STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — James Franklin doesn’t want his players to dwell on a loss that might not be as costly as it would’ve been a year ago.
That’s going to be tough for Penn State players, who lost their eighth straight to rival Ohio State 20-13 on Saturday, this one in front of the biggest crowd in Beaver Stadium history.
“The reality of college football is everything is still ahead of us,” Franklin said. “And we need to do a great job of making the corrections, eliminating the things that were unforced errors that happened today. And then we’ve got to find a way to get a win next week at home.”
Franklin, who is 1-10 against the No. 4 Buckeyes, was booed as he made his way through the stadium tunnel behind his players trickling into the No. 3 Nittany Lions’ locker room. Many stared straight down at their cleats. Others consoled one another after another one-possession loss in a matchup that’s been one-sided for nearly a decade.
The ultimate consolation? Losing to Ohio State doesn’t necessarily doom Penn State’s postseason outlook with the College Football Playoff now expanded from four teams to 12.
The Nittany Lions (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) host Washington on Saturday. They travel to Purdue and Minnesota before hosting Maryland in the season finale on Nov. 30.
“The thing we talked about is we can’t let one turn into two, turn into three,” quarterback Drew Allar said. “We have to right the wrongs that we made today. Offensively, we’re not going to point any fingers. It’s not one person that blew the game for us.”
They couldn’t — and haven’t been able to — find a way to get past Ohio State despite hanging in against the border-state rival for much of the last eight meetings.
Since Penn State’s last win over Ohio State in 2016, the Buckeyes have won each game by an average of 7.8 points.
This iteration, in front of 111,030 fans, was no different. The Buckeyes led 14-10 at halftime, forced two turnovers, made the most of five Penn State penalties and controlled the ball at the end.
Meanwhile, Andy Kotelnicki’s offense that had been so explosive and unpredictable all season, fell flat early and often. The Nittany Lions converted just three of 11 third downs and failed to score a touchdown for the first time all year.
A disastrous sequence on their final possession saw the Nittany Lions run three straight up-the-middle runs before Allar threw incomplete to tight end Khalil Dinkins with 5:13 to play.
They wouldn’t get the ball back.
“It comes down to the little things that caught up to us today,” Allar said. “Playing behind the sticks is something we don’t want to do against a talented team and obviously a good defensive coordinator.”
In the last two seasons, Penn State is just 4 for 27 on third down against Ohio State and has managed just one offensive touchdown.
Running back Nick Singleton, who has experienced the last three defeats to Ohio State, was at a loss for words after he had just 15 yards rushing. He sat in the media room after the game and pulled his shirt up over his mouth.
“Everybody’s upset,” Singleton said after a long sigh. “We felt like we didn’t finish. We’ve just got to finish, man.”
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