Beaver Stadium Stunned As Penn State Throws The Game In Final Minutes
It was all over but the crying, until it wasn't. Kamari Ramsey and the Trojans defense celebrating after the formers miraculous 102 yard pick-6 to ice the game.
USC Trojans at Penn State Nittany Lions |
Dec 21, 2024 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | #9 USC (10-2) | 14 | 10 | 7 | 21 | 52 | #5 PSU (10-2) | 3 | 17 | 9 | 7 | 36 |
Top Performers | PASS: USC Miller Moss - 21/36, 437 Yds, 3 TD, INT | RUSH: PSU Nicholas Singleton - 18 Att, 108 Yds, 2 TD | REC: USC Zachariah Branch - 8 Rec, 209 Yds, 2 TD |
| Team Stats Comparison | | USC | PSU | First Downs | 22 | 25 | 3rd Down Efficiency | 4/8 | 5/15 | 4th Down Efficiency | 0/1 | 2/2 | Total Yards | 556 | 572 | Passing Yards | 437 | 451 | Rushing Yards | 19 - 72 | 24 - 85 | Penalties-Penalty Yards | 4 - 31 | 0 - 0 | Turnovers | 1 | 3 | Time of Possession | 19:49 | 24:11 |
|
Scoring Summary | FIRST QUARTER SCORING | USC | PSU | 7:25 | (USC) Zachariah Branch, 5 Yd Pass From Miller Moss | 7 | 0 | 2:54 | (PSU) Chase Meyer, 23 Yd FG | 7 | 3 | 0:33 | (USC) Treyvion O'Neal, 2 Yd Run | 14 | 3 | SECOND QUARTER SCORING | USC | PSU | 10:19 | (PSU) Nicholas Singleton, 3 Yd Run | 14 | 10 | 7:49 | (USC) Denis Lynch, 51 Yd FG | 17 | 10 | 5:00 | (PSU) Nicholas Singleton, 8 Yd Run | 17 | 17 | 1:06 | (USC) Treyvion O'Neal, 2 Yd Run | 24 | 17 | 0:01 | (PSU) Chase Meyer, 28 Yd FG | 24 | 20 | THIRD QUARTER SCORING | USC | PSU | 4:13 | (PSU) Chase Meyer, 53 Yd FG | 24 | 23 | 2:21 | (USC) Zachariah Branch, 43 Yd Pass From Miller Moss | 31 | 23 | 0:57 | (PSU) Harrison Wallace III, 64 Yd Pass From Drew Allar (Failed 2PT) | 31 | 29 | FOURTH QUARTER SCORING | USC | PSU | 7:54 | (USC) Treyvion Oneal, 18 Yd Pass From Miller Moss | 38 | 29 | 4:48 | (PSU) Kaytron Allen, 2 Yd Run | 38 | 36 | 1:12 | (USC) Kamari Ramsey, Returned Interception 102 Yds | 45 | 36 | 0:34 | (USC) John Humphrey, Returned Interception 82 Yds | 52 | 36 |
|
USC Trojans | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | Miller Moss | 21/36 | 437 | 3 | 1 | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | Treyvion O'Neal | 14 | 62 | 4.4 | 2 | Quinten Joyner | 3 | 4 | 1.3 | 0 | Miller Moss | 2 | 6 | 3.0 | 0 | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | Zachariah Branch | 8 | 203 | 25.8 | 2 | Treyvion O'Neal | 4 | 30 | 7.5 | 1 | Kyle Ford | 3 | 56 | 18.6 | 0 | Duce Robinson | 2 | 43 | 21.5 | 0 | Lake McRee | 2 | 81 | 40.5 | 0 | Kyron Hudson | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | Carson Tabaracci | 1 | 15 | 15.0 | 0 | BLOCKING | PANCAKE | SACK | Jonah Monheim | 5 | 0 | Kyle Ford | 4 | 0 | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | FS Kamari Ramsey | 15 | 0 | 2 | 1 | CB DeCarlos Nicholson | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | LB Braylan Shelby | 9 | 1 (2TFL) | 0 | 0 | SS Akili Arnold | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CB John Humphrey | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | MLB Easton Mascarenas-Arnold | 7 | 0 (1TFL) | 0 | 0 | DT Bear Alexander | 3 | 2 (2TFL) | 0 | 0 | MLB Mason Cobb | 1 | 1 (1TFL) | 0 | 0 | KICKING | FG | XP | PTS | LG | Denis Lynch | 1/1 | 7/7 | 10 | 51 | PUNTING | TOT | YDS | AVG | -20 | Eddie Czaplicki | 3 | 128 | 42.6 | 0 | KICK RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | Kyron Hudson | 1 | 19 | 19.0 | 0 | Quinten Joyner | 1 | 14 | 14.0 | 0 | PUNT RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | Zachariah Branch | 2 | 14 | 7.0 | 0 |
Penn State Nittany Lions | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | Drew Allar | 34/48 | 451 | 1 | 3 | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | Nicholas Singleton | 18 | 108 | 6.0 | 2 | Drew Allar | 4 | -28 | -7.0 | 0 | Kaytron Allen | 2 | 5 | 2.5 | 1 | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | Kaden Saunders | 10 | 52 | 5.2 | 0 | Tyler Warren | 7 | 129 | 10.4 | 0 | Harrison Wallace III | 5 | 90 | 18.0 | 1 | Nicholas Singleton | 4 | 34 | 8.5 | 0 | Luke Reynolds | 3 | 64 | 21.3 | 0 | Julian Fleming | 3 | 57 | 19.0 | 0 | Omari Evans | 1 | 21 | 21.0 | 0 | Kaytron Allen | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | BLOCKING | PANCAKE | SACK | J'Ven Williams | 6 | 1 | Nick Dawkins | 3 | 2 | Sal Wormley | 0 | 1 | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | FS Zakee Wheatley | 8 | 0 (1TFL) | 0 | 0 | CB Jalen Kimber | 7 | 0 (1TFL) | 0 | 0 | SS Kevin Winston Jr | 7 | 0 (1TFL) | 0 | 0 | MLB Kobe King | 5 | 0 (1TFL) | 1 | 0 | LB Tony Rojas | 3 | 1 (1TFL) | 0 | 0 | KICKING | FG | XP | PTS | LG | Chase Meyer | 3/3 | 3/3 | 12 | 53 | PUNTING | TOT | YDS | AVG | -20 | Joseph Allen Jr | 3 | 137 | 45.6 | 1 | KICK RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | Anthony Ivey | 2 | 36 | 18.0 | 0 |
