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Penn State suffered its first loss of the season Saturday, falling 20-12 in a huge Big Ten showdown with Ohio State.
James Franklin’s team fell short in an opportunity to cement the Nittany Lions as legitimate College Football Playoff contenders. In Tuesday’s press conference, the head coach accepted the blame.
Franklin told reporters he had hoped to praise his players following a big win, but it’s “always on me” when things don’t go well.
“When it doesn’t happen, it is ultimately on me and my responsibility,” Franklin said (h/t On3). “There’s no doubt about that. There’s no gray area about that whatsoever.
“Is it nuanced and is there a lot of things that go into that, that ultimately no one really cares about at that time? Yes. There’s no doubt about it. But, at the end of the day, the most important thing is for me to take responsibility and do everything within my power to get it fixed.”
Penn State again struggled to manufacture explosive plays. Drew Allar completed 18 of 42 pass attempts for just 191 yards, only one of which went beyond 20 yards. Nicholas Singleton broke off a 20-yard rush, but the team’s other 25 runs went for 29 yards.
The Nittany Lions only converted one of 16 third-down tries. Per ESPN Stats & Info, no team ranked in the AP Top 25 has fared worse on third down in the last decade.
Penn State went 1-16 (6.3%) on 3rd down in the loss vs Ohio State.
With a minimum of 15 third down attempts, that’s the worst 3rd down conversion pct by any AP-ranked team in a game over the last 10 seasons. pic.twitter.com/v08lvUkv5d— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 21, 2023
Franklin raised some eyebrows after the game by claiming he may have just witnessed ” two of the best teams in college football” compete. Penn State dropped to No. 10 in the AP poll while continuing troubling trends from Franklin’s tenure.
In his 10 seasons as head coach, the Nittany Lions are 1-9 against the Buckeyes, 2-12 on the road against ranked teams, and 1-12 against top-five teams. Franklin’s team will get a chance for retribution in another major Big Ten matchup with Michigan in three weeks.