2025 PSU vs. Northwestern

HOMECOMING / STRIPE OUT GAME

Oct. 11, 3:30pm EDT, Beaver Stadium, FS1

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#NR/22 PSU 21 Northwestern 22

Game Flow & Summary

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Game Six

First Half

  • This loss would mark the sudden end of the James Franklin era (2014-2025/Record: 104-45) at Penn State. He would be fired the day after the game by AD Patrick Kraft following a 3-3, 0-3 start to the season which included a devastating road loss to winless and heavy underdog UCLA followed by this loss to unranked and 3-touchdown underdog Northwestern that led to his being booed off the field by the home crowd. Kraft named long-time Franklin assistant Terry Smith as the Interim Head Coach for the remainder of this season. Smith is a former player at PSU under Joe Paterno (1987-1991). Franklin and Penn State had fallen from the #2 ranked team in the pre-season polls (and a solid national title contender) to completely off the football map in just 6 games. And to make matters even worse, this game saw the season-ending injury to starting QB Drew Allar who suffered a reported broken ankle in the 4th quarter. Surgery on Oct. 15 was said to be successful. Ethan Grunkemeyer (Redshirt-Freshman) will take the controls at QB.

  • The game atmosphere was testy, at best, with a definite sharp edge to it. The not-quite capacity crowd at Beaver Stadium (despite the official attendance number) started out unhappy with Franklin (booing his pre-game image on the video scoreboards) and it went downhill from there.

  • 1st Quarter begins—Gabe Nwosu kicks off to Northwestern in the South endzone for a touchback—The Wildcats begin 1st and 10 at their 25

  • NW 1st possession will be brief covering 15 yards in 5 plays ending in a big break for the Lions—The Cats did pick up a first down on the series when Dani Dennis-Sutton DE continued a recent trend of getting caught lining-up offsides on 3rd and 4 at the 31 (it would be the first of 5 first downs handed to NW by PSU penalties in this game)—Northwestern completed a pass for 4 yards, but the next two throws, short and then deep, were incomplete bringing on the punt unit on 4th and 6 at the 40—For the second week in a row, Dani Dennis-Sutton broke through and blocked the punt—It rolled sideways out of bounds at the NW 31—It was the first time since 1989 that a PSU player blocked a punt in back-to-back games (Andre Collins) and it’s the first season since 2019 to see the Nittany Lions with 3 or more blocked punts

  • PSU 1st possession will not go as desired covering 21 yards on 5 plays and ending in an INT—1st and 10 at the NW 31, Kaytron Allen RB opens things with a 3-yard run to the 28—Drew Allar hits on his first pass to Devonte Ross WR picking up 6 yards to the 22—Two more runs from Allen put the Lions at the NW 10—On 2nd and 2, Allar is in a hurry-up offense and may have rushed himself into underthrowing Liam Clifford WR in the left side of the endzone—Ore Adeyi of Northwestern makes the easy interception and then returns it up the sideline for 33 yards before Allar himself can bump him out of bounds—It was Allar’s 3rd INT of the season (13th of his career)

  • NW 2nd possession will begin at its own 33 and cover 58 yards in 12 plays and result in the game’s first score—Three runs followed by 3 straight complete passes and another run have the Wildcats looking at 2nd and 9 at the Penn State 21-yard line—Joseph Himon RB rushes for 3 yards to the 18 where a face mask penalty on Alonzo Ford DT moves the ball half the distance to the goal line giving NW a first and goal at the 9—Preston Stone QB then slips and is sacked by Zane Durant for a 4-yard loss back to the 13—On 2nd and goal from the 13, Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant blow up the run for no gain—Northwestern will then pick up 4 yards on a rush back to the 9 where they opt for the field goal unit—Jack Olsen is good from 27 yards and Northwestern leads Penn State 3-0 with 2:51 to go in the 1st period

