After having to punt the ball away to start the game leading to Penn State taking an early 3-0 lead on a 34 yard field goal, the Trojans would score back-to-back touchdowns and then a field goal after picking off the Nittany Lions Junior QB Drew Allar at the PSU 26 yard line to go up 17-3 five minutes into the 2nd Qtr. Each team would score another field goal before the half with USC going in up 20-to-6 at the break.
Apparently taking the first half to just get acclimated to Pacific Standard Time, the Nittany Lions wasted no time after the break while scoring on back-to-back TD’s of their own to tie the score up at 20 a piece with just under five minutes left in the 3rd Qtr. A punt by the Trojans on their next possession and a Drew Allar interception by USC at the PSU 24 yard line would set up their place kicker Michael Lantz to connect on another field goal, this one from 39 yards out, to go back up 23-20 with less than a minute left in the 3rd Qtr. But 9 plays and 72 yards later Penn State would tie it back up at 23-23 with a Ryan Barker 20 yard field goal of their own with less than 11 minutes left in the 4th Qtr. Miller Moss would put the Trojans back up 30-23 almost five minutes later at the end of a 9 play 75 yard drive. Now with just six minutes left it felt like this back-and-forth game with multiple ties was leaning toward a win for the team that had the ball last or a tied game that goes into overtime. Sure enough the Nittany Lions, with a 75 yard drive of their own, tie it up at 30 a piece with less than three minutes left in the game. As if the game couldn’t get any more dramatic the two teams seemingly collaborate for a Hollywood ending—back-to-back interceptions with time expiring to send the game into overtime.
To review a bit on how we got here. USC was up 30-23 and Penn State made two 4th down must haves—one a 4th and 7 pass from the PSU 44 and the second a 4th and 10 pass from the USC 39—that kept their 12 play 75 yard drive alive so that their Junior QB Drew Allar could hit RB Nicholas Singleton sitting out in the flat with no one anywhere near him for a 14 yard TD and tie the game at 30 each. Penn State wins the toss for the overtime and chooses to defend. Miller Moss throws an incomplete pass on the first down and Woody Marks’ run on the 2nd down loses three yards. Now 3rd and 13, Moss throws another pass that isn’t caught but looks clearly interfered with. A no call leads to a 45 yard Michael Lantz field goal attempt who had already made three in the game including one from 47 yards out. But this one misses. Four plays later the Trojans get beat by a walk-on red-shirt freshman place kicker by the name of Ryan Barker who hits a 36 yard field goal to win it 33-30 in overtime for Penn State who stay undefeated at 6-0 and 3-0 in conference. With their second 3-point loss to a ranked team USC drops to 3-3 overall and 1-3 in conference.