Ohio State Comebacks Have Broken Penn State's Heart
There may be endeavors other than the two most often mentioned as reasonable exceptions, but losing in heart-breaking fashion to Ohio State is definitely not on the list.
No, while close may indeed count in horseshoes and hand grenades, it will not suffice for Penn State to be close in the Horseshoe on Saturday and come up short yet again against Ohio State.
A third straight loss to the No. 2 Buckeyes, however big or small, will doom No. 9 Penn State to another could-have-been, would-have-been, should-have-been season most programs would envy, but its fan base will never embrace.
Not after a wasting an 11-point lead over the final 5:42 in Columbus in 2017 or a 12-point lead in the last 8 minutes a year ago in Happy Valley.
Both defeats crushed the Nittany Lions' hopes of winning the Big Ten and advancing to the College Football Playoff, as would another in the noon Saturday kick on Fox.
At 9-1, Penn State must win to gain the tiebreaker edge over the Buckeyes. All the Lions would have left is the formality of a home win over Rutgers (2-8) on Nov. 30 to win the Big Ten East and play in the conference championship game the following week in Indianapolis.
They'd probably get booed out of Lucas Oil Stadium by a legion of Ohio State fans who've already purchased tickets to what they assume will be a coronation of their unbeaten Buckeyes' third straight league title and first Playoff berth since 2016.
That confidence in OSU isn't just localized within the state's borders. Oddsmakers favor the Buckeyes by a whopping 18 points, which is eye-opening given a once-beaten opponent until considering several factors.
- No opponent has come closer to Ohio State this season than 24 points.
- The Buckeyes get junior defensive end Chase Young back from a two-game suspension on Saturday.
- Penn State's top weapon, receiver K.J. Hamler, is questionable in the aftermath of leaving the Indiana game in the first quarter and not returning.
- OSU has lost exactly one Big Ten game at home since 2011.
There's also the Franklin factor, which has come into play each of the past two years when Penn State couldn't close.
After Ohio State rallied two years ago in a 39-38 final, Franklin said of blowing 21-3, 28-10 and 35-20 leads: "I didn't manage the game well."
Last year at Beaver Stadium, his team led 13-0 and 26-14 and needed only a field goal to win after Ohio State went in front, 27-26. On fourth-and-5 from the OSU 45 with 1:16 left, Franklin took the ball out of quarterback Trace McSorely's hands and instead handed off to tailback Miles Sanders.
Sanders, who had 43 yards on 16 carries, went down for a loss as McSorely, who rushed for 175 yards and threw for 286, saw the best game of his career come up short.
"We obviously didn't make the right call in that situation," Franklin said afterward. "That's on me."
The frustration of that loss also prompted Franklin to make a promise.
"We're not an elite football team yet," he said. "We will no longer be comfortable being great. We will find a way to be elite. We've been knocking on the door long enough. We are going to find a way to take the next step."
Ohio State certainly affords Franklin and his team that opportunity. What better way to confirm the transition from great to elite than to muddy the first 10-0 start in Columbus since 2013, and the most promising OSU season at this point in the season since 2002?
The Buckeyes, though, won't sleep-walk into this one.
Just minutes after their 56-21 rout of Rutgers was complete on Saturday, head coach Ryan Day dismissed the win in one sentence and said, "Now all our focus goes immediately to Penn State."
The Buckeyes clinch the Big Ten East with a win, since that would give Penn State two losses and Michigan already has two, thus making a Nov. 30 trip to Ann Arbor more about pride than any spoils at stake.
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