  • PSU 2nd possession begins at its own 13-yard line after Andrew Rappleyea TE is called for Unsportsmanlike Conduct during the kickoff on what should have been a simple touchback at the 25—The second major penalty of the 1st quarter on PSU moves the ball back half the distance towards the goal line—The PSU drive itself will cross into the 2nd period running 12 plays for 87 yards and will result in the game’s first touchdown—Two short completions by Allar and two runs from Kaytron Allen move the ball out to the 34—On 3rd and 5 at the 34, Allar goes over the middle to Devonte Ross who makes the diving catch for 20 yards and a first down at the NW 46 to end the 1st period with Penn State trailing 3-0—2nd quarter begins—1st and 10 at the NW 46, Kaytron gets 5 yards to the 41—On 2nd down, what looked to be a potentially big play instead goes fizzle as Allar throws it backwards to his left to Liam Clifford who takes a look downfield, but he passes on the pass, and tries the run picking up only 2 yards before going out of bounds at the 39—On 3rd and 3, Allar picks up the first down with a 4-yard completion to Trebor Pena WR—After that, PSU sticks with the run—Kaytron for 5 and Allar for 10 more and the first down after not finding an open receiver—On 1st and 10 at the NW 20, Kaytron cuts hard left for 9 yards down to the 11—On 2nd and 1, Penn State goes hurry-up and Kaytron Allen finds a huge hole over left tackle and he takes it 11 yards to the endzone for the TD (his 7th of the season/31st of his career)—Ryan Barker kicks the PAT and Penn State takes the lead 7-3 over Northwestern with 11:40 to go in the 2nd period

  • NW 3rd possession begins at its 25 after the touchback on the Nwosu kickoff—The drive covers 75 yards in 8 plays and results in a touchdown—Three straight runs netted 15 yards to the 40—On 2nd and 7, Prestone Stone completes a short pass for a 3-yard gain to the 43, but a Personal Foul for a late hit is called on Dejuan Lane S (the 3rd major foul called on PSU in this half) and the 15 yards gives NW a first down at the PSU 42—Two short runs and a 10-yard screen pass completion (helped by a holding non-call) give the Wildcats a 1st and 10 at the 29—Preston Stone then finds Griffin Wilde open in the left endzone behind AJ Harris CB (who seemed to back off somewhat on the coverage at the goal line) for the 29-yard TD and Northwestern re-takes the lead 10-7 over Penn State with 7:14 to play in the 2nd quarter

  • PSU 3rd possession is a 3-and-out… and in again—3 plays, 3 yards—The highlight of the possession came on the kickoff where Corey Smith RB took the ball at the PSU 4 and returned it 34 yards to the 38-yard line (his 2nd 30+ yard return this season)—A shovel pass to Devonte Ross crossing to the left loses 2 yards to the 36—Nick Singleton’s first carry of the game gets 5 back to the 41—On 3rd and 7, Allar’s pass to Kyron Hudson along the right sideline at midfield is broken-up and it’s time to punt for the first time—Gabe Nwosu pops a 35-yard punt which draws a fair catch signal from Drew Wagner at the NW 24, but he muffs the catch and Audavion Collins CB makes the recovery for PSU at the NW 26 yard line and the Nittany Lions are right back in business with 5:39 left in the first half (it’s PSU’s 8th take-away of the season/4th fumble recovery)

  • PSU 4th possession of the game and 2nd with a short field will fare much better than the 1st of each—The drive will cover the 26 yards in 9 plays and deliver the touchdown about 4 plays later than the fans would have preferred—Allar keeps for 4 followed by Singleton’s longest rush of the game-7 yards to the 15—Singleton then carries twice for 4 yards to the 11—On 3rd and 6, Allar looks to throw, but opts to run, gets a block on the right, and gets the first down at the 4 on the 7-yard pickup—Here’s where the fans got a tad testy—Allar misses on a throw to an open Singleton out to the left for a sure TD—Singleton then only gets 2 up the middle and then gets nothing on a run to the right—Northwestern calls timeout with 1:23 to go because they sense an opportunity might be coming—4th and goal for PSU at the 2, much to everyone’s relief, Allar pitches to Singleton who dashes to the wide open space on the left and into the endzone for the 2-yard TD (his 6th of the season/38th of career)—Ryan Barker adds the PAT kick and Penn State re-takes the lead 14-10 over Northwestern with 1:19 to go in the half

