STATE COLLEGE – Penn State’s defense did everything it could to slow Oregon’s high-powered offense Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.
The Nittany Lions held the Ducks to way below their season averages in points and yards, but it wasn’t enough in a 30-24 loss in two overtimes.
“Our defense was on the field way too much in the first half,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “I think that affected them late in the game when we needed to stop them.”
The Lions limited Oregon to 17 points and 374 total yards in regulation after the Ducks had averaged 50.8 points and 523.8 total yards in their first four games. But they allowed two touchdowns in overtime.
In coach Dan Lanning’s 46 games as Oregon’s head coach, the Ducks have scored at least 30 points 40 times.
“I wouldn’t say we held up our end of the bargain,” said linebacker Amare Campbell, who had 14 tackles. “I mean, I would say we played a good game. A lot of stuff that we’ve got to clean
up late in the game that we didn’t execute at a high level, allowing them to score.
“At the end of the day, our job is to not let them score. So, anytime they score any points, that’s on us. We played a decent game. We’ve got a lot of room to grow.”
Overturned call: Oregon scored its first touchdown in the third quarter one play after a Penn State fumble recovery was overturned by replay.
On first-and-goal from the Penn State 9, freshman defensive end Chaz Coleman stripped the football from running back Noah Whittington. Safety Zakee Wheatley recovered and returned it 39 yards.
But after a lengthy review, the officials determined that Whittington’s knee touched the ground before he lost the ball.
“Nothing was explained on the sideline,” Franklin said. “They said that the runner’s knee was down basically before he broke the tackle and kept running when the ball came out.
“Obviously you guys probably had better views of it than I did, but I didn’t get a whole lot more of an explanation than that.”
White Out debut: Oregon coach Dan Lanning described the Ducks’ double-overtime win as “the best game I’ve ever been a part of.”
“Regardless of who won that game, it was an unbelievable back and forth,” Lanning said. “Penn State is a damn good football team. They figured out some stuff there against us at the end.”
Saturday night was the second time in two years that Oregon played in front of a crowd of more than 111,000. Last year, the Ducks won at Michigan, but not in front of a White Out.
“It speaks volumes about how these guys can handle the stage,” Lanning said. “We talked about how the White Out was really going to be a white canvas for us. We had an
opportunity to win, and those guys did it.
“It was an 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.”