Penn State players and coaches have been preparing for Saturday’s showdown by using silent counts in practice to combat Jordan-Hare Stadium’s crowd noise
Furthermore, the team turned up the heat to the max in its indoor practice facility with the doors locked to prepare for the hot and humid conditions expected in Auburn. The game-time temperature is projected to be 87 degrees.
Now, Penn State is going through another hurdle in preparing for Auburn. According to Audrey Snyder, who covers Penn State for the Athletic, Penn State is running into logistical issues in its travel to Auburn.
Snyder reported that the Montgomery Regional Airport is under construction, and one-third of the runway is closed as of now. That means Penn State wouldn’t be able to land from that airport Friday as originally planned.
Penn State’s assistant Athletic Director Kevin Threlkel and Auburn associate athletic director for operations, Jeremy Roberts, have been working together the past couple of days trying to come up with a solution.
One option is for Penn State to fly to Columbus, Georgia, and then have a police escort 90 miles to Montgomery, where its team hotel is located.
The second option is to possibly catch a flight to the Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery. Penn State will spend the next couple of days going through the semantics.
Penn State coach James Franklin spoke on this matter on Tuesday during his weekly press conference about flights and hotel bookings being a challenge at times, but his team is prepared to make the proper adjustments.
“Flights are challenging, Hotels are Challenging,” Frankin said. “There are things that we’re going to talk to them about (this week) just to be prepared for, but we got a plan for it. It is a little bit different than the way we normally prepare.”
Penn State’s coaching staff and the athletic department seem like they have a plan, and they are confident they have a viable alternative to get to Auburn.
Twitter: @bwalkerdadon