  • NW 4th possession will be worth the delay for the Wildcats—After the touchback on the Nwosu kickoff, the drive will cover 59 yards in 10 plays, effectively kill the 1st half clock, and will result in a field goal—Critically, this drive will be helped along by two more major penalties on Penn State giving the Cats 30 of their 59 yards—Penn State calls timeout after a 2 yard gain by NW on 1st down thinking it might have one more chance if they get the Wildcats off the field in 3 plays—It won’t happen—On 2nd and 8, Caleb Komolafe is smothered for a 6-yard loss by Audavion Collins and Zuriah Fisher—But, Zuriah is flagged for a face mask erasing the loss and moving the ball out to the NW 42 (that’s the 4th major penalty of the half)—Preston Stone hits 2 of his next 3 passes for a net 25 yards that moves the Cats to the PSU 32—Zuriah Fisher then pressures Stone into an incompletion—And on the next play, Fisher pressures Stone into a second incomplete pass, but this time, Zuriah is flagged for Roughing the Passer (questionable call in that the hit did not appear late on replay and there was no helmet contact)—Northwestern now has a 1st down at the PSU 17 with 21 seconds left—The Wildcats are out of timeouts and need to throw—Stone’s next two passes are incomplete (the second one broken-up by Elliot Washington at the 4 yard line)—With 12 seconds left, Stone opts to run on 3rd down, gets a yard and gets out of bounds at the 16 setting up the NW field goal chance—Jack Olsen connects from 34 yards and Northwestern cuts the Penn State lead to 14-13 with 3 seconds left in the half

  • Northwestern ends the half with an intentionally short kickoff to force a return and kill the final 3 seconds—Anthony Speca LB gets the ball at the PSU 27 and returns it 6 yards to end the half—Penn State leads Northwestern 14-13 at the break

  • Bad 1st half stat: Penn State hit with 6 penalties (5 of them major penalties—3 of which helped NW on two scoring drives that resulted in 10 points)

  • 1st half PSU Stats: Drew Allar 6 of 9 passing for 35 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT (only completed 2 passes for 2 yards in 2nd quarter)

  • Kaytron Allen: 9 for 59 yards, 1 TD (11 yds.)

  • Nick Singleton: 7 for 20 yards, 1 TD (2 yds.)—all rushing stats are from 2nd quarter/would not rush again in this game

Second Half

  • 3rd Quarter begins—Penn State receives opening kick—Lions will start 1st and 10 at own 30 after 5-yard penalty on Northwestern for an illegal formation on the kick team

  • PSU 5th possession will net only 14 yards on 6 plays leading to a punt—Penn State will pick up a first down and reach the 42 yard line after a 7-yard pass completion from Drew Allar to Devonte Ross—After that, Allar’s pass to Kyron Hudson is low and incomplete—Kaytron Allen rushes for 2 yards and Allar is pressured into a second incomplete pass to Trebor Pena at the 45 to bring on the punt unit—Gabe Nwosu booms a 54-yard punt that is allowed to drop inside the 10 and Penn State’s Tyler Holzworth kills it at the NW 2

  • NW 5th possession begins at its own 2 and will last only 5 plays, gaining 19 yards and resulting in a punt—A 7-yard rush on 2nd and 10 by Preston Stone QB will push the ball out to the 21—On 3rd and 3, Zuriah Fisher pressures Stone into an incomplete pass and NW punts—The 49-yard punt is to Devonte Ross for a fair catch at the PSU 30

