With fans having bold predictions about the Penn State football team this season, it helped that the program started the schedule with a dominating 46-11 victory over Nevada. Still, there was an issue with Penn State football's beatdown as the team was missing key pass rusher Zuriah Fisher.
Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin would speak Monday to the media and said that while he was “hopeful” to have Fisher for the contest against Nevada, the staff decided to hold him as he had not “practiced enough.” However, Franklin would say that Fisher is “close” to returning, which will no doubt be “significant” for the team, according to On3 Sports.
“We were hopeful to have Zuriah,” Franklin said. “I will say this: We got to the game, and Zuriah was excited and wanted to play. We kind of held him, just because at that point, he hadn’t practiced enough and didn’t think that was the right thing to do for him or us. But my point is that I think that explains how close he is, right? He’s close to being back, and that’ll be significant getting him back.”
Fisher had been out all of last season, and while he was back in the spring, he would miss part of the program, which led to Franklin not being comfortable yet to play the senior. In his last playing time for the team, which was in the 2023 season, Fisher recorded 3.5 sacks to go along with 11 total tackles.
Penn State football's James Franklin on win over Nevada
As the Penn State football team has heightened expectations this season, especially as they are ranked No. 2 in the country, the opening win over Nevada is a good step in the right direction. With other teams getting upset in Week 1, like Alabama, Notre Dame, and Texas, the Nittany Lions stood tall amongst the rest.
The team had no problem with Nevada last Saturday, with Franklin still saying that there were “things to get cleaned up.”
“With everything that’s going on with the stadium, the atmosphere and fans were great. Beautiful day,” Franklin said after the win, via On3 Sports. “Overall, pleased. Came out and played how they were supposed to. Have a ton of things to get cleaned up. The reps they got late in the game for twos and threes will be really valuable.”
“Overall, played how they were supposed to,” Franklin continued. “Have to finish some drives on offense and not finish with field goals. But the field goal work was good, too. Won the takeaway battle and scored 16 points off them. Not as explosive as he’d like to be today. He’s a smart coach. On offense, they shortened the game. On defense, played bend but don’t break. Still need to be more explosive.”
At any rate, the Nittany Lions look to make it two straight wins to start the young season as the Penn State football team takes on the Florida International University Panthers on Saturday.
