Connor Crawford, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, clc6080@psu.edu
Penn State football had a Big Ten matchup that had very big playoff implications when the Nittany Lions hosted Ohio State on Saturday, September 29. Penn State had the lead for a majority of the game, until a very ugly ending. The game ended sending every Penn State fan away sad and unhappy with the play call.
Penn State surrendered a late lead and had to succeed in a game winning final drive. It was a sad ending as head coach James Franklin tried to catch Ohio State off guard by running the ball on a crucial fourth and five.
It started out as a very hyped-up day in college football for the battle between Ohio State and Penn State. Many sports writers predicted this game to be the game of the year in college football. Fans were out early in Happy Valley—some as early as six in the morning, because ESPN’s College Gameday was broadcasting from the HUB lawn. Fans were out with their signs and game day helmets on. Happy Valley was as electric as it could be all day. Penn State made this game a white out game and, if you follow Penn State football you know, that it means it’s an extremely big game. The white out game is when every fan wears white; it is a well-known tradition in college football.
Fans were excited and ready. I talked to a senior student Alex Masino who attends Penn State University Park campus and he told me, “This was the most excitement and energy that I have seen and felt on this campus since I got here.” I also talked to a Penn State alumni member, Freddie Titmen, about what he thought of the energy around the campus. He said, “It has been a while since I’ve attended the school, but I’ll tell you, this this is most important game for Penn State in the last 13 years at least.” The whole campus was charged with energy all weekend.
The game started off great. Penn State jumped to a 13-7 lead before the half. They then lost the lead in the third quarter as the offense sputtered and couldn’t get anything going to start the half. The fourth quarter of the game was down to the wire—especially the last minutes of the game. Penn State seemed to turn their offense back on and ended up regaining the lead. But in the game’s final four minutes, Ohio State again took the lead. The pressure was on. Trace McSorley and the offense had three minutes to go down field and either kick a field goal for the win or score a touchdown. Trace McSorley, arguably, was playing the best game of his career so in
the fourth quarter the game plan was to keep the ball in his hands at all cost. Penn State traveled down field until they hit a roadblock and had a fourth and five. On fourth and five James Franklin decided to change to a halfback draw. It was unsuccessful and cost Penn State the game.
The biggest talk around Penn State campus is why James Franklin decided to run. I asked my friend Derek Strain, “I have no clue on why that was the play call, Trace has been playing the best game of his career and you decide to run; I just don’t get it.” The play call on that final play was something that disappointed a lot of fans. Franklin did take the blame, “We obviously did not make the right play call.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6zBzZSitDc
Playoffs might not happen this year after that loss to rival Ohio State but fans are still optimistic about the season and the future of the program. I asked another alumni member, Chris Duke, after the game what he thinks about the rest of the season and how close we are to the playoffs. He said, “We have a close shot this year but it’s not likely after this loss, but I do believe this team will be in the playoffs in the next three years.”
The season is not over for Penn State football; they still have six games left on the year and still have a shot at making playoffs. They will just have to win the rest of their games and hope for a couple of things to go their way to reach playoffs. The program is moving in the right direction as they have been nationally ranked for the past three years.