  • PSU 6th possession is another short-lived one—6 plays, 25 yards, ending in a punt—Allar gets a quick first down on an 11-yard pass to Ross who spins up to the 41—And a second first down on a 10-yard completion to Kyron Hudson to the NW 47—But next, Allar throws incomplete to Kaytron Allen who was not expecting the ball, and then Allar is pressured into overthrowing Luke Reynolds TE at the NW 25 (the only pass of this game that targeted a Tight End)—On 3rd and 10 at the 47, Allar keeps up middle for only 2 yards and PSU is forced to punt—Nwosu pops a 35-yarder for a fair catch at the NW 10

  • NW 6th possession will chew-up just under 6 minutes but will only cover 29 yards on 8 plays and then amazingly end in a punt that turns the game upside down—Virtually unnoticed, Daryus Dixson CB almost makes something happen for the Lions on 1st down when the short completed gets a yard to the 11 and he forces the fumble only to have the receiver recover—A combined 2 rushes and 2 complete passes will result in 2 first downs out to the 37—Dani Dennis-Sutton stuffs a short pass completion for no gain—A 2nd down run gets 7 to the 44, but on 3rd and 3, Amare Campbell stuffs the run for no gain and it’s punt time—A delay of game penalty pushes the Wildcats back 5 yards and it’s 4th and 8 at the NW 39—Luke Akers punt sails 49 yards to the PSU 12 where Devonte Ross backpedals and mishandles the ball—It’s a muff and NW’s Dashun Reeder recovers at the Penn State 9 yard line and it’s 1st and goal for the Cats—NOTE: Replay clearly shows that the refs missed a face mask penalty on Northwestern’s Evan Smith who grabbed Ross’ mask and ripped off his helmet while Ross was on the ground and the play was still live (Reeder had not yet recovered the ball)—This should have negated the muff and resulted in a re-punt after a 15 yard penalty on the Wildcats back to the NW 24—The refs would also be confused by Daryus Dixson coming onto the field to play defense after the turnover—Dixson, like Ross, wears #5 and because the refs thought Ross had “lost or removed his helmet on the field”, he would have to sit out a play and they initially tried to send off Dixson until he clarified he was not Ross

  • NW 7th possession which carried into the 4th quarter would not go how the Wildcats expected—The Penn State defense rose up and the Cats’ 4 plays would go 14 yards in the wrong direction, and they would be held to a field goal on what began as a 1st and goal at the PSU 9—Northwestern picked up a yard on a 1st down run to close the quarter—Penn State leads 14-10 after 3rd period—4th quarter begins—2nd and goal from the 8 is an incomplete pass where the receiver pulled up with a leg injury at the goal line and had to be helped off the field—On 3rd down, Zuriah Fisher delivers big as he pressures Preston Stone into a huge 15-yard loss on a sack back at the 23 yard line—This forces the Wildcats to take the field goal and the Jack Olsen kick from 41-yards out is good—Northwestern slips back on top 16-14 with 14:08 left in the game

  • PSU 7th possession would begin with a mental error by the kick return team, but would end in success—91 yards on 6 plays including Allar’s longest pass completion of the season en route to the endzone—The Northwestern kickoff is handled by reserve RB Tyler Holzworth at the goal line—Holzworth inexplicably fielded the kick moving into the endzone with his back to the field of play, and likely lost his sense of where he actually caught the ball (he hesitates and thinks—”was I in the endzone or outside the endzone when i touched the ball?”)—The ball had broken the plane before he caught it, and he could have downed it for a touchback out to the 25—But uncertainty led Holzworth to bring it back out and he was tackled at the 9 for technical net loss of 16 yards in field position in the 4th quarter of a 2-point game (It should be noted that fellow returner Corey Smith failed to help here—he should have seen where Holzworth was and waved-off the return)—The drive starts slowly with a 1-yard tipped pass to Kaytron Allen and a 4-yard run by Allen to the 14—On 3rd and 5, Allar gets the ball to Devonte Ross crossing at the 17 and he slips a tackle and gets away for 67 yards to the NW 19 before he sort of runs out of gas (it’s the longest pass play of the season for PSU so far)—On 1st and 10 at the NW 19, Kaytron Allen goes up the middle, cuts right and gets the endzone for an apparent TD—But, video replay overturns the TD (down by contact short of breaking the plane) and gives PSU 1st and goal at the 1—Kaytron takes a second crack at a TD diving over the top, but he’s ruled short again at roughly the half yard line—On 2nd and goal, it’s Allar on the keeper straight ahead for the 1-yard TD (Allar’s 1st rushing TD of the season/12th of his career)—Ryan Barker tacks on the PAT kick and Penn State seesaws back on top 21-16 with 10:50 to go in the 4th quarter

