Penn State football, James Franklin analysis after loss to Ohio State

STATE COLLEGE − Yet another excruciating Penn State football loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes cut hard here Saturday.

For the fans who booed as the Nittany Lions left the field.

For the head coach who jawed back at them.

For the players who couldn’t make the few crucial plays, yet again, to beat their all-powerful nemesis.

And so the national storyline will continue to flow: A James Franklin-coached team can’t win the biggest games. Penn State can’t beat Ohio State. These Lions are still not “elite,” as Franklin promised six years ago here.

Yes, they still can rally and achieve everything they ever wanted in the expanded College Football Playoff world. The biggest problem is, who can believe in that right now? Not if focused on this kind of day, in these moments, with an eighth-straight defeat to these Buckeyes.

Because, on Saturday, Penn State had stood tall with one grand opportunity after another to make the crucial play and stay undefeated and overcome its big-game struggles.

And the Lions failed, over and again, like they did in giving up big leads and losing by a point to Ohio State in 2017 and 2018. By giving up a fourth-quarter lead to the Buckeyes in 2022. By having a game-changing touchdown called back by penalty last year.

This time? Twice, the Lions had a first down inside the 5-yard line. Twice, they failed to score a single point.

It cost them the game.

Penn State football: ‘It’s heartbreaking. It’s something I wish on nobody.’

And, so, afterward, those who stuck around from the record-setting Beaver Stadium crowd booed and derided Franklin. He quickly boiled over, challenging one of them.

“I understand the (fan) frustration,” Franklin said, calm and collected 15 minutes later in the postgame interview room.

“Guys in the locker room are just as frustrated, if not more, but college football has changed. We have an opportunity moving forward to right some wrongs from today, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.

“I get the frustration. We have an unbelievable crowd here today, we get unbelievable support. You don’t do that without passion. There’s great things that come from that and there’s hard things that come from that. That’s part of the job. And I own it all.” 

His players, of course, do, too. They were mostly stoic while talking to reporters, almost numb from it all.

Those like senior defensive leader D’von J-Thomas has lost to Ohio State every season, mostly in close, what-could-have-been games. This was his sixth time.

“You chase perfection every single day. In the off-season, all the workouts that we do, the amount of film that we watch, the attention to detail, our technique. For you to go through all of that and to come into these situations and not come through? Or not win out like you think you should, like you know you should?”

He paused for a few moments, and nearly broke up.

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s something I wish on nobody.”

That is understandable. It’s also the same storyline playing out again − at least until it’s not.

Because Franklin and J-Thomas and other team leaders like quarterback Drew Allar and running back Nick Singleton pointed out, over and again, how this really can be different.

The Lions have lost only one of their biggest games so far, not two.

And one loss would almost certainly get a top-10 team into the College Football Playoff. (Penn State will be favored in its final four games).

Which, then, turns to this: For the first time, this typical mid-season frustration can actually be conquered and driven away.

The Lions will have to prove that, of course. A challenge, at this moment, that probably feels a lot more difficult than it needs to.

That goes to the heart of it: Allowing another failure to fester vs. the potential revival there for the taking.

Because there really still is a different kind of opportunity ahead.

If they can just get by how they feel, again, right now.

Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.