What if Iowa Hadn’t Happened? How Switching Bye Weeks Saved Penn State…Twice

Imagine if Penn State hadn’t played last Saturday in Iowa City.

Imagine if, instead, it had been a bye week for the Nittany Lions.

No Iowa. No 358 yards for Saquon, no comeback walk-off win, no big national TV ratings.

And, likely, no subsequent coast-to-coast media lovefest that has vaulted Barkley to No. 1 on all the Heisman Trophy leader boards.

No kidding.

On Dec. 9, if Barkley wins the Heisman, we’ll look at Penn State’s game in Kinnick Stadium last Saturday as the turning point. And if CJF takes PSU to the CFP, the win over the Hawkeyes may be a deciding factor.

And it almost didn’t happen.

Credit that it did, when it did, to head coach James Franklin, with a big assist to a savvy veteran Penn State athletics administrator. (More on that soon.)

THE ORIGINAL SCHEDULE

If Penn State had played the original Big Ten Conference slate of games scheduled for 2017 that it had been dealt four years ago, the Nittany Lions right now would 3-0 heading into Saturday’s game against Indiana in Beaver Stadium. They still would have a number of unanswered questions, after beating a trio of overmatched foes in Akron, Pitt and Georgia State by a combined 141 to 14.

And their game in Kinnick would have been on Oct. 14. That contest would have part of a 2017 five-game murderers’ row that featured Northwestern (away, Oct. 7), Iowa (away, Oct. 14), Michigan (home, Oct. 21), Ohio State (away, Oct. 28) and Michigan State (away, Nov. 4).

Talk about tough. Four away games in five weeks, against just about the best that the Big Ten has to offer, sans Wisconsin. (And you don’t think the home office in Chicago has it in for Penn State?)

It almost happened.

When the Big Ten released its 2016 and 2017 schedules back on July 11, 2013, the Nittany Lions were slated to take last week off after beating Georgia State two weeks ago. (As if they needed it.) Need proof? Read the original release here.

The press release trumpeted the first nine-game conference football schedules in Big Ten history. For Penn State, those two schedules in their original iterations also created two very challenging scenarios, both in 2016 and 2017.

RESHUFFLING THE CARDS

As it stands now, after Indiana on Saturday, Penn State travels to Northwestern next Saturday and then has Oct. 14 off — a bye week. It’s a bye week that cuts the season neatly in half, and the way things are going, a 6-0 start for PSU is looking pretty good.

According to the ESPN “Matchup Predictor,” Penn State has a 90.3% chance of defeating the Hoosiers and an 81.4% chance of winning on the road against Northwestern next Saturday, despite an 11 a.m. kick and the fact that Ryan Field is like kryptonite to Franklin (who’s lost there with both Vanderbilt and Penn State).

That’s just 2017.

About 2016: Do you remember Penn State’s scoop-and-score 24-21 victory over Ohio State in Beaver Stadium on Oct. 22? Of course you do; that game-winning TD by Grant Haley off a Marcus Allen blocked field goal to a secure an upset of the No. 2 Buckeyes will forever be a part of Penn State lore.

What you may not remember is that Penn State had a much-needed bye week on Oct. 15, so they had 13 days to get rested and ready for the hated Buckeyes.

Originally, Penn State was supposed to play at Michigan on Oct. 15 in 2016. As it was, that game was moved to Sept. 24, and Penn State — decimated by injuries at linebacker — lost 49-10 to drop its record to 2-2. Perhaps if that game had been played on its original date, the Nittany Lions may have upset the Wolverines, having come off back-to-back wins against Minnesota and Maryland to have a 4-1 record entering the Big House. But probably not.

We’ll never know. Things happen for a reason, though, and a nine-game winning streak after the Michigan game in 2016 took Penn State from 2-2 to 11-2, with a Big Ten championship, and a trip to Pasadena.

Moving the bye weeks seems to have paid dividends. Twice.

AN OLD STORY WITH NEW MEANING

When I first realized the schedules were switched a few years ago, I mentioned it to Penn State senior associate athletic Rick Kaluza. As it turned out, it was Kaluza who, with Franklin, made the double move, very likely with the blessing and at the behest of Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour. I didn’t really think much about it until this past weekend.

Then Iowa happened.

Why it happened is that when Franklin took the job at Penn State in 2014, he took a look at the schedules for 2016 and 2017 and shook his head. The sanctions were bad enough. But fighting the schedule-makers, too? #lotsarivals

So, Kaluza — who was Penn State football’s senior administrator and chief schedule-maker/fixer at the time — was tasked with finding a solution, for the back-to-back Michigan-Ohio State games in 2016 and that five-game onerous stretch in 2017.

Here’s the thing: There was only one available solution for each year. 

On the original 2016 schedule, only one Big Ten team other than Penn State had a bye week on Sept. 24. And that was Michigan. Penn State and Michigan were slated to play on Oct. 15. So, if Franklin was going to avoid playing Harbaugh and Meyer on successive weekends, the Wolverines would have to agree to switch their bye week.

And they did.

On the original 2017 schedule, only one other Big Ten team other than Penn State had a bye week on Sept. 23. And that was Iowa. Penn State and Iowa were slated to play on Oct. 14. So, if Franklin was going to avoid four Big Ten away games in five weeks (sandwiched in with a game against Michigan in Beaver Stadium), Iowa would have to agree to switch their bye week.

And they did.

CUE THE MUSIC

Here’s the value-added about that Iowa switch, which we’ll realize soon enough:

Just like Kaluza finagled a bye week for Penn State before the Buckeyes’ game last year, the Nittany Lions now have a bye week before hosting Michigan on Oct. 21 in Beaver Stadium this year.

Franklin The Crafty CEO’s great idea. Kaluza The Scheduling Savant’s dirty work.

What a lollapalooza for PSU. Times two.