Indiana 36, Penn State 35
Like a favorite old aunt rallying from a dread disease, our Lions gave us relapsing hope, then suddenly crushed us with an ever-escalating systemic shutdown that resulted in the death of the patient. A viewing will be held at the W.T.F Replay Funeral Home.
Although initial emotional assessments are divided between “we deserved it, the way were outcoached and outplayed” and “the replay official fucked us,” the replay is what Sanguinarians will always recall. Oblique angled video showing Michael Penix, Jr.’s valiant 6’3″ fully stretched body diving for the corner pylon will haunt the annals of Penn State bullshit for the rest of some people’s lives. Long after this turkey hangs up his keyboard, Penn State fans will be looking back at that moment of crushing defeat as a sure, albeit paranoid, confirmation that Big Ten Officials hate Penn State and will do anything to put us down because we’re not Michigan or Ohio State.
Replay Bullshit
As for me, I think the damn replay stuff is bullshit. The rule says that indisputable evidence must exist to overturn a call on the field. Of course, the Sanguinarians are all running around saying IT WAS OBVIOUSLY OUT OF BOUNDS, but it was anything but. The evidence, even in slo-mo, was anything but conclusive — we’re talking about millisecond timing and gnat’s pube hair distance differentials here. So I’m calling bullshit on the Sanguinarians.
Yea, verily, bad coaching put us in that position, and we couldn’t even capitalize on a wayward Indiana kicker’s dumbass decision when he all but handed us the game.
First Half Slopfest
The first half slopfest that called itself a game ended with the Hoosiers leading 17-7. Three Penn State turnovers handed the plucky enemy ten of those points. We can attribute that to the lack of practice, no warm up games with Kent State, and opening night jitters, I suppose. But in the words of the Four Seasons, LET’S HANG ON TO WHAT WE’VE GOT! Thank you, Frankie Valli.
Penalties, too. You know what I mean?
Field goals? Missed two. More rust?
Rallies and Hope
The patient rallied with a touchdown in the third quarter to narrow Indiana’s lead to three, and after allowing the gap to become six on a Charles Campbell field goal, began what couldashoulda been the game winning drive, capped by a 60-yard pass from Sean Clifford to Jahan Dotson. After the extra point, Penn State was up 21-20 with 2:30 left on the clock. They just needed a defensive stand and some good clock management.
They got the defensive stand, forcing a four-and-out deep in Indiana territory with a mere 1:47 left on the clock.
Boneheads Abound
Now, any armchair coaching idiot would have the answer in this situation, first and ten from the 14. Concentrate on the clock. The clock is our friend. Run around, maybe get the first down to seal the game and if not, hand the ball over on downs with a second or two on the clock. That ain’t what happened. Devyn Ford got the ball on first and ten and ran it in for the TD, taking a mere five seconds off the clock.
We all saw Ford’s hesitation and bewilderment as Indiana opened a path for him like Moses parting the Red Sea. On the one yard line, he hesitated looking around saying WTF? Did he take a knee there? Nope, he went in. We all saw it. We all said WTF? You could hear the WTF echoes all the way to Victoryville and back. Someone tripped over the cord to the ventilator. Auntie was rallying but we were worried.
Michael Penix and his troops confirmed our worst fears when they drove 75 yards for the touchdown. After a successful two-point conversion leaving only 22 seconds on the clock, the game was tied. Auntie? Can you hear us? We love you. Please hang on!
All Indiana had to do was kick it deep and let the clock be their friend this time. This provided their opportunity for egregious boneheadedness.
Thou Art a Dumbass
Kicker Jared Smolar inexplicably squibbed the ball, dribbling it to a surprised Daniel George for a bewildering net of 14 yards handing the ball to Penn State with a short field for a game-winning field goal. (Of course, field goals were an adventure on this day, so doubt crept into our minds). Could Auntie rally and be her old self?
The cameras displayed Tom Allen berating Smolar. Who knows what went through the kid’s mind as he made his dumbass kicking decision? The cameras followed #90 for a while, rubbing it in. If Penn State made a short drive, kicked a field goal, and won, this kid would be run out of Bloomington and would forever be a pariah. Think Steve Bartman and the Chicago Cubs in 2003 or Bill Buckner in an earlier baseball context.
However, the Lord of the Clock intervened in Smolar’s behalf. The Nittany Lions could only muster a nine-yard drive before being forced to kick a 57-yard game winning field goal with three seconds on the clock. Nope. Another bit of false hope. Overtime!
Overtime Drama
Penn State scored a touchdown on its possession and Indiana responded in kind. You know the rest. Ballsy call. Go for two. Determined quarterback. Controversial call. Indiana wins. The patient dies, shockingly.
As we mourn, half of us blame the doctors while the other half think it was what was to be.
