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The "Block Six, two team's need to move on, deserves a deep rewind
SB Nation
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12/18/2024
The "Block Six, two team's need to move on, deserves a deep rewind
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00:00
It's October 22nd, 2016. We're in Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.
00:06
With just over four minutes remaining, kicker Tyler Durbin is lined up to help
00:10
undefeated number two Ohio State extend its lead over Penn State on the road and
00:16
continue its march to a second national title in three seasons. For the home team
00:21
Nittany Lions, hope of returning to national relevance is slipping away
00:24
again after six unthinkable years that changed their program forever. There's a
00:30
national title run at stake here, but to understand why there's a lot more
00:35
hanging in the balance, we need to rewind.
00:41
Since recovering from a scandal at the start of the decade, these Ohio State
00:45
Buckeyes are almost unstoppable. In 2011, college football was rocked by the
00:54
Tattoogate scandal, in which a band of disreputable college football players
00:59
dared to capitalize on their on-field celebrity. The horror. The crime of
01:05
Tattoogate came when five Ohio State players, including quarterback Terrell
01:10
Pryor, fell into NCAA hot water after trading autographs for free ink work
01:15
from a Columbus tattoo parlor. But that parlor was already under FBI
01:19
investigation for drug trafficking, which you might have guessed because it's a
01:23
tattoo parlor in a college town. The fallout of Tattoogate saw OSU losing
01:28
scholarships and going on probation, as well as the resignation of head coach
01:31
Jim Trestle in 2011 for failing to report the heinous crime of free tattoo
01:36
work to the Gestapo- I mean the NCAA. On the field, things had been fine under
01:42
Trestle. OSU posted six seasons of 10 or more wins, but after Tattoogate and minus
01:47
a head coach, Ohio State briefly fell into a morass, finishing 6-7 in 2011.
01:52
Then they hired Urban Meyer, a two-time national title winner lured out of the
01:57
announcers booth when his boyhood team fell on hard times, albeit momentarily.
02:02
Meyer instantly made OSU a national power again. The Bucks won a perfect 12-0 in
02:07
2012, but couldn't compete for any postseason titles in the conference or
02:11
the national title picture because of NCAA penalties. Off the field, Meyer
02:15
cleaned up on talent by applying the recruiting ruthlessness of the SEC to
02:20
the previously quaint Big Ten. In 2013, Ohio State finished 12-2 and almost
02:27
won the Big Ten. The following season, Ohio State won their first national
02:30
championship since 2002. In just three seasons, the Buckeyes pivoted from a
02:35
scandal to a national championship. And with the addition of Meyer and his
02:39
influx of talent, honestly, Tattoogate made the program better. This 2016
02:44
Buckeyes team looks like it could be Meyer's best so far. And that's
02:47
especially impressive because a lot of the OSU names who rebuilt the Bucks into
02:51
that national power, they're now in the NFL. Even still, the media projected
02:56
2016's Ohio State team is a top-ten playoff contender, despite boasting the
03:01
least amount of experience in the entire country. But that's what happens when one
03:05
school leads the Big Ten in recruiting for five consecutive years.
03:11
They're young, but Ohio State is experienced at the one position where it
03:16
counts most. Junior quarterback JT Barrett is a Heisman hopeful, and he has
03:19
young, highly recruited scope position players like running back Mike Weber and
03:23
wide receiver Noah Brown to break in. This is both a very young team and a
03:28
wildly talented one. Weird things can happen with that combo, but so far so
03:32
good. Ohio State stormed out of the gate and walloped Oklahoma and Norman 45-24
03:37
in September. And as for this particular moment, it helps that the Buckeyes just
03:41
survived these circumstances last week in an overtime win against number eight
03:45
Wisconsin. That win, on the road, in Camp Randall, after trailing by ten at the
03:50
half, was OSU's 20th in a row on the road. Against those Badgers, kicker Tyler
03:55
Durbin hit a 31-yard field goal to tie the game with four minutes remaining.
03:59
Almost the same amount of time remaining here.
04:05
If the Buckeyes redefine the best-case scenario following NCAA sanctions, Penn
04:10
State is living the worst. But there are fake scandals because of fake rules, and
04:14
there are real and horrific crimes that change identities and lives forever.
04:18
Which is why Happy Valley hasn't been happy for a long, long time. On the field,
04:23
Penn State hasn't beaten a ranked opponent in three seasons, and haven't
04:27
beaten a top-10 opponent since 2008. A blowout loss to number four Michigan
04:31
last month, coupled with an embarrassing loss to unranked in-state rival Pitt
04:36
when week two created a ho-hum two-and-two start to the 2016 season.
04:40
Entering tonight, head coach James Franklin is 18-14 in one of college
04:44
football's all-time winningest programs. He's also 0-7 versus the
04:48
Wolverines, Buckeyes, and Michigan State, the three most dominant programs in the
04:52
Big Ten this decade. But there's a lot more here than just a slump. In 2012,
04:58
longtime Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of 45
05:02
charges of sexual abuse to young boys over a 15-year period. Sandusky, who
05:07
worked in State College for 30 years, sexually assaulted children in the
05:11
showers and bathrooms of Penn State's facilities over a span of decades. Penn
05:15
State head coach Joe Paterno, along with several Penn State leaders, were found to
05:19
have had knowledge of Sandusky's sexual assaults without notifying authorities.
05:23
In 2011, Paterno was fired in disgrace after a 62-year career in Happy Valley.
