INDIANAPOLIS — Penn State came up on the wrong end of a 45-38 defeat at the hands of the No. 1 Oregon Ducks in the Big Ten Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday night.
The Ducks used their ability to get into space in a big way while also utilizing the skills of Heisman-hopeful Dillon Gabriel to take down a Penn State offense that had 516 total yards.
It was a far from ideal night for both defenses. But there were a lot of good moments, bad moments and moments in between for Penn State in this one.
BIGGEST OPPONENT
The biggest opponent for Penn State Saturday night was ultimately themselves. In the first quarter, they couldn’t get out of their own way with crippling penalties and not being able to finish drives.
Defensively, there were a few letdowns and plays that went awry, but credit to Oregon for continuously executing play after play when they needed to.
Drew Allar’s second quarter interception set Oregon up at the 1-yard line after the return which led to the fourth touchdown of the game by the Ducks as they went ahead 28-10 early. Allar’s second interception came with 1:54 left in the contest with the Nittany Lions driving down the field, trailing by seven to all but seal the game for Oregon.
The Nittany Lions finished the game with five penalties for 65 yards while the Ducks would be penalized only three times for 24 yards on the night.
OLD FASHIONED SHOOTOUT
With 55 points in the first half, the two teams set a Big Ten Championship game record for points in a half. Neither team stopped throughout the contest though the second half featured far less scoring.
The two teams combined for nearly 1,000 yards of total offense coming in at 984 for the evening.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.The Nittany Lions finished with 518 yards of offense with 292 coming on the ground and 226 through the air. The Ducks were just a tad behind with 466 yards of offense, 283 coming via the pass and 183 on the ground.
RUNNING WILD
Those 266 yards on the ground featured both Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen rushing for over 100 yards a piece. Allen finished with a game-high 124 yards and a touchdown while Singleton had 105 yards and added 43 receiving yards and a touchdown on the night.
It marked the second time this season the duo rushed for 100 yards each in a game, the first since Bowling Green the second week of the season.
Allar added 54 yards and a touchdown on the ground in the loss.
BONUS: QUACK QUACK
At the heart of it all, Oregon executed when it mattered the most. Leading that charge was Gabriel who for four touchdowns and 283 yards through the air.
Every time it seemed like the Nittany Lions had him where they wanted, he escaped and would find someone down the field for a big gain or even recover his own fumble.
They played a near flawless game and on the flip side, the Nittany Lions did not. That being said, Penn State still was in the game for a majority of the contest and managed to do so despite playing far from their best game.
