Penn State had as good of a chance as it has ever had to climb the big game hump in the James Franklin era. The White Out, a bye week ahead of the matchup, a team stacked with NFL talent. A valiant fourth-quarter comeback sent the game to overtime, but critical mistakes put the visiting Oregon Ducks over the line in the second overtime for a 30-24 win over Penn State.
Oregon had the opening possession of the ball game and found some mild success running the football, converting an early third-and-one. After Penn State forced a 4th and short, the Ducks set up to go for it but were called for a false start. The Nittany Lions took over following a punt and went three-and-out on their opening possession.
With better starting field position than its initial drive, Oregon again moved the ball on the ground, this time deeper into Penn State territory. On a 4th and three at the Penn State 38-yard line, Amare Campbell and Zion Tracy converged to stop Dante Moore just short of the marker for a turnover on downs.
Penn State’s second drive started shakily, with an eight-yard loss on the first play of the possession on an attempted screen. A key third-down pass from Drew Allar to Nicholas Singleton set up a fourth down conversion, and another third-down reception by Singleton put the Nittany Lions in scoring position at the start of the second quarter. The drive stalled, and Ryan Barker drilled a 49-yard field goal right down the middle to give Penn State a 3-0 lead.
Oregon dinked and dunked its way down the field on the following drive and stayed ahead of the chains. Dante Moore led the Ducks offense to the Penn State 29, but his third-down scramble was stopped short of the first down line. Atticus Sappington missed a 47-yard field goal wide left to keep the Nittany Lions in the lead.
After a Penn State three-and-out, Oregon again drove into scoring range, assisted by a 20-yard pass from Dante Moore to Dakorien Moore on 4th and 1 near midfield. The Ducks’ drive stalled, and Atticus Sappington made no mistake on his second field goal attempt to tie the game at 3. Penn State picked up two first downs on its next drive but was forced to punt, and a good punt by Gabriel Nwosu prevented the Ducks from mounting another scoring drive. The game went to halftime tied at 3, although Oregon had a near 2-1 advantage in time of possession and outgained Penn State 189-69 in the half.
Penn State’s first possession of the second half showed signs of life but ended with a punt in plus territory. Oregon marched right down the field, and with the help of an overturned fumble ruling and a questionable missed holding call, took the lead for the first time on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Dante Moore to Dierre Hill Jr.
Another three-and-out from the anemic offense handed the ball right back to Oregon, and the Ducks finally started blowing open gaps in the middle of the field against a tired Penn State defense. On a fourth and 1 from the Penn State 8, Jordon Davison ran through the middle untouched for a touchdown to put Oregon ahead 17-3 with 12:25 left in the ball game.
Drew Allar and the offense did not go quietly into the autumn night. Penn State answered with a 4-play, 75-yard drive in 1:55 that culminated in a 35-yard touchdown pass from Allar to Devonte Ross:
Oregon converted a third and short on its following drive, but a critical unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Alex Harkey turned a manageable third down into a third and 21. The drive fizzled out, and the Nittany Lions got the ball back at their 38 with 7:07 to play.
With the game on the line, the offense engineered a 15-play, 62-yard drive that sucked up 6:37 that featured 33 rushing yards from Drew Allar, a key fourth-down conversion, and a third-down conversion, both in short yardage. One of the grittest drives Penn State’s offense has put together in recent memory finished with a gadget play 7-yard shovel pass to Devonte Ross, who eased into the end zone to tie the game at 17 with 30 seconds left:
The White Out went to overtime for the third time ever and the first time since 2014. Oregon won the coin toss and chose to play defense first, giving Penn State the first crack in overtime.
Penn State’s momentum rushing the ball spilled over into overtime, and a 16-yard jet sweep by Trebor Peña led to a 4-yard touchdown run by Kaytron Allen on the following play:
Oregon converted on fourth down for the fifth time with the game on the line on their overtime possession, and a two-yard touchdown pass to Jamari Johnson sent the game to a second overtime. Dante Moore found a wide open Gary Bryant Jr. for a 25-yard touchdown pass on the first play in the second overtime.
Dani Dennis-Sutton intercepted the two-point conversion attempt, but Drew Allar threw a game-ending interception to Dillon Thieneman on the first play of Penn State’s first possession.
Penn State drops to 3-1 and will travel to UCLA next weekend. Kickoff is scheduled for next Saturday at 3:30pm on CBS.
