2025 PSU vs. Oregon

3rd Quarter begins—Penn State receives—Kick is a touchback—PSU begins 1st and 10 from its 25—

PSU 5th possession will last 9 plays for 39 yards and ends in a punt—The drive gets off to a decent start highlighted by a 16-yard pass completion to Khalil Dinkins to the Oregon 49—An Allar 8-yard run gets another first down to the 37—But Allar tries to run again and is sacked for the second time in the game for a 2-yard loss—Singleton gets 3 yards to the 36 and then Allar keeps for no gain on 3rd and 9—PSU makes a critical decision in a 3-3 game, and opts to punt on 4th down at the 36 instead of letting Ryan Barker attempt a probable 53-yard FG in a game in which he’s already made from 49 yards—A non-aggressive move against a team that’s been aggressive—Nwosu’s punt is a touchback giving Oregon the ball at its 20 instead of the 36 if Barker had missed the new career-long field goal (a technical gain of 16 yards to help the PSU defense)

Oregon 6th possession sees the Ducks respond with a 10-play, 80-yard drive for a touchdown, but not without controversy—Oregon moves quickly to midfield surprising the Lions on 3rd and 3 at the 27 with a Moore pass to Kenyon Sadiq TE for a 23-yard gain and a first down at the 50—Two plays later, Dierre Hill rushes for 24 yards out of bounds at the PSU 23—Three plays later, Oregon is 1st and goal at the PSU 9—The next play will alter the game’s momentum in one direction and then the other—Noah Whittington RB picks up maybe a yard up the middle where he is contacted by the defense, he turns and nearly falls, but appears to avoid contacting the ground and continues his run only to have Chaz Coleman DE engage him from behind, and clearly punch the ball out after Whittington has lost a yard back to the PSU 10—It’s a fumble—Zakee Wheatley S immediately scoops up the loose ball and makes it out 39 yards near midfield where he’s forced out of bounds at the PSU 49—The play immediately went under replay review and was ruled that Whittington’s knee was down by initial contact and the later fumble/return was overturned—However, the video evidence was a single camera view that really did not show ‘conclusively’ that the knee had contacted the ground, simply that it had come close to doing so—That reversal seemed to take the starch out of the Nittany Lions defense and the fans—(This will be one of those “What if” moments that PSU fans will always wonder about)—Whittington was also ruled to have gained a yard, so Oregon was now 2nd goal from the 8—Dante Moore then throws short right to Dierre Hill at the 9 and he takes it 8 yards to the endzone for the game’s first touchdown—Oregon leads Penn State 10-3 with 3:16 to go in the third period

PSU 6th possession is a 3-and-out netting 1 yard in 54 seconds—Allar’s 3 passes were incomplete, complete to Singleton for 1 yard, and incomplete forcing the punt—Nwosu’s punt has an Australian-style flare for 49 yards and a fair catch at the Oregon 25

Oregon 7th possession will carry into the fourth period covering 75 yards on 10 plays and will give the Ducks what might have felt like an enormous 14-point lead—Four runs and a pass had Oregon at the PSU 46 at the end of the 3rd—Oregon leads Penn State 10-3 after 3 quarters—4th quarter begins—A 29-yard pass from Moore to Moore puts the Ducks in the Red Zone at the 17—Four runs will finish the job as Oregon stays aggressive and goes for it on 4th down—4th and 1 at the 8, Jordan Davison up the middle for the score—Oregon extends its lead to 17-3 over Penn State with 12:25 go in the 4th—Penn State is in serious trouble

PSU 7th possession is like a different team has entered the game—The Lions move in lightning fashion covering 75 yards in 4 plays for the touchdown in 1:55—1st and 10 at the 25, Allar finds Reynolds for 9—Kaytron Allen goes up the middle for 19 yards to the Oregon 47—Allar then hits Trebor Pena at the 46 yard line and he moves them 12 yards to the 35—Allar then drops back and unloads long down the right side to Devonte Ross who’s gotten behind 2 defenders in the endzone and the pass is on the money for the 35-yard touchdown (Ross’ 2nd TD catch & Allar’s 5th TD pass of 2025)—The fans can start to dream of a comeback after the Ryan Barker PAT—Penn State trails Oregon 17-10 with 10:30 to go in the 4th period

Oregon 8th possession will only net 7 yards on 6 plays ending in a much-needed short punt—After a quick 15 yards following the touchback on the Nwosu kickoff, it’s 3rd and 6 at the 40, but PSU’s Dani Dennis-Sutton manages to draw a reaction from an Oregon lineman that results in an Unsportsmanlike Conduct 15-yard penalty—The Ducks 3rd and 21 pass only gets 7 and they are forced to punt—The punt is shanked, only 30 yards, and goes out of bounds at the PSU 38

PSU 8th possession begins with 7:07 to go in the 4th, and will consume over 6 and a half minutes of that clock on a 15-play, 62-yard drive for the game-tying TD—The first two plays get 1 yard, but on 3rd and 9, Allar, with a block from Singleton, picks up 20 yards and a first down at the Oregon 41—After an incomplete pass, Allar has nobody open so he keeps it for 8 yards to the 33—Singleton needs short runs on both 3rd and 4th downs for the first at the 30—A false start penalty on center Nick Dawkins adds to the difficulty of getting the next first down—PSU calls timeout with 2:43 to go on 4th and 1 at the 21—It’s Allar on the keeper to the 19 to keep the drive alive—Two Kaytron Allen runs (One on 3rd and inches) give State the 1st and goal at the 7—Next up, a little misdirection, as Allar fakes to Singleton moving right, and shovels the ball forward to Devonte Ross crossing left in front of him behind the line, and Ross cuts around the left for the 7-yard TD (Ross’ 2nd TD of the game/3rd of the season & 6th TD pass for Allar on the season/59th in his career)—Ryan Barker gets the PAT and Penn State has tied the game, 17-17 with 30 seconds left in the 4th period

