{"id":80359,"date":"2025-01-10T09:12:55","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/will-penn-state-ever-get-over-the-hump-lions-receivers-were-a-fatal-flaw-in-orange-bowl-and-more-of-what-theyre-saying\/"},"modified":"2025-01-10T09:12:55","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:12:55","slug":"will-penn-state-ever-get-over-the-hump-lions-receivers-were-a-fatal-flaw-in-orange-bowl-and-more-of-what-theyre-saying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/will-penn-state-ever-get-over-the-hump-lions-receivers-were-a-fatal-flaw-in-orange-bowl-and-more-of-what-theyre-saying\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Penn State ever get over the hump? Lions receivers were a fatal flaw in Orange Bowl, and more of what they\u2019re saying"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penn State football is being discussed locally and nationally following the Lions\u2019 27-24 loss to Notre Dame<\/a><\/strong> in a College Football Playoff semifinal at the Orange Bowl. Head coach James Franklin\u2019s team led 10-0 at halftime and 24-17 in the fourth quarter before ultimately falling to the Fighting Irish. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we need to give Notre Dame and Marcus a ton of credit,\u201d Franklin said after the game. \u201cThey did a great job. We knew it was going to be a fourth quarter game, come down to a possession, and that\u2019s exactly what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive Notre Dame a ton of credit. I wish them the best of luck moving on to the National Championship. But I love every guy in that locker room. I love every person in that locker room. Proud of them. Played our tails off tonight. Obviously we made too many mistakes that were costly. Give Notre Dame credit. We\u2019ll learn from this, and we\u2019ll be better.\u201d <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at what\u2019s being said about the Lions on Friday morning. <\/p>\n

Will James Franklin and Penn State ever get over the hump?<\/h2>\n

That\u2019s the question from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports (and many others) after the Lions missed out on a trip to the College Football Playoff national title game. It\u2019s interesting, of course, that finishing in the final four is not seen as over the hump by some. But, this was to be the expected discourse (and in some ways, with good reason) after losing another winnable game against a top foe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s [James Franklin] lost 11 consecutive games against teams named Ohio State (8) and Michigan (3),\u201d Dellenger writes. \u201cThat skid against top-five teams dates back to the lone win over the Buckeyes in his 11 seasons: a 24-21 victory over No. 2 Ohio State in 2016. The skid includes, too, a defeat to Iowa and the loss in the Big Ten championship game to Oregon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one excruciating defeat after another. Of the 13, six have come by a single score.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full story here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nittany Lions wide receivers were a fatal flaw<\/h2>\n

Another popular topic on Friday: The poor play of the Penn State receivers. Did they run block fine? Sure. But, they did not record a single catch, which made the Lions\u2019 offense one-dimensional on this night. That could have been OK on other days. But, not this one.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the lack of consistent playmakers at wideout, particularly down the field, has been a wart for Penn State all season,\u201d Shehan Jeyarajah<\/a> writes for CBS Sports. \u201cAnd now that stat puts the Nittany Lions in rare, if not unwanted, company: they\u2019re the first non-service academy this season to play a game without at least one wide receiver catching a pass. Navy (four) and Air Force (one) are the others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat unit was completely bottled up against the Fighting Irish. Wide receivers were targeted five times. Four fell incomplete, the other was Allar\u2019s late interception to set up the Irish\u2019s go-ahead field goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full story here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Added PennLive\u2019s Max Ralph:<\/p>\n

\u201cPenn State knew coming into the game that Notre Dame would frequently play press man coverage. The Irish also boast a cornerback group that doesn\u2019t feature a player below 6-foot and 180 pounds. Penn State\u2019s receivers simply didn\u2019t win at the point of attack to make life easier on Allar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full story here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for the Lions?<\/h2>\n

ESPN had a team of expert answer that question.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Nittany Lions got a favorable draw with\u00a0SMU<\/a>\u00a0and Boise State to get to this stage, but they didn\u2019t fare as well throughout the season against the sport\u2019s heavyweights:\u00a0Ohio State<\/a>, Oregon and\u00a0Notre Dame<\/a>,\u201d Kyle Bonagura writes. \u201cThey need to be able to dictate the style of game better in those types of games if they want to get over the hump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full story here<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Final word<\/h2>\n

This week, it goes to BWI\u2019s Nate Bauer. He writes in his postgame column:<\/p>\n

\u201cAn epic playoff game with a result preventing Penn State\u2019s advancement to its ultimate goal, a chance to win a national championship, the program\u2019s response will dictate its ability to return to the same stage next year and beyond, or not. But, finishing on the losing end of a four-quarter game in which the Nittany Lions were unable to see through to completion, it\u2019s an experience from which lessons must be maximized.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full story here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Will Penn State ever get over the hump? Lions receivers were a fatal flaw in Orange Bowl, and more of what they\u2019re saying<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Penn State football is being discussed locally and nationally following the Lions\u2019 27-24 loss to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}