UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- What a fabulous night for Penn State football. It's not just about one win. It's not just about beating an SEC power in Auburn. It's not just about being 3-0. It's not just about the recruiting boost. It's not just about staying ranked in the top 10.
It's about all of that.
The Nittany Lions are now 3-0 and got there by winning at Wisconsin, 16-10, and at home against Auburn, 28-20, on a glorious whiteout night at Beaver Stadium. Everything about the entire day, from the visit by ESPN's "College Gameday," to the entertaining victory at night, was really like a commercial for why Penn State football has always been a national power and for why it can remain one.
This was a great tweet from one Penn State fan, who hit the nail on the head.
Hey @CoryGiger - this has to be one of the most successful nights for the program in quite some time. The whole broadcast / experience was one giant advertisement for PSU. This night could pay major dividends in the future.
— Seth Rappaport (@smrappaport) September 19, 2021
Not to pick on Pitt here, but when you lose at home to a Western Michigan, it's hard to build momentum for the program. That's the kind of loss that Panthers fans just expect to have every year, a Narduzzi special that infuriates even the most loyal Pitt supporters.
Sure, Penn State started last year 0-5, which was lousy. But that was clearly an asterisk kind of year and a one-off scenario for the program, which has bounced right back this year with the excellent start.
"It's a great win, especially playing an SEC opponent," safety Jaquan Brisker said.
Now, because of this 3-0 start and who two of the wins came against, it's not too early to start thinking about just what could come of this season.
That's where I'll start my 10 takeaways:
1. We can at least start to think about the possibility of a College Football Playoff berth
OK, some HUGE obstacles remain. Indiana visits in a couple of weeks, but the Hoosiers have dipped this year, and I have long believed Penn State has had that opponent circled after the ridiculous way last year's game ended.
After that it's a trip to Iowa, which is really good. The No. 5 Hawkeyes sputtered for a while against Kent State on Saturday before winning, 30-7. Perhaps the only team in the country that has two better wins so far is Iowa -- and that's debatable -- with the Hawkeyes crushing Indiana and beating Iowa State.
And of course, the big trip to Columbus on Oct. 30, against a Buckeyes team that you have to figure will be clicking on all cylinders compared to last week's loss to Oregon.
Look, Penn State could lose to both Iowa and Ohio State. And that will be that for the College Football Playoff talk.
But at 3-0, and with the teams they've beaten so far, these Nittany Lions have to be supremely confident. And confidence can carry a bunch of 18- to 22-year-olds a long way.
"I just feel like we're battled tested early," running back Noah Cain said. "We're not playing any slouch teams, we're playing top 20 teams early, and I just think it's gonna help us go on with the season as we're battled test even more. We have to go on the road, we may face adversity later on in the season, we're gonna be able to handle it."
"I think we got a tough-minded football team," James Franklin said. "Going on the road at Wisconsin, which is a tough place to play, we found a way to gut out a win there and we were able to do that again tonight against a good football team. They have a veteran quarterback who's played well for them, the running back is as good as we'll see. I thought they handled the environment well.
"I think we have found ways to win different ways week one, week two, week three. Obviously being tested early in the season like this, I think is going to be good and helpful. And we just going to have to build on it from there."
At the very least, this 3-0 start has re-energized the entire program and fan base after last year's 4-5 disappointment. It will be interesting to see just how good or not Wisconsin and Auburn turn out to be, but for now, picking up those two wins certainly will do wonders for everyone in the PSU program.
Not to mention allow for some dreams to start building about a possible first playoff berth.
2. The officiating in Saturday's game was unacceptable
I coach youth sports, and I tell all the kids I coach that we will never criticize officials. Just play the game, do your best and live with the outcome. Those men and women have very difficult and thankless jobs, and I personally believe that in 99.99 percent of games, the officials do not determine the outcome. (Yes, I do think they determined the outcome last year at Indiana with a bogus call on the 2-point conversion.)
Having said that, what we saw from the SEC officiating crew Saturday night was laughable. As in, those guys should be embarrassed.
They called a ridiculous intentional grounding penalty on Penn State on a play where the Lions tried to throw long but the receiver cut the route short, so the ball was overthrown by 20 yards. When they first called it, I hadn't seen the replay and figured, hey, I guess that theoretically could be grounding in some crazy circumstances, but Sean Clifford was not being pressured and it was just a miscommunication. That kind of penalty should not be called on that play, and it became clear when I finally got to see a replay.
That crazy call led to a lot of confusion and an absolutely pathetic screwup seconds later.