Oregon 9th possession lasted the final 30 seconds of regulation—netting 3 yards on 4 plays—The Nwosu kickoff resulted in a fair catch—A deep pass on 2nd down to Kenyon Sadiq was broken-up by Tony Rojas at the PSU 48 (in what might have been one of his last big plays of the season due to an injury revealed/confirmed on Oct. 1)—And Dani Dennis-Sutton hurried the final pass attempt on 4th down for the turnover on downs as time expired—REGULATION ENDS with Penn State and Oregon tied 17-17 and headed for OT

Overtime coin toss is won by Oregon who chooses to play defense first—Penn State selects the South/Student endzone for the first OT

1st Overtime begins-Penn State is 1st and 10 at the 25—The Nittany Lions use the ground for a 3-play, 25-yard TD drive—Kaytron Allen RB for 5 yards to the 20—Trebor Pena WR around the left side for 16 yards to the 4 setting up 1st and goal for PSU—Back to Kaytron up the middle for 4 yards and the TD (4th of the season/his first ever in OT/28th of career)—Ryan Barker’s PAT makes it Penn State 24-17—The Lions first lead since 3-0 in 2nd period

Oregon is 1st and 10 at the 25—The Ducks will need 7 plays to move 25 yards for a touchdown—Dante Moore QB was the key player in plays 2 through 7—Moore rushed 3 times for only 5 yards, but he will get the 2 yards needed for a first down, and he would complete 3 passes for 17 yards and the tying TD—A critical and nearly catastrophic moment for PSU happens on 3rd and 8 at the 12—The Ducks have 3 receivers spread wide left occupying the attention of the four DBs with Jayden Limar in the backfield to the right of the QB Moore—Limar casually hops to his right ahead of the snap to gain easier access to the edge where he will cut behind the blitzing LB, while staying in front of the other linebackers who will settle into pass coverage—Tony Rojas MLB moves with Limar but will give him space underneath, and Moore hits Limar in the open crossing at the 7; Limar reaches the 5 where he’s brought down short of the line to gain by Rojas and Amare Campbell who arrives a split second later colliding helmet-to-helmet with the receiver—This triggers a review for a targeting penalty which could give Oregon a first down inside the 3, and would see one of State’s best defenders ejected with the game very much on the line—Luckily for Penn State, targeting is ruled out since crown of helmet was not used and the player was deemed to be not defenseless—So it’s 4th and 1 at the 5, and once again, Moore converts on a 3-yard sneak up the middle to the 2—1st and goal at the 2 for the Ducks—Moore then gets the pass over to Jamari Johnson at about the 5, and he takes it in for the 2-yard score-The Sappington PAT kick ties it at 24-24 sending game to a 2nd overtime in the North endzone

2nd Overtime begins—Oregon is 1st and 10 at the 25—The Ducks need just one play for the score and it’s another one of those “what if” moments for PSU—Dani Dennis-Sutton rushes virtually untouched toward Dante Moore who almost rolls right into the easiest sack that Dani would ever have (can you say 2nd and 18?)—But, Moore sidesteps the lunging Dennis-Sutton at the 33, and passes to a wide open Gary Bryant at the 11, and Bryant strolls into the right side of the endzone for the 6—Penn State does finally get a break, of sorts, as rules require a 2-point conversion from the 3 yard line in the 2nd OT—Dani Dennis-Sutton intercepts the Moore pass at the goal line and begins to run it to the opposite endzone for 2 points and the win, (which is legal in the first two OT periods), but he is stopped, fumbles, and the ball is recovered by Amare Campbell on the ground ending the play—Oregon leads Penn State 30-24 and leaves the door open for the Lions to win with 8 points on its possession in the 2nd OT

Penn State is 1st and 10 at the 25—From the shotgun, the Lions try to sell the run on an end around to Trebor Pena, but it’s a pass all the way—Drew Allar senses pressure and looks quickly to his right for Luke Reynolds along the sideline, but Allar never sees the safety slide over to that side, and drop into coverage underneath—Allar’s pass is a tad underthrown and Dillon Thieneman leaps and makes the two-handed interception falling backwards at the 18—Game over at 11:14pm EDT—Penn State loses to Oregon 30-24 in 2-OT for the Lions first loss of the season and first loss in a Big Ten opener since 2020 at Indiana—Game time 3 hours, 22 minutes

PSU fans were not pleased and let James Franklin hear it as the team exited through the South tunnel—For Allar, it was his second straight loss to Oregon with the game effectively ending on an INT on an underthrown ball

It was the second Whiteout to end in disaster in double-overtime for the Nittany Lions, and both had eerily similar sad endings—In 2014 vs. #13 Ohio State, the unranked Lions are trailing 31-24 after the Buckeyes scored a TD in their 2nd OT possession in the North endzone—PSU is facing 4th and a must-make 6 just inside the 21—Christian Hackenberg QB is back to pass looking to his right the whole way while Akeel Lynch RB quickly picks up the blitz to Hack’s left—But, Lynch is no match for OSU’s Joey Bosa who bulldozes Akeel right back into the legs of Hackenberg bringing him down, and bringing a sudden end to James Franklin’s first Whiteout

Certain photos of the Thieneman game-ending INT being sold on the internet have an eerie similarity to photos of Allen Robinson’s leaping catch at the goal line in the 4-OT Whiteout win over Michigan in 2013

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