Who is the worst Big Ten fanbase? Oregon fans have their answer
We asked Oregon Duck fans who they think is the worst fan base in all of the Big Ten.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Penn State football scratched and clawed and ran through one of the best defenses in the nation here in Lucas Oil Stadium.
It just couldn’t catch up and stay with the undefeated, No. 1 team in the nation.
The Oregon Ducks bolted out of the gate in Saturday night’s Big Ten Championship Game and then always seemed to find answer every time things got tight and a bit uncomfortable.
Penn State trailed by 18 early, fought back and had their chances in the fourth quarter but couldn’t find enough defensive stops when needed.
And this, even more: The Nittany Lions gave away the ball at the end when they absolutely could not afford to.
The No. 3 Lions, now 11-2, lost this track meet, 45-37, and will find out their first College Football Playoff opponent soon enough. The Lions still figure to earn a No. 5 through No. 8 seed in Sunday afternoon’s CPF bracket reveal and host a first-round game in Beaver Stadium the weekend before Christmas.
Saturday night against the Ducks?
The Lions outgained Oregon in total yards, mostly by stunning the Ducks’ with an energized run game with Nick Singleton (105 yards), Kaytron Allen (124 yards) and even quarterback Drew Allar (54 yards, touchdown).
Here’s what we learned about the Nittany Lions in their first Big Ten title game defeat.
Penn State football: Too many mistakes to overcome
The Lions could not afford to give arguably the nation’s most talented offense an easier path.
But that’s exactly what they did with four personal foul penalties and a devastating interception in the opening 22 minutes.
PSU committed five first-half penalties for 65 yards that sparked Oregon touchdown drives. That interception? Drew Allar made one of his worst passing decisions of the season, getting picked off by throwing behind his receiver deep in his own territory.
The interception return set up the Ducks on the 1-yard line. They scored on the next play.
Those errors led to this misleading statistic: Penn State outgained the Ducks in the first half, 283-254.
It was fortunate to trail but just a touchdown.
The last killer mistake was Allar’s second interception in the final two minutes on an ill-advised deep sideline pass when the Lions looked to be driving for the possible tying score.
Penn State football: Nick Singleton on fire, needed more touches
Junior running back Nick Singleton looked his healthy self tonight.
Only a stumble kept him from breaking his first carry of the night for a long touchdown. Only a missed holding call on a second-quarter pass route may have kept him from another.
He piled up 120 yards on just nine first-half touches. That’s a 13.3-yard average.
Penn State picked its spots well, but one of the top offensive players on the field needed the ball more in a game like this. Especially when he had not looked that explosive since the first couple of weeks of the season.
He only touched the ball five times after halftime, once in the final 2:30.
Penn State football: No big plays for stellar defense, no match vs. Oregon
The Lions’ defense was going to have a hard time in this game, no matter.
And that was OK, in a sense. They were never going to stop the fastest player they’ve faced all season (receiver Tez Johnson) or the best quarterback (Dillon Gabriel).
What they had to produce was big plays. Sacks and tackles for loss.
And turnovers.
They only sacked Gabriel once, in the first half. And they couldn’t make the game-changing turnover, couldn’t really ever stop Oregon’s momentum.
Even this defense couldn’t pull off victory against this opponent like that.
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
