I didn’t think coming in that this game was going to be as competitive and as close as it turned out. I had anticipated a rematch with Ohio State and with the Ducks barely winning at home during their first encounter with the Buckeyes this year I wasn’t going to be surprised if they lost the second go around. But with the Ohio State loss to Michigan in The Shoe no less and Penn State’s elevation into the conference championship it turned out to be a great game with both teams obviously well deserving to be representing the very best of the Big Ten. But somebody has to win and as is often the case when teams that are close in talent compete it’s the mistakes that end up costing you.
In this one Oregon was leading 45-to-37 and the Nittany Lions had the ball with two minutes left in the game. Having scored a TD late in the first quarter in under two minutes and considering that Penn State had come back to stay close every time the Ducks had forged ahead in the game, I wasn’t going to be surprised if they came down, got the TD and executed a two-point conversion to tie the score and send it to overtime. But it didn’t happen that way. Two plays into their drive Drew Allar, the Penn State Junior QB, threw his second interception of the game which sealed their fate and the score. Earlier in the second quarter, also just two plays into their drive, Allar threw his first interception—this one just four yards outside his own red zone to Oregon’s Dontae Manning who ran it back to the 1 yard one. Three seconds later the Duck’s Junior RB Jordan James had the ball in the end zone to go up 28-10 at the time.
Oregon got the ball to start the game, scored a TD on their first possession on a 28 yard TD pass from Senior QB Dillon Gabriel to Sophomore TE Kenyon Sadiq to go up 7-0, took the lead and never gave it up the entire rest of the game. Sadiq would catch a second Gabriel pass—he only caught two the entire game—also for a TD. But it was Senior WR Tez Johnson, named game MVP, who dazzled while collecting 11 receptions for 181 yards and a TD, averaging 16.5 yards per catch. Soon to be an NFL TE, Senior Terrance Ferguson at 6’ 5” 255 lbs caught the other Gabriel TD pass to make it four on the day and who has now thrown for more career TD’s than any other QB in the history of the NCAA. Now with 18,423 career yards and playoff games to go, Gabriel will have an opportunity to become the NCAA’s all time passing leader ahead of Case Keenum who, while playing for Houston, threw for 19,217 yards. In this game, Gabriel was 22-of-32 for 283 yards and those four TD’s while on the ground it was Jordan James with now over 1200+ yards on the season who led the way—carrying 20 times for 87 yards and two TD’s. For the Nittany Lions, QB Drew Allar connected on 20-of-39 for 226 yards, 3 TD’s and those two interceptions while also rushing five times for 54 yards and another score on the ground. Junior RB’s Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton combined for 229 of the team’s 297 total yards rushing on 24 carries with Allen picking up the only other TD for the Nittany Lions on the ground.