What Penn State football can learn from Ohio State, Notre Dame CFP final
The 2024 college football season is in the books. Penn State produced the highest finish in the 11-year tenure of head coach James Franklin with a No. 5 final AP ranking and a semifinal appearance in the expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff.
The Nittany Lions’ 13-3 overall record included losses to the No. 1 (Ohio State), No. 2 (Notre Dame), and No. 3 (Oregon) teams in the country. Their wins included the No. 8 (Boise State), No. 12 (SMU), and No. 16 (Illinois) teams.
Crucially, the Penn State loss to the Irish meant no second crack at the Buckeyes, though. And, without it, by extension, no shot at a national championship for the Nittany Lions.
That doesn’t mean Penn State isn’t very much intending on returning to the same precipice next season, though. In the wake of the best final ranking for the Nittany Lions in 20 years, the room to improve upon it is limited to just two possibilities. The most desirable, advancing to the national championship game and winning it. The next-most desirable, advancing to the national championship game and losing it.
Either way, a few lessons can be learned for Penn State coming out of Monday night’s tilt between the Irish and Buckeyes. Here are the ones that stand out most prominently and are applicable to the Nittany Lions.
3. Sticking with it
This is one Penn State has already mastered. Andy Staples did the work for me, so I won’t try to best it. The Buckeyes entered Monday night’s matchup with a remarkable number of home grown players who developed at Ohio State and, crucially, stuck with the program through the process of becoming experienced and winners.
“Thirteen of the 22 offensive and defensive starters on Monday will be players who were four- or five-star recruits who signed with Ohio State in either 2020, 2021 or 2022. Bookend edge rushers Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau were five-star recruits in the class of 2021. Their fellow five-stars that year? Starting receiver Emeka Egbuka and starting tailback TreVeyon Henderson. (Other five-star signees in Ohio State’s class of 2021 included Quinn Ewers, who started at quarterback for Texas against Ohio State in last week’s Cotton Bowl, and Kyle McCord, the one-time Ohio State QB1 who led the nation in passing yards this season at Syracuse.)
“The starting defense features eight four- or five-star signees (Sawyer, Tuimoloau, defensive tackle Tyleik Williams, linebackers Sonny Styles and Cody Simon, safety Lathan Ransom, cornerbacks Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock) from the classes of 2020-22.”
Staples argues rightfully that the same time of “mass development of blue-chip raw material” will be nearly impossible to replicate moving forward. Certainly, Penn State’s 2025 roster won’t match the Buckeyes’ in terms of sheer scale of talent accumulated through recruiting. But, there are parallels the Nittany Lions will boast thanks to the announced returns of the highest-ranked recruiting class in the program’s recent cycles.
Centered around a core of players out of the Class of 2022 that includes Dani Dennis-Sutton, Nicholas Singleton, and Drew Allar, each of whom carried On3 Industry Ranking five-star status, Penn State has dudes coming back. There were 12 other four-star players in the class. Some were undoubtedly misevaluations or didn’t work out for one reason or another, but Drew Shelton, Kaytron Allen, J.B. Nelson, and Zane Durant will also feature heavily.
To suggest a 1:1 comparison wouldn’t be accurate or worthwhile. But, if there is an approximation to be made of the blueprint that both Michigan in 2023 and Ohio State in 2024 provided, absent the NFL departures of Abdul Carter, K.J. Winston, and Kobe King, Penn State is following it.
2. Playmakers separate
This isn’t rocket science. It’s also not the gulph it might seem to be. But, tied into the next point, it’s everything for Penn State moving into the 2025 season.
When Ohio State needed big plays on Monday night, its best players provided them. The Buckeyes finished with 13 chunk plays offensively in the game to Notre Dame’s five. Of note, the Irish had zero runs of 10 or more yards. The Buckeyes had six against an Irish defense that hasn’t given up the backbreaker all season and, for the most part didn’t again Monday – except, of course, for Quinshon Judkins’ 70-yarder in the third quarter.
None of Ohio State’s explosives went for a touchdown. But all were integral, and most involved the most notable playmakers on the offense among the Buckeyes’ loaded receivers and running backs.
One part of that equation is back for Penn State next season between Singleton and Allen. Capable of driving the offense on the ground and as pass-catchers, their places as the centerpieces of Andy Kotelnicki’s attack isn’t up for debate. But, given the departures of Trey Wallace and Omari Evans to the transfer portal, the reality for the Nittany Lions is that no greater opportunity has existed for the position with any relevant comp in recent memory for the program. The group has zero pieces returning with established production within the program.
Can Penn State’s collection of receivers become a facsimile of Brandon Inniss, Carnell Tate, Emeka Egbuka, and Jeremiah Smith? The odds aren’t great, but it’d be hard to argue against the notion that significant steps must be made for the Nittany Lions’ receiving options if getting over the top is the objective.
1. Great defense important. Great offense differentiates.
Two things happened on Monday night of which Penn State should take note. Taken over the duration of the season, Ohio State and Notre Dame both played great defense throughout. The Buckeyes finishes with the nation’s No. 1 overall defense and the Irish weren’t far behind at No. 11 overall. Penn State finished 7th.
The analytics actually said that Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State finished with the first, second, and fourth overall defenses adjusted for opponent. That’s a blueprint for continued success in college football, and one the Nittany Lions are very much on a path to sustain, regardless of how their defensive coordinator search turns out.
The differentiating part of the night was what took place following the initial offensive possessions of both teams. Tied up at 7-7, Ohio State’s defense forced a three-and out. It took Notre Dame’s punt 10 plays for 76 yards and a touchdown to go ahead 14-7. The Buckeyes followed by forcing another three-and-out. Then, they turned that into a 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to go up 21-7 before the end of the half. And, finally, receiving the opening kickoff of the third quarter out of the break, Ohio State traversed 75 yards over just five plays to fully take command of the game at 28-7.
In what was ultimately a low-possession game, Ohio State suffocated Notre Dame’s offense then consistently maximized its opportunities with the ball. Finishing with 34 points, the Buckeyes became the 10th of 11 of the most recent national champions to score at least 30 points in the CFP, a number that extends another two years into the BCS era.
Penn State scored at least 30 points in 10 of its 16 games this season. Two of their three losses saw the Nittany Lions finish under that mark.
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