Penn State ran one more play, then the officials said it was fourth down. It was obvious at the time that Penn State had run only two plays, and that it was third down. But the refs said it was fourth down, stealing a play from the Lions, who had to punt.
I just cannot fathom how that kind of mistake can be made in a nationally televised game in front of millions of people, with on-field and replay officials whose job it is to make sure it doesn't happen.
Here's the statement sent out by the SEC confirming the mistake:
"At 11:45 in the 2nd quarter, Penn State throws an incomplete pass that was judged to be Intentional Grounding. The crew's enforcement of the penalty erroneously set the down to 3rd; the correct down should have been 2nd. The replay booth was consulted to confirm the down prior to the punt. The replay booth had the down as 4th down as well. The error was discovered during the media timeout that followed the punt and by rule it could not be corrected at that time."
James Franklin had a better comment when asked at halftime by ESPN's Holly Rowe. He said more with his face in this no comment than anything he could have spoken verbally.
What are we thinking about this officiating James? pic.twitter.com/rXos38gLx2
— Justin Morganstein (@JmoTweets_) September 19, 2021
In the third quarter, Penn State went for it on fourth-and-1 and snapped to up man P.J. Mustipher, who kept pushing the pile forward, slowly but surely. It's unclear if the officials ever actually blew the play dead, but they certainly blew the spot the ball. It appeared with his third and fourth effort that Mustipher had pushed past the line to gain.
Later in the third quarter, Auburn quarterback Bo Nix appeared to inentionally ground a pass, since he did not escape the tackle box when he heaved the ball out of bounds.
In a hilarious sequence, the Beaver Stadium video board showed the replay of the Nix play NINE TIMES in a row during the stoppage between the third and fourth quarters.
On that same drive, Auburn kept moving down the field and kicked a field goal to pull within 21-20. So the missed call on the grounding penalty helped the Tigers to three big points in a close game.
One final questionable call came late in the game when Brandon Smith was flagged for hitting Nix late out of bounds. It looked like he barely touch the quarterback and was trying to just hold up, but he drew the flag. That one could have gone either way, but after everything that had happened, it just seemed fitting that it went against Penn State.
It was, without question, a really bad night for the officials, which led me to write:
Penn State went 2-0 Saturday. 1-0 against Auburn, and 1-0 against the officials.
3. Hat's off to the Penn State defense
Franklin said this past week that the Lions have a championship-level defense. The unit came up with another strong outing Saturday to keep Auburn's offense in check for large portions of the game.
The Tigers finished with 182 yards rushing, 185 yards passing and 24 first downs. But as Franklin said after the game, the defense's bend but don't break style is working.
End Arnold Ebiketie continues to be all over the field making plays and has turned out to be a tremendous addition from Temple via the transfer portal. Ebiketie is an NFL player.
A huge play in the game came early in the third quarter when Auburn fumbled deep in its own territory and another transfer, Derrick Tangelo picked it up. The Lions scored a TD moments later.
The defense held Wisconsin to 10 points, Ball State 13 and Auburn 20. That's an outstanding start to the season.
"I think we have a really good mentality on defense," Franklin said. "I think our leadership is really good. I think we're a mentally tough football team. I think we're a physically tough football team. We give up some yards, but we make critical plays when it matters most."
One play the defense did not make, though, was Brandon Smith dropping a sure interception right to him. He juggled it a few times and, had he caught it clean, probably would have had a pick-6. In close games, defenders cannot drop interceptions, because that often comes back to bite the team. Penn State was fortunate that was not the case Saturday.
4. Two long TD drives in the first half made big difference
Penn State led 14-10 at the half thanks to an 88-yard TD drive and a 91-yard TD drive. The Lions executed extremely well during those drives, with Mike Yurcich calling terrific plays and the offensive players delivering.
Clifford found tight ends Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson for back-top-back big gains of 23 and 37 yards to set up the first TD. The second score was set up by a 22-yard pass and great catch by Jahan Dotson, and Dotson then threw a 22-yard pass to Tyler Warren. That drive ended with a TD toss from Clifford to Strange.
It was great to see the tight ends get involved so much. Those guys need to be a big part of the game plan, and they simply were not at Wisconsin. But in this game, the tight ends combined for 130 receiving yards, which is excellent.
"It was really big for the team," Strange said of the tight end involvement. "We all have a big role, we're all very important to this offense and that's what we do, and I was proud of all of us tonight. We played a great game."
5. Dotson is a special player
Does anyone remember Dotson dropping a pass? He might have last year, but all I can recall is him always catching every ball thrown his way. Sort of like Chris Godwin when he was at Penn State.
