Penn State Football: Nittany Lions overthink horrible fourth-down play

With the game and possibly Big Ten East championship on the line, Penn State football shot themselves in the foot and lost the biggest game of the season by a point.

It was a back and forth affair throughout the evening at Beaver Stadium during Penn State’s annual White Out game. It ended on an uninspiring play call by Penn State with the game on the line. For the second year in a row, Ohio State walked away with a one point victory in the match-up.

The head-scratching play call came on a fourth-and-five at the Ohio State 43-yard line with the Lions driving for at least a chance at a game-winning field goal. Quarterback Trace McSorley took the snap and handed off the ball to Miles Sanders, who was smothered in the backfield for a 2-yard loss and just like that the game was over.

The play call was so bizarre. On a night where McSorley had gashed the Buckeyes on the ground for 175 yards in addition to throwing for 286 yards and two scores, the Lions decided to give it to Sanders. The junior running back had been good through four games, including his 200-yard performance last week against Illinois. However, all night Ohio State had bottled him up, rendering him ineffective outside of a one-yard rushing touchdown.

Not only did the play not work, but James Franklin had called two timeouts to get the right play call and that is what they went with. They opted to take the ball out of the hands of McSorely, and it backfired.

The Lions tried to get cute early in the game with play calls to backup quarterback Tommy Stevens and the Buckeyes were all over it. The Lions had many negative yardage plays in a first half where they dominated and could have had a lot more than 13 points.

This loss lies squarely at the feet of Franklin and his offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne. With the game on the line, they over thought it and it cost them the game. Now the Lions will have an off week to try to regroup before facing Michigan State. They are still in the conference race but they will need a lot of help with at least two Ohio State losses.