James Franklin did it again.
The third-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions, after a stroll through a pillowy-soft nonconference schedule, played their first real test of the season on Saturday night when the sixth-ranked Oregon Ducks visited State College. The Nittany Lions had a White Out crowd at their backs. Vegas made them a betting favorite.
Penn State fell down 17-3 in the fourth quarter, battled back to force overtime, scored on the first possession of overtime, and lost anyway. Oregon matched Penn State’s touchdown with a score of its own in the first overtime period. Dante Moore then hit Gary Bryant Jr. on the first play of the second overtime to put the Ducks on top 30-24.
Then Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman called game, picking off Penn State quarterback Drew Allar on the first play of Penn State’s second overtime possession to secure the Ducks’ victory.
Oregon walked off a hostile field with a 30-24 win.
Franklin dropped to 4-21 against AP top-10 opponents as the Penn State coach. Against conference opponents ranked in the AP Top 10, Franklin has just 1 win in 19 games.
The lack of big-game success has followed Franklin like a shadow for years. It looked last season like he’d finally bucked the trend, but a disastrous close in the College Football Playoff semifinal game against Notre Dame resurfaced plenty of criticism.
Now, the Nittany Lions (3-1) are 0-1 to open Big Ten play and they won’t face another test until Nov. 1 when they travel to Columbus to face Ohio State.
Franklin’s record against unranked opponents is impeccable. But he can’t get past the toss-up games.
That remained the case Saturday night.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
