nity;
it feels like a stolen opportunity.
According
to Nielsen, 4.67 million peo-
ple
watched the game, which means
that 4,669,999 TV viewers were aware
that the Buckeyes hadn't, in fact, inter-
cepted a first-quarter Christian Hack-
enberg pass. How would the 2014 col-
lege football season have played out if
the replay official had gotten this
seemingly obvious call right? Or if
someone – anyone – had noticed that
the play clock had expired on Ohio
State's 49-yard second-quarter field
goal? Would the Nittany Lions have
been able to pull off a season-making
victory? Would the Buckeyes be cele-
brating a national championship today?
Alas, we'll never know.
TAKEAWAY Penn State is on an up-
ward trajectory, but so are its rivals. How
many programs could lose their top two
quarterbacks to season-ending injuries
and still win a national championship?
How many have enough appeal (and
money) to lure a highly successful NFL
coach back to college ball? Only two
come readily to mind, and Penn State
must compete annually against both of
them. Now that Michigan is starting to
get its mojo back, the Big Ten's East Di-
vision is shaping up to be one of the
toughest in all of college football. That
leaves James Franklin and his assistants
with a simple challenge: ride the wave or
be swept away by it.
TIM OWEN
ASSISTANT EDITOR
HIGHLIGHT With Penn
State trailing Ohio State 17-
0 to begin the second half,
Anthony Zettel dropped back into cov-
erage, plucked a J.T. Barrett pass out of
thin air and raced down the left sideline
more than 40 yards for his first-ever
pick-six. It was a momentum-swaying
play that sparked a 17-point rally
against the eventual national champs.
In addition, it further illustrated
Zettel's penchant for making big plays
in big games, namely interceptions.
He's now tallied four in his career, and
they've
all come against Big Ten East
rivals Ohio State, Michigan and Michi-
gan State. Not bad for a defensive tack-
le.
LOWLIGHT The lowest low of the sea-
son wasn't one specien-
sive line, that is a common denominator
here.
TAKEAWAY There are plenty of rea-
sons for optimism. Hackenberg saved
his best performance for last, and that
could serve as a springboard into next
season. Also, his group of young yet tal-
ented receivers will be a year older and
more experienced. And, hey, Bob Shoop
is coming back. Sure, he's losing some
of his top defensive playmakers. Mike
Hull, C.J. Olaniyan, Deion Barnes and
Adrian Amos, to name some. But there's
a reason Shoop is referred to as the mad
scientist. With an abundance of young
talent stockpiled in the secondary,
there's no telling what he can formulate.
But there's also plenty of reason for
concern as the 2015 season approaches.
There certainly is no replacing a leader
like Hull. And as for that struggling of-
fensive line? While it should be a deeper
unit, it loses its two most experienced
starters in Miles Die>enbach and Dono-
van Smith. It's not as if the conference
is getting any easier, either. The Buck-
eyes are showing no signs of slowing
down, while Michigan State is en-
trenching itself as one of the better
teams in the nation, too. Oh, and Michi-
gan hired a guy named Jim Harbaugh.
Word is that he's pretty good at coach-
ing football.
RYAN SNYDER
RECRUITING REPORTER
HIGHLIGHT It would be
easy to point to the drama in
both Dublin and Yankee
Stadium, so I'm going to go with the
game against Ohio State. Yes, Penn State
lost on the hit a grand slam
that night. As many fans will remember,
the Nittany Lions were double-digit un-
derdogs heading into the game, yet they
took the Buckeyes to the wire, despite
two horrible decisions by the referees.
Because it was such a close game, Beaver
Stadium was rocking for 60 minutes,
and the scene made an impression that
other schools will have trouble duplicat-
ing when they play host to the Class of
2016 prospects who were on hand that
night. In the four years that I've been
covering Penn State recruiting, I cannot
remember a game that le? such a posi-
tive impression on 100-plus recruits.
LOWLIGHT Losing to Maryland at
home was tough, but the loss at Illinois
was, without a doubt, the lowest point
in Penn State's season. Following close
victories against Indiana and Temple, it
looked as if the Lions were going to have
some real momentum heading into their
game against the Spartans. Instead, they
laid a massive egg against a coach who is
truly disliked by Nittany Lion fans.
TAKEAWAY Finishing above .500 was a
positive step for James Franklin and the
sta>. We know that recruiting is their
strength, so keep
the momentum going on the recruiting
trail. Any reasonable fan knows that it's
going to take another year or two before
we can really judge this sta>'s potential on
game day, so all that really matters right
now is that they keep the momentum go-
ing on the recruiting trail. Once they get
their prospects on campus and are work-
ing with guys who were recruited speci<-
cally for their o>ensive and defensive
schemes, then we can judge this sta>
from an X's and O's standpoint.
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