Big game, big letdown for Allar, Lions in crushing loss to Michigan

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- This one cuts deep. This one hurts. This one falls into that soul-crushing category.

For everybody -- players, coaches, fed-up fans.

Make no mistake, many Penn State fans were absolutely fed up after this one, yet another hugely disappointing loss that proves the program is merely good and still cannot cross the threshold to become more than that.

Trying to answer questions after the game, tight end Theo Johnson needed a minute to compose himself, as tears streamed down his face. He sat with his head down, hands over his eyes, and didn't need words to reveal just how much this loss hurts.

"There's a lot of people that are counting on, not just me, but this team. I just feel like I let a lot of people down," Johnson said.

Nobody can pin this solely on Johnson. Or any one person on the Penn State side.

No, there's a whole lot of blame to go around for the No. 10 Nittany Lions after their 24-15 loss to No. 3 Michigan at Beaver Stadium.

The Lions already had lost to Ohio State, which is No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings, but they had a golden opportunity to earn what would have been a signature win against the Wolverines. Michigan didn't even have its head coach available, as Jim Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten over the sign-stealing scandal, and Penn State needed this game to give itself a strong chance to make the playoff for the first time.

The magnitude of this game cannot be overstated, given what was at stake for Penn State and with the whole nation watching because of the Harbaugh situation. And the level of frustration coming out of the game cannot be overstated, either, after an embarrassing performance by the offense cost the Lions any shot at victory.

Drew Allar, the 5-star quarterback who came in with incredibly high expectations, finished with a measly 70 yards passing. Just like against Ohio State, Allar was, well, awful. So was his offensive coordinator, Mike Yurcich, who now has to be very much on the hot seat.

"Just not good enough overall," Allar said.

Not even close.

Allar completed 10 of 22 passes for those measly 70 yards and threw one TD. He was 18 of 42 against Ohio State for 191 yards and one TD. So, in the two biggest games of the year, he completed 28 of 64 passes (43.8 percent) for 261 yards and two TDs.

With this second loss, both coming against the two most important teams on the schedule, Penn State is now officially out of the playoff race. So, even though the Lions will still likely finish 10-2, this season will be viewed by most as one big missed opportunity.

"I could care less what everybody else says," Allar said, fighting back his emotions. "Obviously, it's not what we wanted to happen, these two games that we've lost. But yeah, we just got to stick together, bounce back next week. There's still a ton to play for, even if people don't think there is."

Other Penn State players echoed that sentiment about needing to bounce back because there's still a lot to play for, including a potential New Year's Six bowl game.

"There's really like nothing that I could say that's gonna make anybody feel better," Johnson, a captain, said when asked what he'd tell his teammates.

"Obviously we got a lot more football to play, so just keep playing for each other and keep getting better."

"We're frustrated," center Hunter Nourzad said. "I think the first step is that we all know we need to get better. It gets to looking internally. I think it starts with every individual and how they can get better. We as a team just have to get better."

Michigan has a great defense, ranked No. 1 in the nation. But Penn State's offense was so bad that this game featured something truly incredible.

The Wolverines, knowing the Lions couldn't move the ball, did not attempt a single official pass in the entire second half. Michigan ran 32 official plays in the second half, all of them runs. Now, there was one throw in which Penn State was called for pass interference, but that doesn't go down as an official play.

Officially, Michigan did not attempt a pass from the 7:41 mark of the second quarter for the entire remainder of the game.

The Wolverines, leading 14-9 at the half and 17-9 after a third-quarter fumble by Allar led to points, had so little respect for Penn State's offense that they didn't even bother to run their entire offense. And that's despite being led by a good quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, who came into the day with the third-best odds to win the Heisman Trophy.

McCarthy finished with only 60 yards passing, completing 7-of-8 attempts.

"We lost to the No. 1 and the No. 3 team in the country," Franklin said.

It might have seemed like the coach was about to make an excuse given that, but he didn't.

"That's not good enough," Franklin continued. "We got to find ways to win those games."

As he walked off the field and into the tunnel after the game, Franklin was met with a very loud chorus of boos, and some profanities, from fans who place a lot of them blame directly on him. Franklin is now 3-7 against Michigan and 1-9 against Ohio State, making him 4-16 against the two teams that always matter most on Penn State's schedule.

"Gotta give Michigan credit, obviously very, very good football team," Franklin said. "We did not play well on all three phases to get to win."

Penn State's defense played well enough to win, just as it did at Ohio State. The Lions gave up only 287 yards, and while they did allow the Wolverines to score some, the defense didn't get anywhere near enough help from the offense.

"Losing to whoever is tough," defensive end Adisa Isaac said. "But losing to these guys definitely hurts."

Penn State moved the ball well on its second series of the day, but that's also where the game changed dramatically. The Lions got a first-and-goal at the 3 -- the first time any team has snapped the ball inside the Michigan 10 all season -- and looked like they'd find the end zone. But the Wolverines held tough, stuffing a run and forcing two incompletions from Allar, and Penn State had to settle for a field goal.

