Oregon holds off Penn State for Big Ten title, clinches first-round bye in CFP

Five months ago, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning and some of his players traveled to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as a novelty in the eyes of their peers. The Ducks were among four West Coast newcomers to join a conference rooted almost entirely in the Midwest, and the Big Ten Media Days event in late July served as their formal introduction to the rest of the league. They released a giant inflatable duck into a local river and answered question after question about the show’s intimate relationship with Nike co-founder Phil Knight, the man who funds much of Oregon’s extensive NIL efforts. Everything they did and said felt different.

Fast forward to December, when the Ducks returned to Indy with an unblemished record and the No. 1 ranking next to their name, and it’s clear that different worked well for Oregon during its debut season in the Big Ten. On Saturday night, Lanning and his team defeated Penn State, 45-37, in an impressive offensive display that affirmed why Oregon is the league’s best chance to win a national championship, both in the immediate future and, potentially. , in the coming years. to come, as long as Lanning remains on the program. The Ducks racked up 466 yards of total offense against Penn State and scored on seven of their 11 possessions before time ran out in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel completed 22 of 32 passes for 283 yards and four touchdowns to complement a running attack that picked apart a top-10 rushing defense for 183 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Tez Johnson, now fully recovered from a shoulder injury, caught 11 passes for 181 yards and a career-high one touchdown.

The ducks’ reward? In addition to winning a Big Ten Championship for the first time, Oregon will now enter the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 overall seed when the bracket is revealed Sunday afternoon.

Here are some quick takeaways from the game:

Early difference

One of the only things that separated Oregon and Penn State after a first half in which both teams gained at least 250 yards of total offense, both teams scored on five of their respective possessions and the combined total of 55 points set a new half. The record for the Big Ten Championship game was an ill-timed interception by quarterback Drew Allar early in the second quarter. By then, the Nittany Lions were already trailing by 11 points and were in danger of being thrown out of the stadium by a rival that arrived in Indianapolis having scored at least 35 points in five of its last six games. What Penn State needed was a sustained drive that could turn the field, run down the clock and culminate in some kind of score.

Instead, Allar wasted a clean bag by forcing a pass into tight coverage against tight end Khalil Dinkins on an entry route down the middle of the field. The ball flew well behind Dinkins’ shoulder and into the arms of Oregon defensive back Dontae Manning, a fifth-year senior and one of the rare non-transfers in the Ducks’ secondary. Manning caught the pass at the Penn State 25-yard line and nearly returned it for a touchdown, but was ultimately tackled a few feet away by wide receiver Harrison Wallace III.

But a first-and-goal opportunity from the 1-yard line wasn’t something Oregon would waste, especially during a first half in which the Ducks averaged more than 4 yards per carry while racking up 97 rushing yards and a score. Running back Jordan James, the team’s leading rusher this season with 1,166 yards entering Saturday’s game, needed just one attempt to cross the goal line and extend his team’s lead to 28-10 with 10:05 left in the half. .

play of the game

Given the aggressive reputation Lanning has earned over three seasons as Oregon’s head coach (a period rich in two-point conversion attempts and valiant fourth-down attempts), there was little doubt that offensive coordinator Will Stein had two plays to move the chains on a critical fourth-quarter drive that would eventually take nearly seven minutes off the clock. So even though Penn State linebacker Dominic DeLuca pumped his fist and roared when he hit James for no gain on third and short, nearly everyone in the stadium knew the defense still had one more stop to make. And this time, on fourth-and-2, Stein trusted the most experienced quarterback in college football history to make a play that effectively won the game.

For Gabriel, a sixth-year senior whose career has spanned from Central Florida to Oklahoma to Oregon, moments like this are the reason he bypassed the NFL Draft to return to school for one more year in looking for a national championship. He held his ground in the pocket when all three receivers were covered on the left side of the formation and instead focused his sights on tight end Terrance Ferguson. Gabriel’s pass hit Ferguson in stride for a 20-yard catch and run at a time when all the Ducks needed was 2 yards. Heading and stumbling toward the end zone, Ferguson was finally stopped at the Penn State 15-yard line.

From there, James only needed two carries to find the end zone for the second time and push Oregon’s lead to double digits with 7:28 remaining. The Ducks knew that Lanning’s latest gamble, successfully executed in the most pressure-packed of environments, meant a Big Ten title was almost within reach.

Key Statistics

Whenever Penn State head coach James Franklin is asked to describe what makes Allar, a former five-star prospect, such a high-level quarterback, the statistic he almost always invokes is the ratio of touchdowns and interceptions, an area where his junior signal. the caller clearly stands out. A year ago, during Allar’s first season as starting quarterback, he threw 25 touchdowns and only two interceptions. And through the start of the Big Ten title game, Allar had thrown 18 touchdowns and just five interceptions so far in 2024, and three of those picks came against USC in October. It was the first and only time Allar threw multiple interceptions in the same game as a collegiate player.

Until Saturday.

On the biggest stage of his career, and with the No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff on the line, Allar completed 20 of 39 passes for 226 yards, three touchdowns and two costly interceptions, one that set up an easy touchdown run. for the ducks; another that sealed the game in the last quarter. With his team trailing by eight in the final moments, Allar made an unusual decision to throw the ball to Wallace against tight coverage by cornerback Nikko Reed on the right sideline. Reed, a former Colorado transfer, was in a better position to contest the ball than Wallace and made a beautiful over-the-shoulder grab that seemed to surprise almost everyone present. He walked away celebrating with 1:54 remaining, knowing that all Oregon’s offense would need to hoist the trophy was a single first down.

Franklin put his hands on his hips in an unenviable combination of anguish and disbelief. Allar appeared on the verge of tears as he retreated to the Penn State bench. A player praised for his decision-making and ball security had failed when it mattered most.

What’s next for Oregon?

By remaining perfect during the Big Ten Championship game, Oregon secured the No. 1 seed in the first iteration of a 12-team College Football Playoff. As one of the four highest-ranked conference champions, the Ducks will receive a first-round bye and then face the winner of the 8-9 game on a neutral field. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Dec. 31 at the Fiesta Bowl and Jan. 1 at the Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl.

What’s next for Penn State?

With an 11-1 record in the regular season, the Nittany Lions clinched a spot in the College Football Playoff regardless of what happened in Indianapolis on Saturday night. The only question after second-ranked Texas lost to Georgia in the SEC title game earlier in the day was whether Penn State could earn a first-round bye and the No. 1 overall seed by defeating Oregon, or whether Franklin’s team would cross its fingers Sunday afternoon for an at-large berth that would result in a home game at Beaver Stadium. In other words, how far will the selection committee drop Penn State for losing to Oregon by eight on a neutral field while teams like Ohio State and Tennessee sat idle?

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. follow him on @Michael_Cohen13.

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