There’s no sugarcoating this for Penn State. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
It somehow got worse for Penn State.
Three weeks after being ranked No. 3 in the country, the Nittany Lions took their third straight loss on Saturday at the hands of Northwestern, 22-21. In Happy Valley. They are now 3-3 and winless in Big Ten play.
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In addition to the loss, star quarterback Drew Allar left the game in the final minutes with an apparent lower leg injury after taking a big hit on a failed third-down scramble. He was helped off the field, barely able to put any weight on his right leg, and later carted from the sideline fighting back tears.
Head coach James Franklin told reporters after the game that Allar will miss the rest of the season. Allar was seen as a potential first-round pick going into the season, but a rough start tanked the senior’s stock. This injury obviously won’t help.
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Penn State had multiple opportunities to reassert control. It took the lead three different times during the game, and each time it was unable to stop the Northwestern offense from responding. A go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter was followed with another touchdown. Another touchdown led to a field goal at the end of the first half.
The Nittany Lions spent the entire third quarter in the danger zone, clinging to a 14-13 lead, before Northwestern took the lead on another field goal. A 67-yard pass from Allar to Devonte Ross set up what could have been the winning touchdown, but Northwestern immediately posted a 12-play, 75-yard drive to take back the lead.
The game effectively ended on the next drive, when Allar got crushed on third down and backup Ethan Grunkemeyer had no more luck on a fourth-down scramble, giving the Wildcats the ball back.
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This wasn’t quite the UCLA loss last week, when the Bruins raced out to a multi-touchdown lead and kept Penn State at bay for much of the second half. This was a gradual and frustrating, with nothing to be gained for the Nittany Lions if they actually managed to pull it out.
Of course, someone still had plenty lose.
Is that it for James Franklin?
James Franklin’s Penn State tenure has been defined by two things: losses in big games and wins in small games. Penn State hasn’t posted a losing record in 12 years under Franklin outside of the truncated 2020 season, but it’s suddenly facing that possibility in 2025.
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The Oregon loss was normal; Penn State put up a fight all the way into double overtime. The UCLA loss was shocking, but also just one game. This one might have been even worse, for reasons beyond recency.
To lose to Northwestern, at home, needing a win before a rough schedule stretch, is obscenely bad for Franklin, to say nothing of the potential loss of Allar. Franklin had his detractors even when his team was finishing in the top 10, but we’re about to see a completely different atmosphere, to the point that we will have to wait and see if he’s allowed to oversee their attempt at a bounceback next week against Iowa.
