With Penn State’s football season now officially in the books, now is a good time to start putting the whole season into perspective. Although the season ended with the Nittany Lions coming up just short of playing for a national championship, there were a lot of good moments to reflect on positively from the 2024 season that ended with a final record of 13-3. The shortcomings are well documented, but the highlights of the year should not be forgotten.
Penn State’s final road game of the season came at a time when the Nittany Lions were still in the mix for a spot in the Big Ten championship game but in need of some help outside of their control. But for any of that to come to fruition, the Nittany Lions still had to finish the regular season with wins against Minnesota and Maryland. A setback in either would wreck Penn State’s Big Ten hopes and be a critical blow to a shot at playing in the College Football Playoff. A road trip to Minnesota was not to be taken lightly despite the Nittany Lions being the favorite.
Though the teams were different in 2024 than they were a few years ago, it was a road game at Minnesota that took Penn State off course for a Big Ten title shot and a chance at playing in the four-team College Football Playoff in 2019, and Penn State once again found themselves in a battle with the Gophers in late November with the season on the line.
Penn State dug another early hole by going down 10-0 early in the second quarter before finally getting something going with the offense. A 45-yard touchdown pass from Drew Allar to Omari Evans got the Nittany Lions on the scoreboard and a 45-yard field goal from Ryan Barker got Penn State out of the 10-0 hole. Later in the quarter, Minnesota blocked a Penn State punt gave the Gophers the football at the Penn State 21-yard line, and Max Brosmer completed a pass to Jameson Geers for a quick touchdown on the first play of the short drive.
Not much had gone right for Penn State in the first half,…
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