COLUMBUS, OH.
Merriam-Webster defines opportunity as “a favorable juncture of circumstances.”
And if there is any one word that summarizes the James Franklin era as it pertains to Ohio State it is opportunity.
Because added to the ledger, Penn State’s eventual 33-24 loss to No. 5 Ohio State was the latest in a growing list of opportunities the Nittany Lions have had against the Buckeyes over the past eight years. The sorts of opportunities that could have turned a nearly unwavering tide in the Big Ten and across college football.
Saturday’s game was in many ways the culmination of all the things fans of both teams have come to expect from this series. There were playmakers on offense and play destroyers on defense. There were mistakes, momentum swings and a second half that was as entertaining and dramatic as any over the last half dozen meetings. It was so many Penn State/Ohio State games in a nutshell.
But once again Ohio State was what Ohio State has always been – better, by just enough.
If this was the last clash between the two programs with James Franklin at the helm of the Nittany Lions it marks the end of an exceptional era of “almost” between the two teams. All told Penn State has laid claim to a legitimate opportunity to have won five of the last eight games between these programs, a fairly remarkable measure of “almost” in its own right against an often untouchable program.
In 2014 the Nittany Lions lost in double-overtime.
In 2015 the Buckeyes won by a wide margin, pulling away in the second half.
In 2016 the Nittany Lions did win.
In 2017 Penn State probably should have won.
In 2018 the Nittany Lions once again squandered a lead, this time at home.
In 2019 the Buckeyes were better, but Penn State played it close enough.
In 2020 the story was the same as the year before.
And now in 2021 the Nittany Lions put together maybe their most complete 60-minute effort under Franklin against Ohio State. They threw punches in both the first and the second half and they made stops in both the first and second half, continuing an annual tradition of giving Ohio State one of its toughest tests of the year. Penn State may not be a playoff team this year or in the years prior, but the Buckeyes have headed to the postseason knowing that the Nittany Lions have pushed them to the brink.
In the end “Tried the hardest not to lose to Ohio State” is not a title that will hang in the Lasch Building, but Penn State’s general institutional knowledge of Ohio State under Franklin has not gone unused. Losing is losing, but if anything is a testament to Franklin’s general prowess it’s that regardless of the team he has fielded, they have punched up at the Buckeyes and have punched up hard.
But having an opportunity and cashing in on it are two vastly different things. Anyone can pull the lever at the casino.
[Quarterback Sean Clifford] played good,” receiver Parker Washington said after the game. “He took what he had and took advantage of opportunities. We’re all going to learn at the end of day. It’s not all on him. It’s us as a unit. We played a good team today and we’ve got to come ready next week.”
Clifford ended the night having gone 35-for-52 passing for 361 yards and one touchdown. His second half interception and a stripped ball returned for a touchdown proved to be fatal flaws in his evening, but the Ohio native played admirably coming off an injury that had rendered him either unavailable or hobbled the past two weeks.
But he had opportunities on Saturday, and some of them passed him by.
“I think we we always responded great to sudden change, safety Ji’Ayir Brown said of momentum swings. “We came out with a great mentality. We look at it as opportunity and came out there and we did a great job.”
All things considered Penn State’s defense was outstanding on Saturday night. The Nittany Lions gave up just two touchdowns all evening to one of the nation’s most explosive offenses and held the Buckeyes to three field goals of inside of 30 yards.
But Ohio State managed to break the game open on just a few explosive plays. In the third quarter the Buckeyes ran just 11 plays but managed 10 points and racked up more yards than any of the other three quarters. The Nittany Lions were stout, but for all the bending and not breaking, they couldn’t quite hold back the river of offense. Perhaps an unavoidable reality against an offense like the Buckeye’s, but nevertheless impactful plays all the same.
“It’s just a pure execution thing,” receiver Jahan Dotson said. “The looks are there, the coaches are putting us in great positions, great opportunities. “We’ve just got to execute some things and tonight we were able to execute against a very good team.”
Dotson isn’t wrong, Penn State managed 394 yards of offense against an Ohio State team that has rarely let the Nittany Lions move the ball with any consistent success over the years.
All the same Penn State lacked any deep downfield threat despite a fairly productive passing night. In total the Nittany Lions had just one passing play over 25 yards – albeit it eight over 15 – on a night when Ohio State managed three passing plays of 30 or more yards and one rush of 68 yards. When the deeper looks developed, the Buckeyes had already gotten to Clifford in the backfield en route to four sacks on the night. At one point receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith smacked his head in frustration as he left the field, seemingly open, but seemingly open just a bit too late.
All of this culminated in a night emblematic of the Franklin era against Ohio State, once again giving the Buckeyes hell, but falling short. It’s the kind of “what if?” that can torment the mind of those who try to look into their crystal ball and predict the future and analyze the past. One on the one hand Franklin has gotten Penn State to a point where the Nittany Lions are often on competitive footing with one of the nation’s premiere programs.
On the other hand he has ultimately fallen short and failed to get over the hump. This fact is undoubtedly a product of both personnel and the nature of competition, because ultimately being just as good as Ohio State still only means you have a 50/50 shot. You simply aren’t going to win them all. Nevertheless, you ought to win at least some of them.
The large rambling existential aside, if Franklin is headed to different pastures he will leave Penn State having done much of what he set out to do.
But he will also leave having come so close to upending one of the nation’s premier programs, and there is no guarantee whoever might come next would be able to do the same.
A missed opportunity in its own right. Better to lose a close game, then to have never had a chance in the first place.
And if he and his Nittany Lions had won a few more? That’s something to chew on.