For my money, I think Franklin’s clock management was awful, and his communication with the players was even worse. HOW THE HELL did Devyn Ford not get the message? Franklin sidestepped the issue in his postgame presser. We might never know, but I think he had his head straight up his ass, as did the rest of his anesthetized staff. Game management sucked.
I’m disgusted. Auntie didn’t have to go this way. It could have been much more dignified. What are your feelings on this mournful day?
Share this:
Discover more from The Nittany Turkey
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Big Al says
That was one of the strangest Penn State games I’ve seen. Indiana appeared to snatch defeat out defeat out of the jaws of victory – Penix missed a wide open receiver for a touchdown on the series right before Penn State’s final touchdown that would put the game out of reach. Then, Ford’s brain fart gave Penix a chance to redeem himself and he took full advantage of it. If Penix had played as well in the 1st 58 minutes (he missed so open receivers I thought was channeling Hackenberg) as he did in the last two minutes and overtime, the Kitties would have lost in regulation and there would not have been any replay controversy.
I watched the replay of the final 2nd point conversion multiple times and am convinced that the zebras got the call right. Penix touched the ball to the pylon a millisecond before his hip touched down in bounds and he didn’t lose possession of the ball until after the pylon was touched. The replay official probably should have confirmed the call instead of taking the easy way out. (although, if it had been tOSU or Michigan instead of Penn State, the cynic in me thinks the replay official would have reversed the call.)
Re Ford’s mistake – It’s collateral damage from running a no huddle offense. In my old high school days, the quarterback would have reminded everyone in the huddle – “keep both hands on the ball and get down on 1st contact. If nobody touches you, go down as soon as you get a 1st down.” And, if the qb had failed to do that, one of the two way players who had just got finished on defense would have relayed the same message in less diplomatic way.
The Nittany Turkey says
At our final Penn State viewing party at Jackstand’s Garage (aka Mike’s house), which we agreed to disband due to Covid-19 risks for the old farts among us, this foul aged fowl included, I was making similar noise about the weirdness of the game. It was just too ridiculous for words, hence my crappy effort at a follow-up story. (I rushed it due to the impending Steelers-Titans game and the need to take a crap).
I found the game completely boring until the final, action packed two minutes. Then, it became entertaining, albeit in a most perverse way. Being a bunch of aged perverts, we found it strangely appealing.
The comedy of errors on both sides of the field was worthy of Shakespeare. One thing is clear. Penn State is not — nor was it ever — the #8 team in the country this year, no matter what Matt Herb blows out his ass. I’m stating the obvious, words being echoed by scads of hack sportswriters. Like puerile homey fans, they just love to use the word “overrated”.
The screwed up Big Ten season might offer some interesting twists. The constants are tOSU’s dominance, even though Big Red gave them a go for a quarter or so. To a lesser extent, Wisconsin looked competent, and who would bet against tOSU-Wisconsin in the Plus One? Rutgers put in a credible effort in the first game of the Schiano Era, Part Deux, although the jury is out on the post-Dantonio Moo U squad. There was a lot of pulling defeat from the jaws of victory around the league. Opening game lack of practice rust is one factor, but some of it is systemic incompetence. So, yeah, we’re stuck with tOSU, Wisconsin, Michigan as the same-old same-old Big Ten.
I think the “replay controversy” is not a controversy. It’s an excuse, an out for Sanguinarians. They will always have a “yes, but…” to add to this game, to be filed in their litany of excuses that goes all the way back to John Sacca’s interception by Miami. They’re the ones who always put Penn State in the still somewhat mythical national title chase when we haven’t had a title-worthy team in a quarter century. Just bitching about homeys again here.
Ford’s mistake involved mutiple heads up the ass: Franklin’s, Ciarocca’s, Clifford’s, everyone on the field wearing blue, etc. My conjecture about Ford’s hesitation just before the dumbass broke the plane was that he was hearing multiple players yelling “GO DOWN!” and couldn’t process the meaning of what they were yelling. Like the Immaculate Reception, we might never know, and Frenchy Fuqua ain’t talking.
Happy Halloween!
—TNT
psudrozz says
franklin not running one more play with 8 seconds on the clock is coaching malpractice. a quick out. get a few more yards.
a day game in september and that kick makes it.
clifford’s interception on a screen pass by throwing the ball 10 ft over the RBs head is something i can honestly say ive never seen before.
The Nittany Turkey says
Yeah, you join the discontented minions of “James Must Go” advocates after all the inept coaching evident in the Indiana game. But I dunno… Sandy loves him and the fans don’t get to run the program. On the other hand, fans are expecting something different from Kirk Ciarocca, but how many offensive coordinators does Franklin have to go through before we conclude that the offensive ineptitude is due to something else. I think it was Neil Rudel who asked Franklin a direct question about whether the OC was the main offensive decision maker in the Indiana game, but he received the usual evasive response.
I’m as exasperated with the play calling and game management as the rest of the fan base. This is why I’ll be picking Ohio State — in seven years, Franklin has never learned to manage a game well.
—TNT