During its bye week, No. 8 Penn State is working to fix two facets: Tackling and technology

The answer was simple for Penn State coach James Franklin.

When he was asked earlier this week what caused the drop-off in defensive production from the No. 8 Nittany Lions’ Week 1 rout of West Virginia to a Week 2 close call against Bowling Green, he answered: “tackling.”

Franklin was talking about the number of yards Bowling Green amassed (375), highlighted by 121 yards on the ground, with an average of 5.7 yards per carry.

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“After tackling really well in Week 1, I didn’t think we tackled as well in Week 2,” Franklin said. “I think that was pretty obvious, and then on top of that, we just made some mistakes, made some things more difficult than they needed to be, especially early in the game. If you look at our first-half statistics compared to our second-half statistics, it isn’t even close. But I think the biggest thing that really came down to was tackling.”

Franklin admitted that injuries to a few players did make the defense less potent. However, he did not necessarily blame the personnel but instead said the Nittany Lions need to become more innovative with the technology at their disposal.

“There [are] some things that we’ve had to clean up, you know, with the technology about what is best for Penn State and using the technology on the defensive side of the ball and at home,” Franklin said, referring to the use of in-helmet headsets to communicate with team captains. “Whether we’re using the mic system and some of the things that you’ve got to work through by doing that, especially at home with the noise, I think that factored in [as well].”

Franklin said it played a role multiple times against Bowling Green when the defense and special teams found utilizing the technology difficult.

“The bye came at a really good time to spend some time working through [getting] some of these things cleaned up,” he said. “The only other thing is, you know, the [lack of] sacks — we’ve been more disruptive in the past.”

Franklin named redshirt freshman Andrew Rappleyea one of the players to watch going into the season. After Rappleyea played against West Virginia, Franklin had nothing but good things to say about the tight end’s performance.

But Rappleyea missed the Bowling Green game, and Franklin confirmed Tuesday that he had a “long-term,” unspecified injury. Rappleyea was seen on crutches at Saturday’s game. He appeared in three games last season.

The native of Millbrook, N.Y., arrived at Penn State with high hopes as a four-star prospect in 247 Sports’ composite rankings.

Before his injury, he was No. 2 on the depth chart behind Tyler Warren. Now, it will be up to freshman Luke Reynolds to step up along with Joey Schlaffer and Khalil Dinkins.

Next up for Penn State is the final nonconference game against Kent State on Sept. 21 (3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network). Kent State (0-2), has a tough matchup this Saturday against No. 7 Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. Penn State will open Big Ten play at home against Illinois on Sept. 28 at a time to be determined.