Juice Scruggs pulled double-duty with the Nittany Lions even once the game was out of hand and the backups were called into action on Saturday. After spending all 54 plays in the win at Wisconsin at right guard, Scruggs repped out 65 times at the position Saturday before moving over for another 15 snaps at center.

Franklin explained the rationale behind the decision to get Scruggs some work at the position. “We wanted to get Juice Scruggs a series at center because the center is kind of the quarterback of the offensive line and if you haven’t had anybody that has snapped a ball in a game, that can be challenging. So that game experience was valuable,” Franklin said. “It is very different when you get in the game and you have to snap now full speed with the nose guard as a shade on you and he’s 330 pounds and there are 105,000 people in the stadium, it’s different.

“So (we were) making sure the guys have those experiences and we didn’t miss a beat with Juice in there. He did a tremendous job.”

One of the early storylines to emerge from Penn State’s first two games of the season has been that of the explosiveness of the Nittany Lion offense.

Or, as perceived by some, the Nittany Lions have had a lack of explosiveness.

Posting six explosive plays at Wisconsin, then following it with another 14 against Ball State, the Nittany Lions have both struck gold in the passing game at times while notably missing out on some other opportunities with the deep ball delivery of quarterback Sean Clifford.

However, Franklin maintained this week that the first two performances of the season have stood as indicators of what’s possible for the offense moving forward.

“I think we've shown flashes. I think we can be more consistent there. I think we can be more explosive,” Franklin said. “There are also some plays that we have missed, whether it's missed a read or overthrew a ball a little bit or maybe a different call. It's a combination of factors of execution. It's all of it.

“But I think for where we are in the season, if we just continue to get better and continue to take strides in really every area, running the ball, protection, explosive plays, I think we'll like where we are.”

Penn State enjoys a 10-3 advantage over its opponents in plays of 20-or-more yards.

One of the talking points this week is an acknowledgment of the recent history of the White Out game for Penn State football. All of which is to say, the Nittany Lions have most recently given the treatment to two specific guests in Michigan and Ohio State.

Rather, in 12 total White Outs, Penn State has played nonconference opponents just twice including Notre Dame in 2007 and Alabama in 2011.

So what will the impact be of the White Out on a completely unfamiliar foe?

Checking in with our colleague Christian Clemente from the Auburn Rivals site for our Behind Enemy Lines feature, his take was that the Tigers aren’t necessarily apprehensive about the White Out-specific portion of this weekend’s matchup.

“There’s a lot of talk about the White Out and they know it’ll be a tough atmosphere to play in, but I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of nerves about playing in Happy Valley,” Clemente wrote. “Auburn’s played at Alabama, at Georgia, at LSU, at Florida, and in other extremely tough road atmospheres before. They’re used to this.”

Franklin has a decidedly different hope for what Penn State hospitality might mean to the Tigers and their fans by the time the game ends, however.

“I would love to be able to send Auburn and their fans back to that region of the country and say, look, I know we love football down here, (but) what they do at Penn State is special and you need to go and see it.”

Without much elaboration from Franklin, and with Jake Pinegar apparently healthy based on his pregame warmups, the question of Penn State’s approach with Jordan Stout on field goals has been a question mark this season.

To date, the Nittany Lions’ senior do-it-all kicker currently handling punts, kickoffs, and all placekicking duties has hit on four of his six field goal attempts with a missed PAT at Wisconsin.

Asked about the performance of Penn State’s special teams on the whole this season, though, Franklin pushed back this week on the notion that Stout has been anything short of superb.

“I think on special teams we have been excellent,” Franklin said. “We need to be more consistent in our field goal, and I know that probably jumps out to everybody because it means points and we’ve missed some easy ones, especially in Week One.”

Stout, however, is currently second nationally in punting average at 53.1 yards per attempt, trailing only San Diego State’s Matt Araiza’s 55.2 yards per attempt. And, on kickoffs, Penn State’s opponents have yet to take any of 13 kickoff return attempts out of the end zone.

“Our kickoffs have been phenomenal. Our kickoff coverages have been phenomenal,” Franklin continued. “Without our punting in the first half of the Wisconsin game, I don’t know if we’re in the situation that we are to come out and play the second half we did and win the game. The field position was pretty much swung all day because of our punting. Our punt coverage has been pretty good as well. We had one penalty.

“We need to get the field goal cleaned up, but besides that, I think our special teams have been excellent. Coach Lorig is doing a phenomenal job.”

In the aftermath of Southern Cal’s decision to fire Clay Helton this week, the coaching carousel rumor mill that has seemingly been an annual occurrence for James Franklin kicked back into gear early this year.

Something of a non-story at this point considering how early in the year the news has been leveled, and Franklin’s virtual dismissal of the subject this week, noting that it was something that would be handled internally between current staff, players, and recruits, the question remains as to what the head coach’s future will be at Penn State.

Well, that would be the case if he didn’t so obviously believe wholeheartedly in the potential of the Penn State football program under his direction.

And no clearer example of that could be had than in his response to a question Thursday about what the White Out means to him personally.

Because it is most effective in total context, here is the full quote, lightly edited:

“It opens a glimpse I think to the United States what makes Penn State and what makes Happy Valley so special. Everybody that is a sports fan should come and experience the White Out,” Franklin said. “I do think the eyes of the world, the eyes of the country, especially people that love college football, they’re on us.

“So it’s just a tremendous opportunity for us to show not only what great football we play, but what this community is like, what this town is like, what this university is like, what the state of Pennsylvania is like so that the fans come and have a wonderful experience, they get treated in a first-class manner. I want the fans that come here to say that Penn State fans are the most respectful, nicest fans of anyplace I’ve been. I want our team to play as well.

“So to me, it’s an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to make a statement on a huge stage as a football program, but more importantly, it’s a glimpse into the soul of our university and how we operate and how we conduct ourselves.”

The soul of the university? Yeah, sorry rumor mill, but this is a guy who is deeply in love with the place and what it represents to him.

Growing and developing can be uncomfortable as something of a universal truth. That process, for something established and confident in itself, can be even more uncomfortable and challenging when certain levels of success have already been achieved.

James Franklin isn’t being coy about this. Rather, he’s practically shouting the message that matters from the rooftops.

And that is this:

He is pointing Penn State football in a direction he believes deeply will lead to sustained excellence at the highest levels of the game. To get there, though, he understands that it’s going to take a commitment beyond that presently given by the university and community of Penn State in the broadest sense possible.

Will Penn State follow his lead and Franklin?

It might not be comfortable or easy, but ultimately, I’m predicting yes.

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