Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1531683
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 5 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M was to get right back to work after arriv- ing in State College. "We need to take a hard look in our mirror," the redshirt junior linebacker said. "It'll tell us what we need to im- prove, what we need to do better. We'll go from there." On the administrative and personnel level, the Nittany Lions have plenty to do before winter workouts resume in Febru- ary. The base of this team was still un- settled following the Orange Bowl, even if it was painfully obvious that Allar will need more refinement at the college level before moving on. Carter is off to the NFL; that was a foregone conclusion. The Lions got some good news when defensive tackle Zane Durant announced Jan. 11 that he was coming back after earning honorable mention All-Big Ten honors as a junior. Still, there's no finality to some of those choices until those guys are back at Lasch getting ready for spring ball. Penn State has a problem on the out- side, and it needs to be fixed. Franklin conceded after the Orange Bowl that the lack of completions to wide receivers was "one of the storylines [of the game], there's no doubt about it." Are the team's two senior portal sign- ees — Kyron Hudson from USC and Devonte Ross from Troy — enough to flip that room in 2025? It's too early to tell, but history suggests it won't be suffi- cient. The silver lining after the Orange Bowl is that PSU can now scream from the rooftops that it has an issue that needs a resolution, and internal backlash does not matter. TCU played in the national title game two years ago and went 5-7 the following fall. Washington did the same this past season, going 6-7 just a year after playing for the championship, albeit with a new roster, new coaching staff and new con- ference affiliation. Even Michigan, which won the 2023 CFP crown, slipped to 8-5 this past fall. Penn State is well-aware that you can tumble down the mountain even if you're not at the top. PSU has the program infrastructure in place to avoid that kind of letdown, but it's far from a sure thing. Changes are al- ways possible when these crossroads are approached. The loss to Notre Dame is going to hurt for a while, and that's at every level. Ad- ministrators, coaches, players, athletic trainers, fans … you name it. It's Frank- lin's responsibility to right the ship. While that might sound absurd after a season in which Penn State was one of the last four teams in contention for a national title, that's the game these days. It was a fantastic run, but in 2024, you're only as good as your last game. The opportunity was here, and Penn State missed it. ■ Orange Bowl Grades Offense: C- Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen nearly did enough by themselves to will Penn State to victory. They combined for 166 rushing yards on 29 carries, and Single- ton scored 3 touchdowns. However, the two junior running backs and senior tight end Tyler Warren, who had 6 catches for 75 yards and 2 carries for 21 yards, were the only reliable playmakers in coordinator Andy Kotelnicki's attack. Junior quarterback Drew Allar played ar- guably his worst game as the Nittany Lions' starter, completing only 12 of 23 passes (52 percent) for 135 yards. He threw an inter- ception that set up Notre Dame's winning field goal in the final seconds, and he could have had two other picks had they not been negated by defensive penalties. No Nittany Lion receiver registered a catch, an all too fitting end for a position group that was questioned throughout the season. Defense: B+ Penn State did ultimately surrender 383 yards, but it would be unfair to pin this loss on coordinator Tom Allen's defense. The Lions totaled 5 sacks and 8 tackles for loss and came up with 2 interceptions that yielded 10 points. Third down was an issue, with Notre Dame converting 11 of 17 at- tempts, but a Fighting Irish rushing offense that came into the day averaging 6.1 yards per carry and 217.5 per game was held to 2.8 and 116, respectively. Notre Dame did have some success through the air, throwing for 267 yards, but from our point of view, Penn State's defense did enough to win this game. Special Teams: B Penn State had no positive game-changing plays in the return game, but that was par for the course. It did have a couple of nega- tive plays in the punt-return game, with sophomore Zion Tracy making some un- fortunate decisions, chief among them fair catching a punt at his own 2-yard line. Redshirt freshman kicker Ryan Barker made his lone field goal attempt, a 20-yarder, and hit all of his extra points. — Greg Pickel Coziah Izzard and his fellow Penn State defenders totaled 8 tackles for loss and 5 sacks against Notre Dame. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS