Despite turnovers in Big Ten title game, Penn State carries offensive momentum into CFP

By now, Penn State players and coaches long have digested last weekend’s Big Ten championship game loss to Oregon, with all eyes and attention on the College Football Playoff.

A new season awaits the No. 6 seed Nittany Lions, who host No. 11 SMU on Dec. 21 at Beaver Stadium.

From an offensive standpoint, coach James Franklin has reason to believe his team is in a good place.

“I think we’re getting better, but we’ll see,” he told reporters via Zoom. “It’s all going to be based off how we play against SMU. It’s what you do on a consistent basis.”

Granted, Franklin acknowledged two costly interceptions thrown by quarterback Drew Allar in the 45-37 loss.

Allar’s second and final pick came on a deep throw down the sideline with two minutes remaining in the game.

Leading up to that moment, the Nittany Lions were approaching midfield and looked to be in solid position for a shot at scoring a touchdown and an ensuing 2-point conversion try that could have tied the score.

Instead, the Ducks got the ball back, forced Franklin to use his two remaining timeouts and iced the game.

“Although we did some really good things on Saturday, we turned the ball over two times, and it’s hard to win when you lose the turnover ratio,” Franklin admitted.

Despite a frustrating result, Allar threw three touchdowns, even if his completion percentage (51.3% on 20-of-39 passing) was well south of his yearly figure (69.1%).

Furthermore, Penn State found itself in at least a two-score deficit in every quarter of the Big Ten championship.

Oregon led 14-3 late in the first quarter before taking a 28-10 lead in the second.

In the third quarter, the Ducks went up 38-24 and, with 7:28 remaining in the game, led by 15.

However, in each instance, Penn State’s offense responded to get within a touchdown.

The Nittany Lions had their two tailbacks, Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, to thank in particular.

The two juniors rushed for a combined 230 yards on 24 carries.

Nick Singleton is DANGEROUS#WeAre | #RatedProspect

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— The Draft Network (@TheDraftNetwork) December 8, 2024

Penn State’s 292 net rushing yards against the No. 1 Ducks were the most they’d racked up in more than two months and the second most on the year, surpassed only by the 309 yards gained against Kent State in Week 3.

“Obviously, when you’re able to put up the numbers that we were able to put up on Saturday, it allows you to be explosive, it allows you to stay on schedule, it allows your play-action pass game to really get going,” Franklin said.

“When Kaytron rushes for 124 yards and 8.9 yards per carry and Singleton, 105 yards and 10.5 yards per carry — Nick also with another 43 (receiving) yards on top of that — obviously, that’s the ideal situation.”

SMU brings the nation’s 28th overall defense (326.1 yards per game) into Happy Valley. Against the run, the Mustangs have been stout, giving up just 93.4 yards per game, good for fourth best nationally.

“That was a real positive, and it’s something we’d like to sustain for the rest of the season,” Franklin said. “That’s going to be important, but it’s a challenge because everybody goes in with the mindset of defense of you’re going to try to make people one-dimensional and stop the run.”

Against arguably its toughest opponent of the year, Penn State’s offense, despite two turnovers, nearly did enough against Oregon to propel the team to a league title and a first-round bye in the CFP.

Whether that constitutes his team peaking offensively, Franklin is withholding judgment. How Allar and Co. perform in the CFP will help determine his answer.

“We did some really good things to build off of — we’ve got to eliminate those bad football plays that hurt you — but overall, yeah, we’re doing some good things,” Franklin said. “That’ll be decided, really, in how we play the rest of the season. I’m going to hold my strong opinions until after the season.”