James Franklin hopeful Penn State leaves 'bad ball' in 1st half, completes comeback vs. Oregon in Big Ten title game

After being on the verge of getting blown out by Oregon in the first half of the Big Ten Championship Game, Penn State clawed back to trail, 31-24, at the half. And head coach James Franklin feels half the battle was getting out of their own way.

On top of an interception that set up Oregon with 1st and goal on the Penn State 1 to make it 28-10, the Nittany Lions committed a quartet of 15 yard penalties, all contributing to the double digit deficit. But then the mistakes stopped, quarterback Drew Allar led a pair of touchdown drives, and the score at half was within one possession.

“Well once we cleaned up the bad ball — we had four 15 yard penalties,” Franklin said to CBS sideline reporter Jenny Dell. “Two were facemasks, they’re going to happen sometimes on aggressive plays, but the other ones, we’re putting ourselves in a hole. We talked about it before the game, we’ve got to clean that stuff up. We can’t be behind the sticks against this talented. No. 1 team in the country.”

And that his team readily got back in the game after putting the mistakes behind them gives Franklin confidence that the comeback can be completed in the second half.

“Same thing. As long as we’re not hurting ourselves, we stay on schedule on offense, get ahead of the sticks on defense, then we’re going to have a chance tonight,” Franklin said.

One analyst felt the Nittany Lions entered Saturday under the radar

Kirk Herbstreit believes Oregon is “special,” but also sees Saturday as a great opportunity for Penn State to remind fans why they’re the No. 3 team in the country heading into conference championship week.

Penn State earned its way into the Big Ten title game vs. Oregon after Ohio State‘s upset loss to Michigan on Saturday. After the Nittany Lions lost the head-to-head against the Buckeyes, their chances at being in this matchup seemed out of the question. Now that they’re the opportunity has presented itself, and are likely in the CFP no matter the outcome, Oregon is going to get Penn State’s best shot in Indianapolis.

“They’re kind of a kind of a team that feels a little bit forgotten,” Herbstreit said of the Nittany Lions. “I think everybody assumed Ohio State would be there playing Oregon in a rematch. Ohio State lost [to Oregon] by one point. I think people, a lot of people, just aren’t really giving Penn State much credence after they lost to Ohio State at home.

“This a huge stage, a huge opportunity for them. … Dan Lanning, he’s made a point of making sure this is not about pretty uniforms and flash and dash. This is about an attitude of physicality. He did it last year. Those guys came very close. Remember, they couldn’t quite get over the hump against Washington, and now they bring a lot of those guys back for this team, and I think they’re very confident team, but I like Penn State’s physicality.”