‘It’s tough’: Penn State football reflects on loss, ‘what ifs’ after heartbreaker to Notre Dame
Drew Allar put his hands on his helmet in disbelief as he walked toward the Penn State sideline, with Notre Dame cornerback Christian Gray holding his prized possession — a freshly caught interception from Allar — as he sprinted toward a section of Irish fans in Hard Rock Stadium.
Allar will, rightly, draw criticism for his errant throw that gave the ball and Penn State’s season away with 33 seconds left. But he is just a part of Penn State’s failures Thursday night in the 27-24 loss in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
There were James Franklin’s decisions to settle for kicks in his team’s biggest moments, or the team giving away a 10-0 lead, or cornerback Cam Miller falling down to allow an easy Notre Dame touchdown. Each was monumental. And each went against Penn State.
In the Nittany Lions’ biggest spots, in their biggest game, they failed. And now they’re left aching for moments back and more time together.
Because that time was there for the taking. They could have had another week of preparation together, another game to look forward to. But instead they shared goodbye hugs in the locker room.
“It’s tough,” tight end Tyler Warren said with tears in his eyes. “There’s not many better ways to say it. It’s just tough. So we enjoy the locker room while we got it.”
Warren made his way around the locker room, taking time to hug every teammate he could, sharing moments with them as he tried to grieve the end of his own college career. Because this game isn’t just about a loss or a missed chance at a national title game appearance.
College football careers ended in Hard Rock Stadium.
And one of those was Jaylen Reed’s — the safety who broke out this season to become one of the best in college football at his position. He sat with his hair covering his tear-filled eyes as he spoke.
“Disappointed,” Reed said, sitting in full uniform as he clung to the final moments of his time as a Nittany Lion. “The game is what the game was. That’s playoff football. It’s mostly just the things I’ve got to do [to move on] now that I’m not going to be here no more.”
And then he paused, his eyes beginning to fill with more tears as the gravity of the moment sank in. This was not supposed to be how his season — his college career — ended. He was supposed to celebrate winning a national title. He’d said as much in a media availability prior to the Fiesta Bowl.
But he and his teammates instead had to work through a night of missed opportunities.
And even for those in charge, it was difficult to process everything. Franklin has seen his own heartbreaks in his career, and will surely hear more of the “Big Game James” moniker he has been sarcastically called because of his failures against top-five opponents. But this has to be among his most difficult losses.
The emotion in his voice became more apparent as he spoke about the careers that came to a close Thursday night.
“Knowing all these guys’ families and their moms and dads and brothers and sisters — that’s the hard part,” Franklin said as his eyes grew watery following the loss. “That to me is what it’s all about. I love the winning and I know how important winning is at Penn State. Trust me, that’s been made very clear to me, time and time again. But to me, it’s about the guys in the locker room.”
And even in the most difficult moments, Franklin was there to protect them. He hugged his daughter outside his team’s locker room after the loss, waiting for the rest of his players to filter into the room.
That’s when there was a loud thud and a yell, followed shortly thereafter by running back Nick Singleton storming out of the room in anger. But Franklin was there to put his arm around him and usher him back into the room before his emotions could further boil over.
It’s hard to blame Singleton for what he was feeling — in fact, his own position coach said he’d have handled it the same way.
“I told him I love him,” running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider said. “I wouldn’t expect nothing else. You play for these moments. That’s why he came here, to put himself in that opportunity to win the game. ... It’s OK to be pissed. You left it all on the field; you gave us an opportunity to win. it should hurt.”
And that will be the story of the 2024 Penn State Nittany Lions. A team as talented as any, with expectations to match, angry and frustrated with an empty ending.
Yes, Allar is likely to come back next season and continue improving, and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki will likely be back too to help usher him along his development curve. Defensive coordinator Tom Allen is also well-positioned to put together an elite defense again. The next Penn State team might be even better than this one, especially if it can improve on a wide receiver room that didn’t catch a single pass on Thursday night.
There is reason for optimism, but it can be difficult to see the forest for the trees in moments like this.
So for the time being they are left to process what is and wonder about what could have been. There are nearly eight months between now and the next time Penn State will play again.
When it so easily could have been only 10 days.
This story was originally published January 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