  • NW 8th possession would cover 75 yards in 11 plays and find the endzone for the final score of the game—The Wildcats would begin at their 25 following the touchback on the Nwosu kickoff—Preston Stone completed 4 of his 5 passes on the drive with 3 of the passes delivering double-digit yards taking the Cats to a first down on the PSU 20—Caleb Komolafe does the rest with a 9-yard run, a 2-yard run, and a 9-yard run where a missed tackle allows him to bounce through a hole for the score and a 1-point lead—The only thing that went wrong for Northwestern was the 2-point conversion try where Komolafe is stopped cold at the 3-yard line (a positive note for special teams on another uneven day)—Northwestern assumes the lead again 22-21 over Penn State with 4:51 left in the game—Penn State still has a legitimate chance and plenty of time (and the Nittany Lions only need a field goal)

  • PSU 8th possession will begin on its 25-yard line following the touchback on the kickoff; in under 2 minutes, it will end the Penn State careers of the head coach and the starting quarterback in just 4 plays (and 7 yards)—It goes badly from the start as Allar’s screen pass to Nick Singleton is nearly intercepted and manages to lose 3 yards back to the 22—On 2nd down, Allar connects again with Singleton over the middle for 9 yards out to the 31—The next two plays will alter Penn State football history—On 3rd and 4 from the 31, Allar can’t find a receiver, so he keeps it straight ahead and gains a yard before he’s hit high and low by Northwestern’s Carmine Bastone and Mac Uihlein—The low hit from Bastone looked on replay like a direct dive into Allar’s left leg with an elbow—Allar grabs at his left ankle and stays down for several minutes before he is assisted in walking to the sidelines with 3:26 to go in the game—Allar may, or may not, have known in that moment that he was done for the year (the announcement would officially come in the post-game news conference)—Enter the #2 QB Ethan Grunkemeyer who has not seen substantial playing time since week one—It’s 4th and 3 at the PSU 32 and it’s a must make—Grunkemeyer keeps and drives into the line for no gain—It's a turnover on downs and it’s going to lead to turnover of head coaches less than 24 hours later

  • NW 9th possession begins with 3 minutes left in the game and it’s a clock killer—In 8 plays, the Wildcats will consume all 3 minutes, 20 net yards, 3 Nittany Lion timeouts, the last remaining playoff hopes of Penn State, the tolerance of the PSU crowd, and James Franklin’s final moments as head coach—The most notable play was Joseph Himon’s 17-yard run to the PSU 2 where he intentionally downed himself rather than score to help kill the clock—From there it was 3 kneel downs and done—Penn State loses to Northwestern 22-21—The Lions have dropped 3 in a row for a 3-3, 0-3 record at the halfway mark of the season—Franklin is booed as he leaves through the South endzone tunnel—On Sunday, Pat Kraft would drop the hammer on James Franklin ending his 12-year stay in State College—And the conversation at PSU would shift to buyouts, new coaching candidates, surgery for Allar, thoughts on how the back-up QB would fare in the final 6 games beginning with road trips to Iowa and Ohio State, and questions about what happened to the team that had reached the final 4 in ‘24 and was a shoe-in candidate to maybe win it all

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