‘Refining the Process’: How Andrew Rappleyea and Penn State Refocused Over the Bye Week

For a team enduring a physically taxing college football season, the bye week can serve either as an opportunity for rest and recovery or as a test of patience. For a Penn State squad riding a four-game losing streak, it was a mix of both. Sitting back and watching others take the field was challenging for tight end Andrew Rappleyea, who was forced to stew with the team’s shortcomings for an extended period. “Having a bye week, nobody takes it as a bye week,” Rappleyea said on Wednesday. “You start preparing for the game. You got the week after, you come back as soon as you can. So obviously, it was nice having a little bit more time to prepare for this upcoming game.” That extra preparation time was packaged with a degree of frustration for Rappleyea, who’s still hungry for that elusive first Big Ten win of the season and was forced to wait for the next opportunity. “We had a really good week of practice, and I think a lot of us were upset we didn't have a game,” Rappleyea