|
LEFT - Moss must have felt like he was in the twilight zone after Kobe King intercepted this pass on the 2nd drive.
CENTER - The Nittany Lions still had a slim hope facing a 9 point deficit, until John Humphrey shut the door with the Trojans 2nd picksix in less than a minute.
RIGHT - Drew Allar looked fantastic for much of the game, but two costly interceptions would spell the end of Penn State's season.
University Park, PA. - Penn State head coach James Franklin will be answering questions about the ending of this game for a long, long time.
"I played the numbers. We lost. You can't put that on Drew[Allar]," said a stoic Franklin after the game. "I was thinking that with how explosive their offense is, going up by 5 rather than 1 was the best bet.
"Instead, we went bust."
Down 2 points with 72 seconds left and its first and goal from the 8. The opponent has two timeouts left. What do you do?
Run the ball, grind out the clock, and worst case kick a chip shot field goal with time almost out to win, right?
If you're James Franklin, wrong.
Instead, Franklin opted for a play-action pass on 1st and 8 and Drew Allar made the worst mistake of his career, finding Kamari Ramsey wide open in the endzone.
Ramsey would take care of the rest, sprinting 102 yards in the opposite direction before nearly collapsing across the goal line.
For the Steelers fans in attendance, it brought back memories of a similar play from former Steeler great James Harrison, although this result was less than ideal for the hometown fans.
Still, down 9 with 1 minute left there was still a sliver of hope. That is until John Humphrey played "Whatever you can do, I can do better." pirouetting mid-air for Allar's 3rd interception of the game, before dashing into the endzone himself.
It was a fitting end for the Trojans, who were demolished by Penn State on their home turf after 3 separate pick-6s by the Lions that day.
"Honestly, I wasn't watching when it[Ramsey's interception] happened," revealed an overjoyed Miller Moss when asked about Ramsey's touchdown.
"Z[Zachariah Branch] and I were going over what we were going to be looking for on the next drive, how we wanted to attack certain looks.
"We were expecting to get the ball back with 30 seconds or less left."
"We liked this result better," chimed in the Heisman winning receiver.
For all of the celebrating on the Trojans sideline, Coach Red was a few plays away from being the one under the spotlight after his questionable decision to go for a 4th and 5 from the Lions 49 with 2 minutes left in the game.
"They had been driving on our defense the entire second half, they were gassed," acknowledged Red when asked about the 4th down decision, "The offense had just scored on their last drive. I put the ball in Miller[Moss'] hand and told him to go and ice the game."
Instead Miller Moss hit Zachariah Branch on a drag route, but the ball was thrown behind Branch who lost his momentum going for the catch and was ultimately tackled 2 yards short of the 1st down.
The roar of the crowd in Beaver Stadium was almost deafening after the 4th down stop, but was brought to a stunned silence just 2 minutes later as they watched Ramsey end their season.
For the Trojans it was a fitting way to win the game after watching the Nittany Lions defense score 3 times just 8 weeks ago in Los Angeles.
While the Trojans are going to be celebrating all the way back to Los Angeles, and likely the remainder of the weekend, after exercising some demons in the win, it will be back to business on Monday as they'll prepare to head to Scottsdale, Arizona for a Fiesta Bowl matchup with #2 Miami.