At Penn State, a Raucous Crowd Turns on its Coach and Quarterback

The White Out crowd, which was just 16 people away from setting a new Beaver Stadium attendance record, became a "white canvas" for the Ducks, as Oregon coach Dan Lanning said after the game. Meanwhile, Penn State fans left dejected, and some left with harsh words for the Nittany Lions.

Once again, Franklin heard the occasional “Fire Franklin” chant on his home field. Penn State fell to 4-21 under Franklin in games vs. AP top-10 teams, which prompted the reaction. Franklin expected the question after the game.

“The environment was awesome,” Franklin said. “They're passionate. When we win, there's nothing better. When we lose, there's nothing worse. I get it. I get the frustration that comes with a fan base that is invested and cares. I get it.”

So did Nick Dawkins, Penn State’s sixth-year center who was on the field for 60 plays. After the game, Dawkins made an honest assessment of the scene, which he began by saying, “Can I be honest with you?”

“I love the fans, how they attack games, how they support us, and they have a right to their own opinion,” Dawkins said. “If I listened to what fans said, I probably would not be here, and I probably would be curled up in a ball, crying, honestly. 

“Think about someone watching you in your job. It’s tough. People saying tough things, saying you suck. You can act like it doesn’t get to you, but sometimes it does, especially when it piles up. So my fix to it is, just become numb to it. Don't even listen to it. Why would I give power to someone who doesn't know or has been in my shoes or live my life? It's just not healthy.”

What now for Penn State?

So where do the Nittany Lions (3-1) go from here? This loss to Oregon didn’t cost them a championship or end their playoff hopes. Penn State hasn’t even played its first road game yet; that’ll be next week against UCLA. But now that Nov. 1 matchup against Ohio State in Columbus looms over this team even more.

“Obviously this game hurts but everything’s still in front of us for the future for this team, so we’ve just got to stick together,” running back Nicholas Singleton said. 

When Penn State rewatches this game, those missed opportunities will glare right back at them. 

“That’s the way it shakes out,” Allar said. “It’s a long season ahead of us. We’re gonna have more opportunities down the road to fix this, and I’ll be the first to go into the fire. There’s no other coaching staff or team that I’d rather go to war with.”

Despite calling a fast start important, the Nittany Lions didn’t achieve that goal against the Ducks. The offense failed to get ahead of the sticks and was stuck in third-and-long situations that they didn’t convert. Penn State did not put together a drive longer than 39 yards until the fourth quarter, when it trailed by 14 points.  

“I don't think we were executing the way we're capable of executing,” Franklin said. “Obviously, we’ve got to do whatever we’ve got to do to manufacture yards. We’ve got to make some plays. It's all of it. Those things come at a premium when you're playing really good teams. The margin of error is small.”

Tuning out the noise

Ross said Penn State’s lack of urgency early didn’t stem from being unprepared. But he added that the team just needs to continue to “stay connected” and that “it’ll take care of itself.”

Oregon had the ball for nearly eight minutes more than Penn State, and the Nittany Lions asked their defense to do a lot in the first half to stay in the game. Defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton would not engage in the tired theory — “I think that affected them late in the game when we needed to stop,” Franklin said — and felt energized by the Ducks’ effort.  

“It’s really hard when you’re going against somebody and they don’t even want to be there, [but Oregon was] there the whole time talking back and forth,” Dennis-Sutton said. “That’s fun for me. I love it. Anybody who wants to compete, I’m going to go at you every single play.”

Linebacker Amare Campbell paced Penn State with 15 tackles, 11 in the first half, and made multiple key stops. Safety Wheatley (10 tackles) discussed how he’ll approach watching film of the loss.

“I’m very hard on myself,” he said. “For any play that I felt like I should have had or was supposed to have, I’m not gonna feel too good about that. But I’m gonna go back to work and try to get better.”

Wheatley wasn’t alone in saying that he’s hard on himself. Most players shared the sentiment, which Wheatley called a good thing. 

“You don’t play for a team like Penn State if the standard isn’t very high, if you’re not hard on yourself,” Wheatley said. “If you’re not, you don’t grow, and if you don’t grow, you’re not going to play here.”

The loss was Penn State’s earliest (the 2020 season notwithstanding) since 2016, when it fell to Pitt 42-39 in a Week 2 non-conference game in Pittsburgh. That team went on to win the Big Ten Championship. 

“The way college football is today, there’s going to be very few teams that finish the end of the season unscathed,” Franklin said. “We gotta tune out all the noise and we gotta get better from this and get on a roll for the rest of the season.”