UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - For the past 14 weeks - well, minus the off week - Penn State has perfected the art of moving on quickly from one game to the next

But since winning the Big Ten Conference championship Dec. 3, the No. 5-ranked Nittany Lions (11-2) have until 5 p.m. Jan. 2 for their final game of the season, a Rose Bowl matchup with No. 9 Southern California (9-3). Meaning for the past two weeks, all the Penn State players have really had to focus on, before practice started up again Friday, was final exams.That luxurious break after playing 13 games, though, didn't mean the players needed any extra time to build back to their peak performance level."I definitely think that we'll pick it right back up at practice," redshirt senior defensive end Evan Schwan said Friday. "We have meetings today, and I honestly can't wait to get back on the field. I haven't been able to hit anyone since that last game. So I can't wait for practice today."In addition to school, the reprieve also included some lifting and film watching. But being sloth-like in terms of resting and recuperating were still important goals."We get to go home and see our families and get a lot of time to watch film," sophomore cornerback John Reid said. "There's not that pounding on your body that you get during the regular season. Coaches try and pull that back a little bit so that you're not taking as many hits in practice, but a lot of it is necessary to prepare for a game. Now with finals week over, we have a lot more time to study our opponent as opposed to doing school work during the week, so that's a big deal for everyone."The break also has given coach James Franklin the chance to catch up on some housekeeping matters before the team heads to California Dec. 26.Franklin ran down the complete list of players who endured season-ending injuries this season as redshirt junior offensive lineman Brendan Mahon, senior tackle Paris Palmer, redshirt junior tackle Andrew Nelson, redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Chance Sorrell, redshirt freshman linebacker Jan Johnson, redshirt senior linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White, junior linebacker Jason Vranic, sophomore linebacker Jake Cooper, senior linebacker Von Walker, sophomore wide receiver Brandon Polk, and redshirt freshman tight end Nick Bowers."We don't talk about a lot of those things during the season … because I want people to have to prepare for the possibility of those guys coming back at some point not knowing when that's going to happen," Franklin said. "I hear a lot of other programs and a lot of other media people talk about injuries and things like that and what they had to overcome. We had a lot to overcome this year."Franklin also has had to deal with this near-offseason uncertainty surrounding which of his players might declare for the NFL draft and which of his assistant coaches might have other job offers.Wartman-White announced on Twitter Dec. 4 that he would not seek a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA and instead declare for the draft. Franklin declined to go into any more specifics about any of his players.Franklin said the team has a company that works with players year-round throughout their college career to discuss the draft process. And Franklin himself holds meetings with players and their parents to help them."I've done it for the six years that I've been a head coach, and it's been helpful, but it is a little bit of a distraction right now for the players, for the coaches, for everybody, trying to kind of manage all those things," Franklin said. "But it's an important decision. I'm a big believer, no different than any other decision you make in life, you want to have as much information as you possibly can to make an educated decision and then go from there."As for other schools showing interest in his coaching staff, most notably first-year offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, Franklin isn't concerned."I think that's a compliment," he said. "Whenever you have assistant coaches being approached and people trying to hire your staff, that means that you're doing something right, and they want to kind of get a piece of it. I think we've had three coaches approached, three separate coaches approached for multiple head coaching jobs. I'm hoping that we're going to be able to keep the staff together as long as we possibly can, but they're talented guys, and guys who are going to leave at some point for head coaching opportunities. We want that for them, but we want to try to keep the staff together as long as we possibly can."