Nittany Lions inexplicably fail to kill clock in OT loss to Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The best place to look at what's wrong is looking at the man in the mirror and Penn State needs to take a good, hard look at themselves after having the ball up one with 1:47 on the time clock only to fall to Indiana, 36-35 in overtime, Saturday night in Bloomington, Ind. 

Typically, for a team ranked in the top-10 in the nation and a perennial winner, that would be more than enough to ice the game and head home victorious. Not on this night, however, as the will of Hoosiers quarterback Michael Penix and the Penn State's inability to stay out of their own way proved costly in the end. 

The Nittany Lions scored to take the lead at 21-20 and subsequently forced Indiana to turn the ball over on downs. Quarterback Sean Clifford and the offense took over with 1:47 on the clock and Indiana having one time out. Five second later, Penn State scored. 

Wait...what? 

No kneel, no rush up the middle and go straight down? 

No, instead, Penn State did this:

Indiana's defensive players were celebrating as soon as Devyn Ford sniffed the end zone. 

And almost immediately, Ford knew what happened.

What he did was wrong, and you have to feel for the kid. But for James Franklin, who prides himself on preparation, as he made clear afterward, it's inexcusable.

"My job as the head coach is to make sure everybody clearly understands those situations and right there that didn't happen," Franklin said. 

And the message to Ford was rather simple: "Get as much as you can and get down," Franklin said. 

To be fair Ford did get as much as he could, but by the time he realized it, it was already too late and the Hoosiers were celebrating. "Their chart was telling them to score and our chart was telling us not to score, and I think that's definitely what happened there," Franklin said. 

Pinning the loss on one play isn't necessarily fair to Ford as that play was simply a microcosm of the game as a whole, where Penn State looked out of sorts, rhythm and played an uncharacteristically terrible football game. After the initial score, the Nittany Lions went down 17-7 following 10 points off Clifford turnovers. 

"The hard part here is there's a lot of plays that we would have liked to have been different. I know in some ways people look at that one play, but there's a lot of plays throughout the game that we should have done differently and handled better and could've made plays," Franklin said. 

Despite the gaffe, the Nittany Lions still had a chance to win. Penix marched Indiana on a game-tying drive scoring both the touchdown and two-point conversion but the Hoosiers decided to try and onside kick. Penn State recovered at mid-field and got the ball into field goal range for distance kicker Jordan Stout. Stout would miss the 57-yard attempt into a head wind. 

"We felt like we would take a shot with a safe throw to the sideline or throw it away and then go for the field goal which Stout felt like he could hit," Franklin said of the decision to kick. 

In overtime, the Nittany Lions found the end zone by way of a 9-yard pass from Clifford to true freshman Parker Washington. Place kicker Jake Pinegar, who missed two field goals in the first half, hit the extra point to go up 35-28. 

Then Penix took over. He quickly hit running back Stevie Scott for a 9-yard reception before Scott scampered six yards for a first down. Three plays later, Penix hit Whop Philyor for the touchdown to come within one. On the ensuing two-point play, well a legend was born. 

"We just let the quarterback get outside of that box," safety Lamont Wade said. "It looked like it was out of bounds before it touched the pylon or out of his hand or both." 

The play was reviewed for a lengthy period of time only to be upheld and Indiana named the victor. 

"They had a good call," tight end Pat Freiermuth said. "I did see the replay and I'm not going to voice my opinion on it but we shot ourselves in the foot too many times so we can't get ourselves in that situation." 

Freiermuth's right, they wounds for Penn State this game were self-inflicted. Clifford's two interceptions in the first half turned into 10 Indiana points and the Nittany Lions amassed a total of 100 yards via penalty. 

"There's two plays obviously that I know I wish could have gotten back," Clifford said. "The first one was just a typical screen. It wasn't exactly what I thought I'd get but at the same time it was a stupid play, I shouldn't have forced it and just eaten it. 

"That was a big time game changer. The second one was just an overthrow. I just missed my target and you can't do that in big games, especially against a team like Indiana, you can't give them that easy field position." 

Life doesn't get any easier for Penn State next weekend as they host Ohio State, fresh off a 52-17 drubbing of Nebraska Saturday afternoon. And getting over this loss? Well, that's going to linger a bit too. "It's gonna be tough. This one hurts. Obviously we just didn't play well enough to win and credit to Indiana they came out and played well and capitalized on our turnovers," Freiermuth said. "It's gonna sting tonight and into tomorrow but we're gonna have to watch that film and learn from it and adjust." 

• It wasn't all bad for Penn State. Redshirt freshman Joey Porter Jr., son of the former Steelers linebacker and coach, introduced himself to game of college football in a big way with a sack on the first drive of the game. Porter would wind up with five tackles, a sack and a pass break up in his collegiate debut. 

"I felt like I did OK. I got some stuff I need to improve, there's always stuff you need to improve on so I'm just gonna take this as a learning experience, go back, watch the film and try to get better for next week," Porter said following the game. 

Porter isn't the only member of his family who's got experience in sacking the quarterback. His dad was a nightmare for opposing quarterbacks in the NFL and that was something Porter had thought about all week leading up to his debut. 

"I was just seeing the open lane and I was just like I gotta make the hit," Porter recalled. "It felt good, I'm not even gonna lie, my dad did it a lot so when I have the chance I don't know if I want to do his celebration or not. I had it planned all week and I didn't do it, I was too hype, but if it happens again I'll do the celebration." 

• Clifford was a major factor with his legs in the second half as well as his arm leading Penn State back into the game as it was his 35-yard touchdown that pulled Penn State within six. The leading rusher for the Nittany Lions, Clifford rushed for 122 yard and a touchdown while also adding 238 yards and three touchdowns through the air. 

"I just play the game how I think I got to play it. You got to make a play when you got to make a play but obviously wish I could have made one or two more or, obviously, done better on one or two more," Clifford said. 

• Defensively, Shaka Toney had two sacks back-to-back late in the game that helped thwart potential Indiana drives. Getting that next week against Ohio State will be imperative if the Nittany Lions want to get into the win column. 

• A major cause for concern in the game is the status of running back Noah Cain who exited the game during the first offensive series for the Nittany Lions. He's had an injury history in the past and with fellow running back Journey Brown out, the depth is getting wearily thin. "Losing Noah's not ideal, he's a key factor to our offense, someone who's a leader there, too," Clifford said. "I wish him nothing but good recovery."