'We earned it': Preparation for Oregon in Big Ten title game begins immediately for Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State coach James Franklin had some bad news to share with players in the aftermath of the Nittany Lions’ 44-7 win over Maryland on Saturday at Beaver Stadium.

Any plans for a lazy Sunday were canceled. Instead, it would be a full day of work and back to the practice field.

Not that anyone was grumbling. The reason for Penn State’s quick turnaround is that the No. 3 Nittany Lions have a Big Ten title game to prepare for.

Next Saturday, a showdown with No. 1 Oregon at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis awaits, as does a chance to secure a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.

“Making your conference championship, especially a conference like this, the Big Ten that’s so deep with so many very talented teams with talented players and talented coaching staffs, it means a lot to us,” quarterback Drew Allar said. “It’s something that we definitely are not taking for granted, the opportunity that we have in front of us.”

Penn State (11-1, 8-1) earned its league title game berth by handling business against Maryland after No. 2 Ohio State stumbled in Columbus on Saturday against unranked archrival Michigan.

The Buckeyes losing was a prerequisite for Penn State to have a shot at competing in the championship game.

As Penn State begins a new game week of preparation, players will enjoy the fruits of their labor ever so briefly.

“It’s something we worked for since the winter, honestly,” defensive end Abdul Carter said. “Something we worked on in spring, during camp, during the season, the work just keeps going on and on. We earned it.”

After Saturday’s win, Franklin praised his team for its season-long performance.

The 11 wins already have tied the most by a Penn State team since he took over in Happy Valley in 2014. Just one of Franklin’s previous teams captured a league championship (2016), only to be excluded from the then-four-team CFP field.

This year, Franklin and his players feel they have been battle-tested.

“This is the most competitive Big Ten there’s ever been,” Franklin said. “To have your team ready to play week in and week out, it is very, very difficult to do, and it doesn’t happen very often. You look around college football, you watch the highlights, it’s not happening.”

Granted, the Nittany Lions’ regular-season schedule featured only two ranked teams (Illinois on Sept. 28 and Ohio State on Nov. 2). But Penn State fended off determined efforts by Southern Cal and Minnesota, survived an injury to Allar against Wisconsin and blew out Washington and Purdue.

All told, Franklin feels the way his team navigated the new-look Big Ten is worthy of praise.

“This team finding a ton of different ways to win: blowouts, comebacks, overcoming adversity, winning because of defense, winning because of offense, winning because of special teams,” he said. “When you play as many games as we do now in college football (against) the type of opponents that we play, you’re going to have to find ways to get it done.

“It may not always be pretty, but I also think that’s the beauty in it. I’m proud of our guys. I’m proud of everybody in that locker room because everybody plays a role in it.”

In addition, Franklin and Penn State’s players succeeded in limiting a disappointing loss to the Buckeyes to exactly that: one loss.

The Nittany Lions went 4-0 after losing 20-13 at home to the Buckeyes and, ultimately, had the last laugh, having jumped Ohio State to get a crack at Oregon in the conference championship.

Franklin said last week his team was eager for as many chances to play as possible. That included a conference championship bid, of which winning or losing carries considerable CFP seeding implications.

Predictably, Penn State’s players didn’t have a whole lot to offer regarding Oregon after beating the Terrapins.

That will change soon enough, as the Nittany Lions’ preparations intensify. For now, they are right where they want to be, with every preseason goal and more within reach.

“An opportunity to go to Indianapolis and play in the Big Ten championship game, pretty cool,” Franklin said.