Penn State head coach James Franklin recaps heartbreaking overtime loss to Oregon

Penn State and Oregon played a thriller Saturday night in Beaver Stadium, but as has been the case far too often for head coach James Franklin and his team, the Nittany Lions came up short, losing 30-24 in double overtime.

And just like the last two marquee games against Oregon in the Big Ten Championship and Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinal, it was a Drew Allar interception that ended it.

“Drew’s been as good as any quarterback in the country when it comes to touchdown-interception ratio over his time, but obviously, that was a critical one,” Franklin said after the game.

For three quarters, the Nittany Lion offense looked lifeless, totaling just 109 yards of offense. However, following a Jordan Davison touchdown to give the Ducks a two-touchdown lead early in the fourth quarter, Allar and the offense reacted quickly with a four-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a 35-yard touchdown by Devonte Ross. Following a stop by the defense, the Nittany Lions put together their best drive of the game, totaling 15 plays for 62 yards to tie it up with just 30 seconds remaining.

Takeaways: Penn State finds a familiar way to lose in another marquee matchup

It looked as if Penn State would pull it off following a quick score in overtime, but the Ducks were able to counter, scoring in seven plays in the first overtime. It took them just one play in the second overtime to score what would be the game-winning touchdown, as Allar threw an interception on the first play of the second overtime.

Even after some success in the fourth quarter, the Nittany Lions still managed just 276 yards of offense and went 6 for 15 on third down conversions. Penn State’s defense held Oregon to just six third-down conversions on 18 attempts, but they also allowed the Ducks to finish with 424 yards of offense.

“I thought he battled,” Franklin said, referring to Allar. “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, not able to get ahead of the sticks on second down, and I think, in the first half, he averaged almost third and nine for the first half. 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, and that put us in a very, very challenging spot.”