Notre Dame 27, Penn State 24
You can’t pin this one on James Franklin for a change. It wasn’t he who lost the big one. Spotty play by quarterback Drew Allar cost Penn State the chance to advance to the still somewhat mythical national championship (SSMNC) game. He screwed up by missing an easy pitch and catch to Nick Singleton for a sure touchdown early in the game, then made up for it with ill-advised, off-balance throw resulting in an interception with the score tied at 24 and 33 seconds left. I know, I know. It is unfair to hang all that weight on a twenty-year-old kid, but it is what it is.
Good thing Allar decided to come back for another season, as this highly visible game would have dropped his NFL draft value considerably. Hello, Mr. Irrelevant!
Yep. Two crucial, unforced errors. WTF. That’s all it took to end the best season Penn State has experienced since 1994-1995. Thirty years! Will it be another thirty years before the Nittany Lions have a similar shot at glory? I sure as hell won’t be around to find out!
Ex post facto stats are bullshit, so I won’t recap the numbers here. You can find them anywhere if you have the stomach for it. I just want to take this opportunity to bitch about dumbass mistakes for a while. But let that not overshadow the tremendous job done by this team, and the thrills they’ve given us. A ray of hope for the future exists if the energy and commitment of the last two playoff games sets an example for future teams.
I’m disappointed, but nevertheless proud of the effort Penn State’s players put forth. I’ve already forgiven Allar for his mistakes because he deserves credit for getting these guys to the brink of greatness, if not over that proverbial final hump. Although he has rough spots, he remains among the best quarterbacks we’ve seen running the Penn State offense in the Twenty-first Century.
Nobody wanted another Penn State vs. Ohio State game, anyway. I could get a surprise, but I believe that tOSU will cruise to the SSMNC, manhandling Texas and blowing out the Irish. But that’s just me. Your mileage may vary.
I want to thank all of you readers for putting up with my sophomoric drivel for another season. Your comments have been enlightening, and although writing is therapeutic for me, I appreciate knowing that others derive enjoyment from my work. I wish you all a wonderful off-season. God willing, I’ll see you back here next year!
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Big Al says
Actually, this year is probably Franklin’s best coaching job. Or to be more accurate, the best coaching job done by his assistants Franklin doesn’t really coach – he just recruits and motivates. This year’s team wasn’t very talented at wide receiver and defensive secondary and lacked depth at linebacker. The team wasn’t a legitimate semifinalist let alone national runner up.
Granting Allar irrelevant status might be too generous. After that performance, undrafted free agent seems more likely, His NIL payment will probably be more lucrative than any pro contract he could get,
I feel really sorry for the players who played their hearts out last night. But the silver lining is that Franklin’s agent probably won’t be able to extort the contract extension and pay raise he would have gotten if Penn State had won the game. And Penn State’s administration won’t have to pay for a runway extension at the Phillipsburg airport.
K. John says
This year is interesting. I don’t think this team is any better than it was in 2021 when we lost five games. That is what happens when the schedule is stacked in your favor. The regular season schedule was the easiest we have played since joining the Big Ten. The second easiest was 2022. Wanna guess what the third easiest was? 2023. We are basically the Big Ten’s SMU. Leverage a soft schedule and all kinds of stupid from the NIT committee to get into the field.
I would imagine the Big Ten understands there is a lot of money to be made by ensuring certain teams have soft as butter schedules in certain years. I firmly believe the SEC figured this out years ago, but I digress.
This year’s team reminds me a lot of the Rich Rodriquez WVU teams. They would trash garbage teams with up tempo play and a lot of smoke and mirrors. When they played good teams, they would attempt to build and early lead only to see it fall off during the second half once adjustments are made. Andy’s offense is a heck of a lot of smoke and mirrors. We didn’t score enough points in the first half to seal the deal and we lost, just like WVU blew a title chance against Pitt in 2007.
This is probably the last hurrah from Franklin the scum bag. Every advantage was given and he blew it. Not Drew. Franklin. Franklin hired a system coordinator from the Big XII. Wait until next year. Key opponents will be fully aware of Andy K’s system and it could get ugly.
Big Al says
Next year will be a critical year. Penn State could finish the regular season 10-2 since the only certain losses are Oregon and Ohio State. However, Iowa, Indiana,and Nebraska could be challenging games. They should win the rest of their games although UCLA, Sparty, and Rutgers figure to be better next year and all 3 are road games. UCLA could be next year’s WTF game since it follows the Oregon game and UCLA is pretty physical – they dominated Iowa physically last year.
Regardless, State’s offense should take a big step backwards next year. The defense should be ok as long as Iowa, Indiana, etc don’t get a quarterback from the portal who can actually pass. Raiola could be a problem but his pocket movement sucks and he generates too many turnovers,
K. John says
Right now, I would agree that Ohio State and Oregon are sure fire losses. Had we played Iowa this year, I think we lose. I have that one penciled into the loss column. They will be better next year and we won’t. I fully expect Nebraska and Michigan State to be significantly better. UCLA, Rutgers and Indiana are wild cards to me. Rutgers and Indiana have better coaches.
Offensively, we saw what Notre Dame was able to do with adjustments. They saw through the Andy’s gimmicks and were able to largely take over on defense in the second half. The smoke and mirrors will be far less effective next year and we will still have little talent at the receive position in all likelihood. If Singleton leaves, it is going to be bad.
Looking ahead, I think 9 wins is the ceiling if the schedule is as difficult as expected. I can just as easily see .500.