Dotson is a big-time playmaker and the best player on the Penn State offense. He caught 10 passes for 78 yards and threw the 22-yard pass to Warren.
It's still hard to believe Dotson was only third-team all-Big Ten last year. He very well could be the league's best receiver this year and a potential All-American.
Dotson was asked about the biggest difference playing in Mike Yurcich's offense.
"Tempo, that's been the biggest thing," Dotson said. "The way we use tempo, it throws teams off and keeps teams off balance. And it's a great weapon for us. Coach Yurcich, I said at the beginning of the season, he's a mastermind, and I truly believe that he has an answer for every single thing that a defense throws at us. It's just great to have a guy like that."
6. Sean Clifford was highly efficient and effective
Clifford completed 28-of-32 passes for 280 yards with two TDs and one interception. The interception came on a deep throw where Clifford got greedy, and Franklin said that was basically the equivalent of a punt.
Clifford has received his share of criticism, but when you go 28-for-32 against an SEC defense, that is a sensational night.
"It was awesome," Clifford said of the whiteout experience. "After the year we had last year and then now being able to come out and experience this, it's what it's all about. I say that with a smile on my face because I know how much we missed it as a community last year.
"You feed off the energy. I've always believed I play better when the stakes are higher. It's probably the calmest I've ever been. I went in and was seeing everything so clearly from the first snap and I think that's how Coach Yurcich has developed me and really pushed me every single day, not letting me slip through the cracks on anything."
Franklin kept saying Clifford did a good job managing the game. Yes, the term game manager has a negative connotation in a lot of ways, and by no means did Clifford look like a superstar out there Saturday. But he did exactly what he was asked to do in just about every situation, and he has shown a whole lot of poise playing in the pocket this season.
There was a play early on where Clifford stood in the pocket completely protected for what seemed like 10 seconds, and he didn't just take off and run, which is what he did too much of early last season.
Everyone wanted to see a different Sean Clifford this season. So far, we have.
7. Wow, Auburn's coaches made some really bad decisions
If I were an Auburn beat writer, I would be highly critical of some of the calls by Bryan Harsin and his staff. The Tigers very well could have won the game, but the coaches did not help out with poor calls in key situations.
On fourth-and-1 from the Penn State 25, Harsin decided to kick a field goal that cut PSU's lead to 21-20 with 14:55 remaining. The Tigers had been running the ball very well for a while leading up to that call, and it was stunning to see that Harsin decided to kick a field goal.
I absolutely believe Auburn, which again ran for 182 yards, would have gotten the first down there had it gone for it. Really just an awful call by Harsin.
In the closing minutes, down 28-20, Auburn had first-and-goal at the 10 with a chance to tie. The playcalling in that sequence was abysmal, starting with a low-percentage throw to the front corner on first down, then a highly conservative run call on second down.
The third-down play was a nice call, with a little dumpoff that got to the 2. But then, somehow it appeared that Kirk Ciarrocca had replaced Mike Bobo as offensive coordinator, since he had Nix try for a fade pass in the end zone, which wasn't close.
“Those plays are pre-planned and scripted in those areas," Harsin told the Auburn media after the game, from AL.com. "Those are things that you work on. I have to go back and look at it, but obviously we didn’t execute it."
Auburn played well enough to win, in a lot of ways, and very easily could have if one or two plays had gone differently. But man oh man, the Tigers' decision making has to be called into question by its legion of fans from Alabama.
8. Auburn was not intimidated by the whiteout environment
Penn State gets a whole lot of praise and publicity for the whiteout, but that is not what won the game Saturday. The Lions just played a little better than the Tigers.
It did not look like Auburn was intimidated or shaken at all playing in the whiteout. And in fact, the Tigers made a pretty bold statement showing up in all-white uniforms, as if to embrace the whiteout and say it wasn't going to bother them.
9. This will be a slower week for the Lions
Villanova is up next, so this is the kind of week where there usually is not as much interest from some Penn State fans. Franklin will still be preaching the 1-0 mentality, and it will be a chance for Penn State to work on some things and get more backups experience against the FCS opponent.
10. Finally, about the USC speculation
It's not going to go away this season. In fact, the better Penn State does, the more Franklin's name will continue to be mentioned for that job -- and possibly others.
However, I don't expect there to be any updates with regards to the USC search for a while, simply because we have so much season left to play. So hopefully we don't have to spend one or two news cycles rehashing the subject again this week.
Franklin has answered questions about USC -- although kinda sorta not really -- and there's really nothing else he can add at this stage. So it'll be interesting to see how much, if any, the story lingers into this week.
