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Hope for Penn State against Ohio State turned into the same old story for James Franklin

3 November 2024Last Update :
Hope for Penn State against Ohio State turned into the same old story for James Franklin

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The walk through the Beaver Stadium tunnel couldn’t have ended soon enough for James Franklin.

Penn State’s head coach, with family on both sides, was greeted by a chorus of boos and chants of “Fi-re Frank-lin!” after the No. 3 Nittany Lions’ 20-13 loss to No. 4 Ohio State.

A record-setting Beaver Stadium crowd of 111,030, many of whom sat through hours of traffic jams, had believed Saturday could be different. This was supposed to be a coronation for an undefeated Penn State football team that was at the center of the college football world on Saturday morning, with both ESPN’s “College GameDay” and Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” in town. This was Penn State’s close-up, a potential coming-out party for a team ready to make a statement that it was a national championship contender.

Franklin’s team had the home crowd roaring as it jumped ahead to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. Suddenly, a scary thing spread throughout Beaver Stadium. It’s the kind of emotion that hasn’t been felt too often when the Buckeyes come to town: There was hope. There was cautious optimism from a Penn State fan base that’s endured almost a decade of defeats at the hands of Ohio State. They clung to the idea that this might finally be different.

With quarterback Drew Allar, defensive end Abdul Carter, running back Nicholas Singleton and other key players in their third year, this roster was geared up to get over the hump against an Ohio State program it hasn’t beaten since 2016’s memorable upset. Allar, hurt last week at Wisconsin, ditched his knee brace in the second half and looked like a quarterback back to full health. Carter ripped off the edge to demonize Ohio State’s ailing offensive line and piled up two sacks. NFL scouts peered on from the press box as Carter cemented himself as one of the most dominant players on the field.

Penn State even scored with a pick six from sophomore cornerback Zion Tracy, who raised his right index finger in the air as he crossed the goal line in the first quarter. And a Will Howard touchdown was wiped off the board in the first half after Zakee Wheatley wisely punched the ball and Howard fumbled it through the end zone for a touchback.

This was Penn State’s best chance. There was a path to a win against a top-five opponent, something Penn State has done only once since 2000. But by late afternoon, that optimism was washed away and replaced by anger.

Another year, another Penn State loss to Ohio State. That’s eight losses in a row in a series in which Franklin is now 1-10.

The boos in the Beaver Stadium tunnel grew louder as Franklin pivoted left and headed into the locker room. Recruits walked past, some with a look of disbelief. Former Nittany Lions safety Marcus Allen, who memorably blocked the field goal on the winning touchdown in 2016, looked on too. Sure, there’s still a path to a Playoff spot and even hosting a first-round game in the new 12-team format, but after how the offense played Saturday, should there be much belief that Penn State can go on a serious run if it does make the bracket?

“There’s nobody that’s looking in the mirror harder than I am,” Franklin said. “I will say this and I’ve said it before, 99 percent of programs across college football would die to do what we’ve been able to do in our time here. … I totally get it. We’ve looked at all these things really hard and we’ll continue to look at all of these things really hard.”

Once again, a Nittany Lions offense that was supposed to have made a leap forward ended up stumbling, with zero points to show for two trips inside the Ohio State 5-yard line. An offense that entered Saturday ranked seventh in yards per play under new coordinator Andy Kotelnicki generated just six points, three of which came on the opening drive.

Yes, Penn State’s defense generated more points than the offense. Yes, Penn State even had three cracks to score from the Ohio State 3-yard line and one from the 1 in the fourth quarter and failed to score with the game on the line.

“We gave the ball to the running back three times, threw the ball on the last one,” Franklin said. “Yeah, should we have probably given the ball to Tyler Warren after the plays he made? Yeah, I get the question. I get it.”

This was as damning of an offensive performance as Penn State has ever put together against Ohio State under Franklin. For just the second time in Kotelnicki’s career as a play caller, his offense failed to score a touchdown. The previous time? In 2021 when his Kansas offense was kept out of the end zone by Oklahoma State. Jim Knowles was the defensive coordinator both times.

The Nittany Lions finished with 270 yards of total offense and were 3-of-11 on third downs (after going 1-of-15 against Ohio State last year).

“I’m just upset,” Singleton said. “If we end up scoring, we’ll be somewhere different, winning. At the end of the day, we just gotta execute. Gotta finish.”

The fact that Warren didn’t get a touch on the first three plays around the goal line late in the fourth quarter — after Warren’s 33-yard run put Penn State in position to tie the game — was perplexing. The do-it-all tight end who regularly takes snaps out of the wildcat ended up being Penn State’s leading rusher, with three carries for 47 yards. Warren not getting the ball there is on par with Trace McSorley handing off on the infamous fourth-and-5 debacle in 2018 against Ohio State that still scars Penn State fans.

“It’s heartbreaking,” guard Sal Wormley said of the final sequence for the offense. “We’re right there. We’re always right there. This game wasn’t a blowout, wasn’t a shutout. The offense just has to come together and put something up. … Offense, we just gotta figure it out.”

Warren was the primary target on Allar’s fourth-down pass, but when Ohio State blanketed him, Allar opted for tight end Khalil Dinkins in the middle of the end zone. His pass fell incomplete.

Penn State’s need for a No. 1 wide receiver, something that’s negatively impacted this team for the past two seasons, showed up in a big way again. Singleton’s six receptions for 54 yards were a team-high, and Warren had four catches. The only wide receivers to catch a pass were Ohio State transfer Julian Fleming (one for 4 yards) and Harrison Wallace III (two for 45 yards). Wallace was also the intended target on Penn State’s last play of the first half when Allar was intercepted in the tightest of windows in the end zone by Davison Igbinosun.

Rather than having something to show for first-and-goal at the Ohio State 3, Penn State left empty-handed, just like it would do later in the fourth quarter too.

“I was thinking 1-on-1 opportunity to (Wallace),” Allar said. “I gotta give him a better shot of coming down with that play and those are plays that he’s going to make nine out of 10 times. I just gotta do a better job of giving him a better opportunity.”

For as disjointed a showing as this was for the offense against an elite Ohio State defense, the Penn State defense also couldn’t swing the game late after the Buckeyes’ goal-line stand. With 5:13 left and Ohio State backed up to the 1, the defense could’ve cracked the game open with a safety in front of a roaring crowd. It could’ve gotten a stop to get off the field and give Allar and the offense a chance to try to drive and tie the game.

Instead, it was another letdown from Penn State in a key moment. Ohio State salted away the final 5:13 of the game with 10 consecutive runs and one kneel down. It plowed past Penn State on the field and in the Big Ten standings, now owning a head-to-head tiebreaker, and it will surely be ranked higher when the first College Football Playoff rankings are released on Tuesday.

“They had a championship drive there at the end,” Franklin said. “We did not play well in an obvious running situation.”

Another year, more of the same.

(Photo of Kaytron Allen: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)

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