Joel Klatt blasts Penn State, Andy Kotelnicki for goal-line playcall vs. Ohio State
On Saturday, Penn State trailed Ohio State 20-13 with 7:35 left in the fourth quarter when Nittany Lions tight end Tyler Warren broke out a 33-yard run to put PSU on the Buckeyes’ 3-yard line. Over the next four plays, Penn State failed to find the end zone and turned the ball over on downs.
Ohio State never gave the Nittany Lions the ball back, keeping its offense on the field for five minutes and ultimately running out the clock. On Monday, FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt ripped PSU for failing to score in the fourth quarter.
“That was the play selection for Penn State? Like, what are we doing?” Klatt said. “[Penn State offensive coordinator] Andy Kotelnicki, we’ve been singing his praises all year for his creativity, the way that he gets the stars the ball.
“So they’ve got five snaps inside the 5-yard line — one in the first half, four at the end of the game — and [Nick] Singleton and Warren never touched the ball. That cannot happen.”
After reaching Ohio State’s 3-yard line, Penn State ran the ball with Kaytron Allen three times. Then, Drew Allar threw an incomplete pass on fourth down. As Klatt mentioned, Penn State also didn’t give the ball to Singleton or Warren when it was in the red zone in the first half, either.
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It was an unusual issue for Penn State on Saturday. The Nittany Lions have scored touchdowns 87.9% of the time they’ve reached the red zone this season. Klatt believes the team’s shortcomings were due to their failure to give Warren the ball.
“Their best, without a doubt, low red zone — I call it — so inside-the-5 game plan is when they snap the ball to Tyler Warren,” Klatt said. “He’s reading stretch, he’s diving over the top, he’s throwing swing routes, he’s running it. It was their most effective way to run the football in the game against Ohio State.
“They will lament that issue and this was an issue that was supposed to be a directive coming in; that they would not go down without giving the ball to their best. And guess what? They go down without giving the ball to their best. My goodness, that’s got to be frustrating for Penn State and Penn State fans.”