Blue White Illustrated

he past ve seasons have been very frustrating for James Franklin and his Penn State football program. In 2016, '17 and '19, the Nittany Lions went into the latter stages of the season with a legitimate chance to win the Big Ten title and qualify for the College Football Playo-, and yet they weren't able to pull it o- in any of those years. The Lions came closest in 2016, post- ing a 10-2 regular-season record with a victory over Ohio State, then putting together a miraculous comeback win in the Big Ten Championship Game, beat- ing Wisconsin to insert themselves into the middle of the debate over the final spot in the CFP field. But the selection committee ranked Penn State fifth and sent it to the Rose Bowl to play South- ern Cal. The following year, Penn State had only itself to blame for missing out. The Nittany Lions went into their week- eight matchup at Ohio State with an un- beaten record and a No. 2 national ranking. They had a 15-point lead with only 11 minutes to play and held the football at the Buck- eyes' 42-yard line a5er recovering a fumble. It seemed they were on the verge of a rare vic- tory in Columbus, but they played their worst football of the season in the game's nal minutes and ended up losing, 39-38. In 2018, Penn State entered its game vs. the fourth-ranked Buckeyes sporting a 4-0 record, a top-10 ranking and an o-ense that was averaging 55.5 points per game. The Lions racked up 492 yards of total o-ense against Ohio State that night, with Trace McSorley accounting for 445 yards. But again, it wasn't enough. Over the nal nine minutes of the game, the visiting Buckeyes turned a 12-point decit into a 27-26 victory. Between 2016 and '18, Penn State should have won all three of its games vs. Ohio State, but instead it went 1-2. As disappointing as those results were, the Nittany Lions found themselves back in strong playo- contention again in 2019. They were fourth in the College Football Playo- rankings going into their game against Minnesota on Nov. 9, giv- ing them their best chance of qualifying for the playo- since 2016. A win over the Golden Gophers would have put them at 9-0, all but ensuring that they would be undefeated heading into a Nov. 23 show- down at Ohio State. And even if they lost PHIL'S CORNER Lions will need points to challenge Ohio State for East Division supremacy T SURE-HANDED Jahan Dotson came up big for the Lions last year, catching eight passes for 144 yards and three TDs vs. Ohio State. Photo by Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics

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