Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1530530
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 5 31 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Nittany Lions put forth their most im- pressive performance of the season, total- ing 518 yards. It was the defense that found itself reeling for most of the night at Lucas Oil Stadium. Penn State went into the weekend having not allowed more than 30 points in a game all season. The Ducks accomplished that by halftime. Coordinator Tom Allen's crew was absolutely shredded by a brilliantly schemed Oregon offensive attack. The Ducks scored touchdowns on their first three drives — sustained sequences of 9, 10 and 7 plays that all started on their side of the field — and Penn State was staggered. Allar threw his first interception of the game in the second quarter, and Oregon got to 28 points with more than 10 min- utes left in the first half. Penn State man- aged to wedge a stop in there, but the game was quickly getting out of hand. That, of course, was the worst-case sce- nario for the Lions' playoff aspirations. To their credit, they bounced back. Resiliency hasn't been a huge issue with this team all season, but going down three scores to the No. 1 team in the country wasn't part of the game plan. Even so, PSU put together two really good touchdown drives late in the sec- ond quarter and was only down by seven at halftime. The Lions rallied again in the fourth quarter, chipping a 15-point deficit down to eight with just under four minutes to play. That's probably the biggest posi- tive that can be taken out of the game. Penn State hasn't always had the ability to strike back when in that situation, but against Oregon it scored those elusive points. Whatever the Lions' upcoming game against SMU brings, if they carry that ability into the College Football Playoff, that team we saw in Indy has a shot. Kotelnicki called his best game of the season, and the one that a lot of Penn State fans had been hoping to see for a few months now. Oregon has a good defense, and PSU gashed it. The offen- sive line had its best effort of the sea- son. That's a big credit to a group that we weren't sure would be able to hold up. The same can be said for junior running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, who looked like bona fide studs in combining for 229 of Penn State's 292 rushing yards. The loss was disappointing. No get- ting around it. But it's OK to be encour- aged coming out of this game. There are a handful of plays that determine the ultimate outcome of every game. Penn State's offense actually made some of them. With styles set to clash in the playoff, teams will be forced to adjust to oppo- nents, weather and other outside factors that make the first round of home games the coolest aspect of the new format. While defense will still be prevalent in winning a championship — and Al- len has a ton to clean up — it's going to be the offense that will win the day for the eventual champs. If Penn State can function the way it did in the Big Ten title game, all of a sudden the threat level that the Nittany Lions will bring with them in December is worth watching. ■ Big Ten Championship Game Grades OFFENSE B+ This is admittedly a tough unit to grade. On one hand, Drew Allar's 2 interceptions were killers. The first led to seven Oregon points and the second ended the game. The junior completed just 51 percent of his passes but did throw 3 touchdowns, including an incredible toss to Harrison Wallace III while under duress to pull the Lions back within eight. After weeks of stagnation, the ground game performed very well. Juniors Kay- tron Allen and Nicholas Singleton both topped 100 yards, and the latter scored a touchdown. The offensive line had its best game of the year against a stout Oregon pass rush, and senior tight end Tyler Warren was his usual productive self. The Lions were explosive, too, to- taling 341 yards on 16 chunk plays. All told, the offense did enough to win, but we can't look past the turn- overs in handing out this grade. DEFENSE D Coordinator Tom Allen's unit was stung throughout this game. It had no answer for the Dillon Gabriel- to-Tez Johnson connection for much of the contest. The former threw for 4 touchdowns, and the latter had 11 catches for 181 yards and a score. The Lions were better in the second half and even got a late stop to give the offense one final shot at tying it up. James Franklin wanted more holding calls, and he was probably right to think more flags should have been thrown, but the pass rush was not effective, and the secondary struggled. Oregon got big plays when needed, including a backbreaking third-and-9 pass followed by a fourth-and-2 conversion on what was ultimately its final scoring drive of the game. SPECIAL TEAMS C- Redshirt freshman kicker Ryan Barker was 1 for 2 on field goal tries, hitting from 33 yards and missing from 40. There weren't any other impact plays in the kicking game. Even if you think sophomore Zion Tracy didn't signal for a fair catch on a key fourth-quarter punt return that was brought back to the spot where he fielded the ball (we think he did), it was a mistake to even consider doing so, since there was ample room to run. — Greg Pickel Penn State junior Kaytron Allen led all rushers with 124 yards on 14 carries in the Big Ten title clash. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL