The familiar opposition allows the Lions to focus more on themselves rather than on the other teams. And after last weekend, Penn State coach Randy Jepson became even more concerned with his own team's play.
"We talked about quality and what we look for this time of the year," Jepson said. "Remind them to take advantage of the opportunities."
According to Jepson, the Lions just have to take matters into their own hands and not worry about how the other teams perform.
"Even with the top teams we face. You can't do anything anyway," Jepson said. "It's execution and looking forward to bounce back.
After the disappointing performance on Sunday, Jepson wants the athletes to begin to treat the practices more like actual meets. But the short practice time this week has made the preparations a little more difficult than usual.
According to Jepson, NCAA rules dictate that a team cannot practice too many consecutive days without a break. And since the Lions will compete in this week's meet just five days after the last contest, the the number of practices Jepson can hold are limited.
"There's not enough time to settle in. And you have to have a day off -- can't work out so many days before," Jepson said. "But you got to look past these things."
So while the schedule doesn't set up nicely at least in this aspect, the meet itself should be a refreshing change.
Instead of having the meet on one night, the West Point Open transpires over two straight nights. The team competition is on Friday, and the individual competition is on Saturday. That creates an interesting situation for the team.
The setup not only allows time to rest, but is helps the individual team members perform at the top of their game and compete more loosely.
"It's great to have rest time in between," Penn State freshman Nick Virbitsky said. "The team aspect is good pressure, but competing individually is also fun."
But as the level of competition rises each week, the Lions will need to show more consistency through all the events -- especially in the ones the team struggles in, like the high bar.
"We haven't been very strong," Jepson said. "We can't have breaks. We are not as strong in that and the landings on the floor exercises."
