Penn State seeks answers after another 1-point football loss to Ohio State

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — As Ohio State jubilantly headed to its locker room, the only sound heard at Beaver Stadium was that of Penn State players singing the alma mater. Otherwise, there was quiet bewilderment with muffled tears from fans filing out of the giant arena and from members of the team in the blue jerseys.

The "Whiteout" had been silenced.

The Buckeyes had broken the hearts of the Nittany Lions again.

Two years in a row, Ohio State (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) had rallied from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter — 15 points last year, 12 points Saturday night — to turn desperation into celebration. The latest hero was sophomore quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who threw two late touchdown passes and carried the visitors to a 27-26 victory over the Lions (4-1, 1-1).

It was the third straight classic matchup between the two teams, and fourth in the last five years if you include 2014 when the Nittany Lions, shorthanded by scholarship restrictions brought about by the NCAA sanctions, stormed back from a 17-0 deficit and extended the Buckeyes into overtime at home before losing.

The bottom line, however, is that James Franklin is 1-4 at Penn State against the rivals from the next state to the west. And loss No. 4 touched off a passionate after-midnight opening statement from Franklin, who talked for more than four minutes about taking the next step from being a great program to being an elite one.

"It's all the little things that are going to matter," he said, "and we are going to find a way to get from being a great program — which we are, just so everyone is crystal clear. We are a great program. We lost to an elite program, and we are that close.

"We have gotten comfortable being great. We will not longer be comfortable being great. We are going to learn from this and grow from this, and we are going to find a way to take that next step as a program [to elite] because we have been knocking at the door long enough. It is my job as the head coach. I am ultimately responsible for all of it."

Franklin spoke about "not babysitting little things" such as being on time for meetings and having phones turned off during them, taking consistent notes, and also the fact that "two or three" players have issues going to class.

>> READ MORE: James Franklin gets it wrong on 4th down gamble vs. Ohio State | Mike Jensen

The program is good enough to have been 24-4 since Week 5 of the 2016 season with losses by a total of eight points — three points to USC and Michigan State, one point twice to Ohio State. But the Nittany Lions ultimately fell Saturday night by not being clean on basics and fundamentals.

The most prominent mistakes were missed tackles. The Buckeyes thrived on yards after the catch. On Haskins' two fourth-quarter TD passes, Binjimen Victor caught one ball at the Penn State 30 and finished a 47-yard play, and K.J. Hill snatched another in the right flat and covered the final 20 yards of the game-winning 24-yard score with 2 minutes, 3 seconds remaining.

Trace McSorley was heroic in defeat for Penn State, establishing a school record with 461 yards of total offense — 175 yards rushing in 25 carries, 286 passing on 16 of 32. However, he was hurt by at least four drops by his receivers, a common theme this season.

Franklin blamed himself for two decisions he'd like to have back. One was a fourth-and-1 from the Ohio State 24 in the third quarter when he spurned a field goal and McSorley's pass was batted down.

The second was Penn State's final play, a fourth-and-5 from the Buckeyes' 43, where Miles Sanders was tackled for a 2-yard loss. Ballgame.

"We obviously didn't make the right call in that situation, and that's on me, nobody else," Franklin said.

The Nittany Lions have a bye before hosting Michigan State on Oct. 13. When the 2018 schedule came out, it showed that of the team's five most difficult games — Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin — four of them were at Beaver Stadium.

But they're 0-1, with the Buckeyes having snapped their 16-game home winning streak.

"Obviously, losing at home in an environment where you expect to win and expect to feed off the crowd's energy … it's tough," McSorley said. "But we have had tough losses before, a one-point loss and a lot of tough losses. So I mean it is definitely up there, but it's something that we've got to grow from."