05:30
Throughout a half-century, Paterno's stats on the field built Penn State into a
05:34
national powerhouse. And despite his age, the program succeeded into the new
05:38
millennium under his watch. After news of Paterno's dismissal was announced,
05:42
riots broke out in State College. And in a first-of-its-kind move, the NCAA
05:48
sought to crush the program for violations unrelated to normal NCAA
05:52
matters like eligibility or benefits or academics. The NCAA hit the football
05:57
program with a $60 million fine, a four-year postseason ban, and a reduction
06:02
of scholarships from 25 per season to 15 for four years. All bull television
06:07
revenue Penn State would receive from the Big Ten during that time, which was
06:10
around $13 million annually, would be donated to charity. And in a direct blow
06:15
to Paterno's legacy, all Penn State wins were vacated, starting in the year when
06:20
investigators said Penn State first learned of Sandusky's actions through
06:24
2011. Crushed by sanctions, the program tried to move forward, selecting New
06:30
England Patriots assistant coach Bill O'Brien to take over as head coach.
06:33
Almost impossibly, he guided the Lions to an 8-4 record in 2012,
06:38
despite the scholarship limitations and an NCAA-permitted open transfer window
06:43
for any Nittany Lion player wanting to leave after Paterno's firing. But after a
06:48
7-5 season the next year, O'Brien, very frustrated with the Penn State
06:53
culture post-Paterno and the near impossibility of rebuilding the program
06:57
under NCAA penalties, left for the NFL to become head coach of the Texans. Penn
07:02
State was a shadow of its former self and far from a destination coaching job.
07:07
Enter James Franklin, a Pennsylvania native who pulled off a minor miracle of
07:11
his own, turning SEC doormat Vanderbilt into a winning program. Like former SEC
07:15
coach Meyer, Franklin immediately improved Penn State's recruiting upon
07:19
his arrival, signing back-to-back top 25 classes in 2014 and 15 and throwing
07:25
young players straight onto the field to compensate for the Paterno sanctioned
07:28
losses. In 2014, the NCAA removed its postseason ban on Penn State, allowing a
07:34
6-win Nittany Lion team to play in and win the PennStripe Bowl. Penn State
07:39
matched its 7-6 record the following season as well, leaving Franklin at 14
07:43
and 12 overall. But that's not Paterno-era dominance. In Franklin's first
07:48
two seasons, Penn State lost to doormat Northwestern twice and to lowly in-state
07:53
rival Temple for the first time in 74 years. Look, the reasons for this dip on
08:00
the field were beyond obvious. The sanctions were over, but the impact on
08:03
the roster wasn't. Multiple years of diminished scholarships left particular
08:07
position groups like offensive line in shambles. But this is college football,
08:12
where expectations never meet reality, and expectations were the good old days
08:17
of Penn State needed to start happening again.
08:20
Entering the 2016 season, Penn State signed another top 25 class as well as
08:25
added a new play caller, Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead, to overhaul the
08:29
offense for a dynamic new quarterback-running back tandem of
08:32
sophomores Trace McSorley and Saquon Barkley, two of Franklin's key signees.
08:36
Landing Barkley was the recruiting win Franklin promised fans was possible
08:41
during those dark days of sanctions. But these classes, truly great halls
08:45
considering the chasm Penn State emerged from both in NCAA sanctions and public
08:50
reception, they weren't close to the elite status of Big Ten powers, namely
08:54
Ohio State. The 4-2 start with the league's best team visiting town
08:58
didn't feel like turning a corner. Both McSorley and Barkley evolved game by
09:03
game learning Moorhead's new much-hyped offense, while the defense, well let's
09:08
just say they learned on the job.
09:14
Look, it's been years since Penn State won a relevant game, but that hasn't
09:18
stopped 107,000 fans from creating a whiteout, one of college football's great
09:23
stadium traditions and formerly a brutal environment for visiting teams to play
09:27
in. But while the scene here in Happy Valley is electric, the football is not
09:32
so much. The Buckeyes managed just two field goals from Durbin in the second
09:35
quarter to break a scoreless tie, then this touchdown pass to Marcus Ball built
09:39
a commanding 12-0 lead against a struggling Penn State offense, repeating
09:43
its past performance in statement games. But then proof of concept appeared.
09:48
McSorley found receiver Chris Godwin for a touchdown with nine seconds left in
09:52
the half, providing the team with its only spark so far. By the fourth quarter
09:56
Penn State trailed 21-7. The offense was floundering, but the Lions defense was
10:01
allowing a season-low point total against a Power 5 opponent. Still,
10:05
something had to happen on offense for Penn State to make any kind of real
10:09
statement. First, this explosive Barkley run of 37 yards, the exact kind of play
10:15
he was signed to make, flipped the field, then McSorley scrambled for a touchdown
10:19
run three plays later. After that, this blocked punt set up the Lions deep in
10:24
Ohio State territory, and as you can see and hear, Beaver Stadium white-out crowds
10:28
started to believe. Another field goal could only cut the Ohio State lead to
10:36
four, and look, that's just not good enough against a championship-caliber
10:40
team. For ten plays, the Buckeyes chewed the clock from over nine minutes down to
10:45
just 4-27. Barrett hit young Noah Brown for a big gain in between Weber runs to
10:51
grind the clock. Even after failing to convert on third down, the Buckeyes can
10:55
still extend the lead to seven with another Durbin field goal, confident that
11:00
a Penn State offense struggling for most of the night won't be able to answer. The
11:04
Buckeyes have led the entire game, and the advantage is now all Ohio State's,
11:07
from the field position to the scholarship numbers on their roster
11:10
these last five seasons, to their scandal that they bounced back from. Penn State's
11:15
road has been harder in every way, shape, and form. After living through a horror
11:20
that's impossible to separate from the program's legacy, it's not unfair to
11:24
think a moment capable of starting something new, something after, is just
11:29
too much to ask for, at least any time soon. Welcome to a moment in history.
11:35
This is from 45, and it's blocked! Lyons scoop it up!
11:43
Brad Haley will score!
12:05
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