The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 30-24 loss to Oregon

Penn State lost a devastating double-overtime game in the White Out Saturday night to Oregon, 30-24, with head coach James Franklin falling to 4-21 in games against top-10 opponents as the Nittany Lions’ head coach.

Let’s get into the good, the bad and the ugly from the game.

Good

Jim Knowles: I thought Knowles was the best defensive coordinator in the country heading into this season, and Saturday he removed any doubt. Oregon has the best offense in the country with one of the best coordinators in the country — and Knowles had them in jail for most of the game. His defense gave up three first-half points, despite the Penn State offense doing everything in its power to give Oregon the ball as often as possible by failing to string together drives. And the defense gave up 17 points in regulation despite having a unit that was clearly tired as the game began to wind down. Surely that contributed to the 13 points it gave up in the two overtimes. Not to mention, those drives start at the 25 and are a massive advantage for any offense.

The 30 points and 424 yards might be concerning to some, but those numbers lack important context. Add in that context and it’s clear that Knowles is elite and so is his defense.

Dani Dennis-Sutton: The player at the center of that group might be the best defensive end in college football. Dennis-Sutton did not record a sack but got into the backfield plenty and forced Oregon quarterback Dante Moore off his spot and into bad decisions. It doesn’t help that the Penn State defensive end was also held multiple times — one egregious missed call led to an explosive play and Oregon’s first touchdown of the game. He’s as disruptive as it gets off the edge and plays with the kind of intensity that makes him a nightmare for opposing offensive tackles to play against. This wasn’t his most productive statistical performance, but Dennis-Sutton still managed to put on a show in primetime Saturday against the Ducks.

Amare Campbell: Penn State’s linebacker play was excellent against the Ducks and it starts with Campbell, who blew up several screens that Oregon ran, and made more than a few open field tackles to prevent big plays. He was all over the field, mostly because it seemed like he was two steps ahead of the offense, and did not miss many, if any, tackles in the game. Campbell has been an excellent portal addition, and continues to improve as he gets more and more comfortable in Knowles’ defense. What the linebacker lacks in size he makes up for in instincts and athleticism, making him an incredibly valuable piece for this team.

There’s no reason to believe he won’t continue playing at this level, especially when he was dominant against the best offense in college football.

Bad

Nick Singleton: The senior running back has struggled this season, and his worst performance of the year culminated with 11 carries for 21 yards on the ground. Singleton was flat-out bad against the Ducks and was plagued by many of the issues he’s had this year, but the biggest problem remains the same — he has been unable to break off an explosive gain. In his three-plus years as a major contributor, Singleton has done plenty of damage, but most of it comes all at once. If he gets 20 carries for 150 yards, odds are 70 or more of those yards come on one play. That’s who he is — a home run threat who doesn’t always pick up the four or five yards in front of him. That’s why, right now, he’s clearly the team’s second-best back behind Kaytron Allen. And the fact that their workloads were similar is an indictment of the coaching staff. Singleton doesn’t have to be a true backup, but it’s clear this is no longer a 1A and 1B situation.

James Franklin’s in-game management: The Penn State head coach’s in-game management and aggressiveness has improved in recent years but there were two clear mistakes he made on Saturday. The first came in the third quarter on the team’s first drive of the second half. The Nittany Lions drove into Oregon territory and got to its 36-yard line, with a fourth-and-8. Instead of going for it (or even settling for a field goal), Franklin chose to punt, and punter Gabe Nwosu sailed it into the end zone — meaning the Nittany Lions forfeited a chance to maintain possession for 16 yards of field position.

The second mistake came after the team’s first touchdown in the fourth quarter, when the score was 17-9. Franklin should have gone for two in that situation, in order to give his team a better chance to win in regulation. Had the Nittany Lions converted, they would have been able to go up by a point with their next touchdown and extra point. And had they failed, they still would have had a chance to tie the game with another two-point conversion. Those mistakes may not seem like a big deal, but in a game like this one they can make all the difference.

Where this team goes from here: The path to the playoff is much more narrow after this loss. Penn State should get in if it finishes 10-2, but that is not a guarantee. All it takes is a few surprise teams going 11-1 and some underwhelming conference champions finishing outside the top 12 and suddenly the Nittany Lions are on the outside looking in.

The good news is they’re in full control of their own destiny. The bad news is part of that is a matchup with Ohio State in Columbus on Nov. 1. A win there would all but guarantee a playoff spot, even at 10-2 — but it’s hard to envision a victory for the Nittany Lions in that game after the loss to Oregon.

It’s important to note that even finishing 10-2 isn’t a guarantee for Penn State. A loss to Ohio State is expected, but it’s also possible the Nittany Lions could drop a game on the road to Iowa in three weeks or to Indiana in Beaver Stadium on Nov. 8. Falling in either of those matchups and the Ohio State game would turn this season from a disappointment into a colossal failure.

Ugly

Drew Allar: It’s impossible to ignore at this point. Allar is not, consistently, good enough to lead this team to a national title. That’s not to say he can’t be — but there’s little reason to believe he will. The highs are some of the highest in college football with tight window or off platform throws that only he can make. But the lows are just as low, with poor decisions and off-target throws costing Penn State in big moments — like when he threw Saturday night’s interception to end the game in double overtime. Allar has all the arm talent in the world and even does plenty of other stuff at a high level, like reading defenses and generating power even when his footwork isn’t perfect. But the bad aspects are enough to cost the team games, and the Ducks were the beneficiary of that Saturday night. Despite an excellent few drives to close regulation and begin overtime, Allar ultimately regressed back to his struggles and gave the game away.

Jon Sauber

Centre Daily Times

(814) 231-6461

Jon Sauber covers Penn State football and men’s basketball for the Centre Daily Times. He earned his B.A. in digital and print journalism from Penn State and his M.A. in sports journalism from IUPUI. His previous stops include jobs at The Indianapolis Star, the NCAA, and Rivals.