Penn State Hosts Mass For Homecoming Game This Saturday

Penn State hosts an exciting opponent for Homecoming on Saturday when Massachusetts visits Beaver Stadium. The Lions will wear their "Generations of Greatness" uniforms for the game, their latest non-conference meeting since 2014.

Penn State meets UMass for the second time in program history. The first matchup came in 2014, a 48-7 Penn State win. The Nittany Lions tallied 464 total yards, including 228 on the ground. Penn State had five rushing touchdowns, including two each by Bill Belton and Zach Zwinak. Penn State held UMass to three rushing yards while collecting ten tackles for loss and three sacks.

The Nittany Lions are set to host their 103rd homecoming game. Penn State holds a 73-24-5 record in front of the alum crowd, including wins in 14 of the last 17 games. PSU earned a 45-17 win over Minnesota in last year's homecoming contest.

Franklin and UMass head coach Don Brown meet Saturday for the first time as head coaches, the next layer to their long history together. Penn State fans will remember Brown as the Michigan defensive coordinator who tormented Penn State in 2016 (49-10) and 2018 (42-7). Franklin also haunted Brown, winning their three other matchups by scoring a combined 97 points.

But Franklin and Brown also worked together, serving on Maryland's staff in 2009-10 as offensive and defensive coordinators. Even then. Brown exhausted Franklin with his "unorthodox" defensive system. Franklin said those sessions informed how he structured practices as a head coach. Brown's defense was challenging to practice against, Franklin said because Brown didn't run a base defense. That made installing offenses difficult, as Franklin likes more structure.

"It's like, on this day you're going to get this from the offense and on this day you're going to get this from the defense," Franklin said, "and that was always a challenge with Don, because Don — that is his base. It's like, okay, we're trying to run it against a base defense. Well, he doesn't really have a traditional base."

However, Brown is known for being a strong teacher who articulates his system well and gets buy-in from players. As a result, as usual, Franklin expects some "challenging" defensive looks from Brown. Franklin anticipates his defense getting a workout from a Massachusetts offense that averages nearly 400 yards per game.

"These guys have got our attention and, specifically on the offensive side of the ball, we think [they] are doing a great job," Franklin said.