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What They Said After Penn State's Overtime Loss to Oregon

Penn State coach James Franklin said he understood fans' frustration with the team's offensive performance vs. the Ducks.

Mark Wogenrich

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin reacts during the fourth quarter against the Oregon Ducks at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin reacts during the fourth quarter against the Oregon Ducks at Beaver Stadium. / James Lang-Imagn Images
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Penn State coach James Franklin didn't mince words, and didn't say many of them, after his team's 30-24 overtime loss to Oregon on Saturday night. He praised the Ducks and thanked the fans in the Beaver Stadium media room as dozens of recruits watched from the lounge above. Yet he clearly wanted to be anywhere but there.

Meanwhile. Oregon coach Dan Lanning celebrated as the his team ended the Nittany Lions' six-game win streak in the White Out. "I think that's the best game I've ever been a part of," he told reporters at Beaver Stadium. Here's what the coaches said after the game.

RELATED: For Penn State's Drew Allar, another burning moment under the spotlight

Penn State coach James Franklin

Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning greets Penn State Nittany Lions coach James Franklin following a win at Beaver Stadium.
Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning greets Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin following a win at Beaver Stadium. / James Lang-Imagn Images

On the game: First of all, obviously, you got to give Oregon a ton of credit. Came in here in a very difficult environment and made plays when they had to, so hats off. Got to give them their due. Really, the game came down to what we expected it to come down to. First down was going to be
critical in this game. We weren't able to get anything going early in the game on offense, and
then we got into obvious passing situations, third-and-long, which was not a great situation
for our quarterback, was not a great situation for our offensive line.

They were able to stay on schedule on first down, get ahead of the sticks, get into third-and-manageable situations. We actually did pretty well on third down [defensively], but they were able to go for it on fourth down because it was manageable situations.

On the key plays: Obviously the turnover that we thought we got, that got overturned. Obviously, the turnover at the end of the game. Neither offense was explosive, but we battled, we were resilient, and we had a chance to win the game at the end. I'm proud of the guys in the locker room, obviously disappointed and not satisfied one bit, but I'm proud of the way our guys battled and gave ourselves a chance to win the game at the end. We're going to watch this tape. I think we're going to feel like we had tons of opportunities to win this game. There's going to be a lot to learn from it, obviously. The way college football is today, there's going to be very few teams that finish the end of the season unscathed. We’ve got to learn from this. We need to have a great week next week. We’ve got to tune out all the noise, and we’ve got to get better from this and get on a roll for the rest of the season.

On fans' frustration: Yeah, we have a passionate fan base. 111,000. The environment was awesome. They're passionate. When we win, there's nothing better. When we lose, there's nothing worse. I get it. I get the frustration that comes with a fan base that is invested and cares. I get it.

Penn State Nittany Lions fans react after losing to the Oregon Ducks during overtime at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State Nittany Lions fans react after losing to the Oregon Ducks during overtime at Beaver Stadium. / James Lang-Imagn Images

On Drew Allar's performance: I thought he battled. Early in the game, I think it's obviously going to be easy for people to be critical, but again, when you're not able to have success on first down, you’re not able to get ahead of the sticks on second down. In the first half, I think we averaged almost third-and-nine. That's not a good situation for any O-line. That's not a good situation for any quarterback. We were not able to get our running game going, and that put us in a very, very challenging spot.

Obviously, the turnover at the end. Drew's been as good as any quarterback in the country when it comes to touchdown-to-interception ratio over his time, but obviously that was a critical one. But early on, we were not able to get into a rhythm for all the reasons I just mentioned. And now we're in third-and-long after third-and-long after third-and-long.

On his record of 4-21 vs. AP top 10 teams: I kind of look at the entire picture. I get that narrative, and it's really not narrative, it's factual. It's the facts. I get it, you know, but I try to look at the entire picture and what we've been able to do here, but at the end of the day, we got to find a way to win those games. I totally get it, and I take ownership, and I take responsibility. At the end of the day, I
wanted that for those kids in that locker room. How hard they work, how much they sacrifice. And we had our opportunities. We had our opportunities, but yeah, I take responsibility.

On whether the non-conference schedule prepared Penn State for Oregon: I think when you lose this game, that question is coming, right? I don't think there's any doubt about that question coming after we don't play well in this game. Yeah, I get that question.

RELATED: The Penn State football report card: Oregon edition

Oregon coach Dan Lanning

On the game: I think that’s the best game I’ve ever been a part of, regardless of who won that game, unbelievable back and forth. Penn State is a damn good football team. They figured out some stuff there against us at the end. I think we both scored two touchdowns in the second half,
just an unbelievable back and forth.

On quarterback Donte Moore: I think we have the best quarterback in college football. Anybody watch that game? That guy’s composure, his poise ... tells you a little bit about that guy.

On his young players performing before a huge crowd: I think that’s two years in a row we played against the biggest crowd in Oregon history, which speaks volumes about how these guys can handle the stage, and what we said was, how the whiteout was really going to be a white canvas for us today. We had an opportunity to win, and those guys did it. Unbelievable job just going out there and executing every play and then playing the next play. I thought we had really good composure
throughout the game. There’s a couple times we hurt ourselves, the penalty obviously late, but overall, our players played their asses off.

This is a huge one for our entire team, right? Because that crowd’s probably worth seven
points, right? And they really weren’t tonight. I really didn’t feel that much ourselves.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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