No. 8 Penn State rallies to beat No. 6 Wisconsin 38-31

Ohio State is 11-1 and has an impressive resume, but they lost to Penn State. They say you are what you are allowed to overcome minor setbacks and we’ve done that. The fourth-down stand capped an improbable finish to an improbable season-long comeback story.

Because of conference standings, the Badgers, sixth in the playoff rankings, and the Nittany Lions, seventh in those rankings, played for the conference title even though two conference rivals – Ohio State and MI – were ranked above them.

That did not stop Penn State coach James Franklin from making his case.

“Just trying to take what the defense was giving me, don’t force it. Coach was telling me to trust the system, trust the game plan”, McSorley said. If it omitted Washington, it would shun a one-loss champion of a Power Five league that, unlike TCU and Baylor in 2014, played and won an actual league title tilt. “We’ve done that. It’s on you now, committee”. One missed field goal, one punt by the Badgers and two Nittany Lions touchdowns later, Penn State would pull even with Wisconsin, 28-28. The Nittany Lions trailed, 28-7, when Wisconsin capitalized on Franklin’s controversial decision to go for it on 4th and 2 from his own 42-yard line. Penn State’s 38-31 win over Wisconsin in Saturday night’s Big Ten Championship game was enough to move them to No. 5 in the rankings, one spot shy of an invite.

Saturday’s win probably does not mean the Lions will play for the national championship, since they needed help in the form on an upset in another conference championship game. No, Ohio State and MI weren’t playing at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Nittany Lions also have one more loss and were ranked seventh in the latest standings.

For a while, it didn’t look like it would happen on Saturday, either. For the game, he averaged 17.5 yards on his 22 completions in 31 attempts. The other school listed in the NCAA record book as winning 15 games in a season was Penn, in 1892 and 1897.

A bad snap was gathered by Ryan Connelly and returned for a Wisconsin touchdown.

A UW defense that so often forced opponents to change their game plan wasn’t able to do so against Penn State.

Penn State: Consider the turnaround is complete.

What made the difference in the second half vs. Wisconsin?

Saeed Blacknall caught 6 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Andrew Endicott has struggled all season after starter Raphael Gaglianone suffered a season ending back injury early in the year. But Penn State is back on the Map in a Big Way. In Darnold’s nine starts, the Trojans are 8-1 while featuring an explosive offense (37.1 points per game in that span).

The Badgers fell to 10-3 with the loss and it’ll take them a little while to put this one in the rearview mirror. The 33 yard pass play made it 14-7 Wisconsin.

The Nittany Lions answered to stay in the game on their final drive of the half. But their last loss was September 24, more than two months ago.

They allowed the Badgers to chew eight minutes off the clock on their first possession, capping the drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge. The result was an 18-month existential crisis for the Big 12 that led to the return of its conference championship game in 2017 and a rather public exploration of expansion possibilities.

From there, you know the script. Penn State began to find a way to slow down the Badger ground game, cut down on the turnovers and mistakes, and continued to use big plays to finally reel Wisconsin all the way in. Its fate is in the committee’s hands.