Long season ahead of us: Everything Penn State football said after loss to Ohio State

Penn State football is looking to regroup after suffering a 20-13 defeat to Ohio State inside Beaver Stadium Saturday. While recognizing that the path to the College Football Playoff is still wide open to them, the Nittany Lions spent the moments immediately following the loss processing that the evasive program-defining win they have sought for so long had eluded them for yet another year.

“There’s nobody that’s looking in the mirror harder than I am,” James Franklin said in his postgame press conference. “I will say this, and I’ve said it before, 99% of the programs across college football would die to do what we’ve been able to do in our time here.

“But I also understand when you’re in a place like Penn State, there’s really, really high expectations. When you’re in a place like Ohio State, there’s really, really high expectations. I get it. So we’ve looked at all these things really hard. We’ll continue to look at these things really hard.”

You can watch James Franklin’s entire press conference and all of Saturday’s postgame content on the Basic Blues Nation YouTube Channel.

Penn State offense looking for answers after stalling against Buckeyes

Penn State football came into the week as statistically one of the most explosive offenses in the country. But the Nittany Lions had nowhere to run and nowhere to throw against a stout Ohio State defense.

The Nittany Lions finished the day with 270 yards – 150 passing and 120 rushing. More of the issue was what happened, or what didn’t happen, when the offense got into the red zone. Penn State scored just six points – two field goals – on offense, including two goal-line turnovers.

“I mean, it was basically just a pass. We wanted to get it to Ty Warren – the safety or nickel did a good job of playing over the top and driving it,” Drew Allar said of the Nittany Lions’ final failed fourth down attempt at the goal line. “It would have been a bang, bang play short of the goal line or incomplete. Then I was looking to Dink [Khalil Dinkins]. We just didn’t connect on it.”

“I’d probably have to look at it more, but you know, it gets tight on the goal line, obviously,” Tyler Warren said of the three run plays preceding the fourth down incompletion at the goal line. “And sometimes one yard is all you really need on those plays, but sometimes, you know, we need a little bit more. But I have to look at it.”

“We’re always right there,” Sal Wormley said of playing against the Buckeyes. “I mean, it’s the only game we lost. This game, wasn’t a blowout, shout out, you know. The offense has just got to come together, put something up. I mean, defense made a lot of plays for us to keep us in the game, keep it close. Offense just got to figure it out.

“Everybody’s upset, but the vets told us in the group [that] we got to stick together, flush it, because we have a long season ahead of us,” Nicholas Singleton said.

Defensive execution burns Lions at critical moments

It was the defense that sparked Penn State football to start the game. Sophomore cornerback Zion Tracy jumped a Will Howard pass on the Buckeyes’ first offensive possession and took it back 31 yards to give the Nittany Lions a 10-0 lead five minutes into the game.

© Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

But from there, the Penn State defense gave up 17 unanswered points and was outscored 20-3 the rest of the game. Notably, after the Nittany Lions turned it over on fourth down on the one-yard line with 5:13 to play, the defense could not give its offense one more shot at the end zone. The Buckeyes burned the remainder of the clock and iced the game.

“It’s not the first time we’ve been down in a big game and come back and win,” Dom DeLuca said of Ohio State’s 17-point scoring streak. “But just coming out the second half ready to go. If you get punched in the mouth, you get punched in the mouth. You get back up and no pointing fingers; just all on you and you got to execute at a high level.”

“It was our time to make a stop, make a play,” Kobe King said of the moments before the final series. “The ball was on the one-yard line, so we kind of feel good in that situation all the time just when we’ve been on the one-yard line – what call we’re going to get, stop them from pushing the ball forward.

“Guys were emphasizing making a play, stepping up. Most of the leaders on the defense were doing the same thing. That’s what I was doing, just emphasizing making the play, we need a big play to be made, and that was it.”

“I don’t necessarily think they [some fans] do understand how small the margin of error is if you want to win a game like this,” Dvon J-Thomas said when asked about misconceptions that exist about defending the run in late-game situations. “They watch all these big games and they expect teams to just come in and make big plays and the big plays are the ones that make the game.

“But no, it’s the little plays. It’s the little flags. It’s the little calls. It’s maybe you’re just outside of your gap, and you don’t press just hard enough [and] that gives him a seam to run up the middle. And that’s just the margin of error that I’m talking about. It’s not always the big plays that’s going to be the difference in the games.”

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