Penn State's Julian Fleming delivers late heroics at USC in game-defining moments

LOS ANGELES — James Franklin aptly used the word “resilient” to describe Penn State’s 33-30 win Saturday following a second-half comeback and overtime walk-off field goal at USC. From top to bottom, that theme rang true.

The Nittany Lions offense went without a touchdown in the first half. The defense allowed a 75-yard touchdown on USC’s second drive of the game and was on its heels for much of the afternoon. Drew Allar threw three inter­ceptions (albeit one on a meaningless Hail Mary). A vaunted PSU running game averaged just 3.8 yards per rush.

In each facet, Penn State stood tall when it mattered most. The offense opened the second half with a touchdown and kept pace with the Trojans, and the defense allowed just six points off of Allar’s interceptions.

It’s possible no single player represented the word “resilient” Saturday better than Julian Fleming, though.

The wide receiver started his day about as badly as possible. He committed an offensive pass interference penalty in the end zone on Penn State’s first drive, wiping a Tyler Warren touchdown off the board. Fleming’s defender made initial contact on the goal line, and he continued his route toward the end line to make room for Warren to make a catch and score. Although the call was controversial, it turned a wildly creative opening drive of 14 plays into just three points.

Then, with just less than six minutes to play in the first half, Fleming found himself wide open on a hitch route near the sideline, with a perfect ball from Allar in his chest. It looked like he tried to absorb contact and run before securing the grab, resulting in an ugly drop.

“It’s just a play that we’ve gone through a lot. I should have reduced a little bit, gone through and continued the route,” Fleming said after the game of his penalty. “But whether the ref made a mistake or I made a mistake, it just kind of is what it is, and it’s something that we gotta get by. It was a part of the game, and obviously it sucked for us, but just had to get through it.”

More than 30 minutes of game time later, with Penn State’s back against the wall, Fleming got his chance for redemption. The Lions faced a fourth-and-7, trailing by seven, with 4:30 to play. Franklin boldly opted to keep the offense on the field despite still holding three timeouts.

Allar scanned from right to left and found Fleming 1-on-1 well beyond the sticks. Fleming pulled the ball in with his arms fully extended, through contact, for 17 yards — one of the most clutch plays of his career and the biggest play of Penn State’s season to that point.

“My No. 1 goal, I think it was a cover-2 look by them, was just to get a little bit of separation and hopefully make a play,” Fleming said.

Just three plays later, Allar and the offense faced another game-defining fourth down — this time from 10 yards out. Pressure through the middle of the offensive line forced Allar off of his spot, but he made a wobbling throw to Fleming on the run, and the fifth-year senior came up big again. He fought back to the ball with plenty of space for a 16-yard catch, setting up the tying touchdown from Nicholas Singleton later in the drive.

“I was actually a little bit confused on the call coming out of the huddle. Liam (Clifford) got me lined up and got me right in the play,” Fleming said. “Got press coverage just slid him a little bit to the outside, slipped inside and the ball was right there coming out of the break. I just knew I had to body it up and get down. I knew I had the first down.”

Fleming said as he stood in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum tunnel that the drop earlier in the game impacted him.

He compared it to a practice during UCLA preparations in which he struggled and didn’t bounce back the way he wanted to. Even in the UCLA game, Allar and Fleming had chances to connect on a pair of deep passes early on that went awry — one pass underthrown and the other appearing to be a miscommunication on the route.

But any concerns were put to bed quickly when Allar remained confident in his receiver with the game on the line Saturday, and Fleming delivered.

“That was something that I was really trying to improve on, being able to bounce back and having a six-second mentality,” Fleming said. “I think that really helped me a lot. … Everybody wants to get down on themselves, but it’s just about what you do next.”

Fleming — the former five-star, No. 1 player in Pennsylvania who chose Ohio State out of high school — had yet to make the splashy plays diehard Penn State fans hoped for when learning of his transfer. He had just seven catches and 99 yards on the season before the trip to L.A.

Penn State wouldn’t have sent it to overtime against USC, let alone win, without the crunch-time performance from Fleming.

“I think it shows the type of player he is and the type of person he is to keep battling back,” Allar said. “Those two fourth-down plays were obviously huge for us in tying the game back up, but those were two of the most impressive catches I’ve seen. Contested catch, ball out and a little bit in front of him and the defensive back all over him.

“I couldn’t be prouder of him. He’s a great, great teammate for me, and really the whole team. And I’m just super happy that he was able to come down with those two catches.”