Michigan answered with a touchdown drive, highlighted by a crucial 13-yard run by McCarthy that converted a third-and-10. The Wolverines got a go-ahead 3-yard TD run by Blake Corum with 2:17 left in the first quarter.

Another crucial sequence followed moments later, and epitomized Penn State's offensive struggles on the day.

Kaytron Allen ran for 9 yards on the Lions' first play, and yet they found themselves punting seconds later as they couldn't pick up that extra yard in a quick three-and-out. Allar hit Malick Meiga on a quick pass behind the line of scrimmage that was stuffed for a 2-yard loss, then Allar was stuffed trying to run up the middle on third down.

At home, needing to keep the offense on the field, Penn State fell flat after getting 9 yards on first down.

That's the sort of thing that makes it easy to question just what Yurcich is doing with this offense.

"We've got to do a better job of calling a game to allow our quarterback to get into rhythm," Franklin said of the offense. "That is critical. We've got to find easy completions for a quarterback to get into rhythm. That's what everybody does. We've got to do a good job of that. And then on top of that, although there weren't sacks, there were too many pressures and there were too many times where we were not creating separation."

The QB pressures, that was a big difference from a week ago, when Maryland basically never breathed on Allar in a 51-15 rout. Michigan's defense isn't Maryland, and the Wolverines made things tough for Allar all day.

Penn State's quick three-and-out after Allen's 9-yard run on first down wound up being disastrous, as Michigan got the ball back and moved right down the field again for a touchdown that made it 14-3. Corum had a 44-yard run on the drive, and on third-and-11 from the 22, Donovan Edwards busted loose and took it to the end zone.

Just like last year, when Michigan ran for 418 yards on Penn State's defense, the Wolverines came up with big runs when they needed them. Michigan finished with 227 yards rushing and averaged 4.9 yards per carry. Corum did most of the damage with 145 yards on 26 carries and had two TDs.

Penn State's defense did well for much of the day, but without getting much help from the offense, the Lion defenders just had too much pressure on them. And in some key spots, they just didn't get the job done.

The Lions came through with a big drive late in the first half and got an 11-yard TD run by Allar. They converted two fourth downs on the drive, one on a 13-yard pass to Kaden Saunders, the other on a halfback pass from Allen to Allar for 4 yards.

Moments later came a highly questionable decision by Franklin, who went from being not very aggressive to overly aggressive. The Lions scored to pull within 14-9 on Allar's run, and instead of kicking the PAT, Franklin decided to go for it and failed.

Why chase points at that stage of the game?

"I felt like points were going to be at a premium," Franklin said. "These are all the things that we talked about before the game, and we used the analytics as well as conversations as a staff."

Penn State scored that TD with 29 seconds left in the half, then got the ball back to start the second half. That's when the game changed, and Penn State was in trouble.

Allar took off on a QB keeper and got a first down, but he fumbled the ball and Michigan recovered at the Penn State 49. Michigan drove insied the 10, and though the Lions' defense held, the Wolverines kicked a field goal for a 17-9 lead.

"The turnover in the third quarter was a significant play in the game," Franklin said. "Up to that point, we were in a heck of a game and a heck of a dog fight between two of the best defenses in college football and two of the best teams in college football."

"My fumble, that's when the game changed to me personally," Allar said. "We were moving the ball. I think that was like our second set of first downs on that opening drive, and then just can't put the ball on the ground."

Once the Wolverines took the 17-9 lead, they bascially just shut it down in terms of offensive creativity. The runs kept coming and coming and coming, reaching 20 in a row before McCarthy attempted a pass. Kalen King got called for pass interference on that pass, which kept the streak alive of running plays, which eventually reached 32.

Penn State scored a late TD with 1:59 to go, pulling within 24-15. Had the Lions kicked the PAT, they would have been down eight and still in the game. But Franklin decided to go for 2 and failed, essentially ending it.

Why go for 2 there?

Franklin had a tense back and forth with a reporter when asked.

"We're trying to get points," he said. "We felt like points were going to be hard to come by."

They were. All day. And in the two biggest games of the season, as Penn State managed just 27 points combined in the losses to Ohio State and Michigan.

Those losses are in the books now. There will be no playoff. There will be no Big Ten title. Now, it's up to the players to find a way to move past this, stay focused and work toward whatever goals they have remaining.

"There's going to be a lot of noise surrounding us now," Allar said. "People are going to try to divide us, just take shots at us. But who cares? We're the ones going out and playing the game. We're not going out trying to lose a football game.

"We put too many hours, too much hard work, too much sacrificing this to, you know, want to go out and lose a football game."

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THE INJURIES

• DE Chop Robinson returned after missing the past two games.

• DE Amin Vanover also returned.

• WR Harrison Wallace III was out again, with what's believed to be a shoulder injury.

THE SCHEDULE

Penn State hosts Rutgers next week, in yet another noon kickoff. FOX will have the broadcast.

THE CONTENT

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