James Franklin: Penn State defense ‘ran out of gas’ during Ohio State comeback

All the Penn State defense needed to do with eight minutes to play and its team holding a 26-14 lead over Ohio State was to shut down the Buckeyes, something it had done well for much of Saturday night's "Whiteout" at Beaver Stadium.

But the Nittany Lions couldn't hold on. The Buckeyes' up-tempo offense needed just 1 minute, 18 seconds to go 75 yards in three plays to score its next touchdown, and 2:32 on a 96-yard, eight-play drive for the game-winner in a 27-26 victory over the Lions.

It was swift. It was painful. And the Penn State defense was exhausted.

"We didn't have enough left in the tank," Nittany Lions coach James Franklin said Tuesday on the Big Ten coaches' conference call.

"We played our first-teamers at a much higher rep count than we have the previous games, and I think that put us in the position we were in," he said. "But I also think that we ran out of gas a little bit in the fourth quarter."

Penn State's defensive coaches had rotated players at a pretty steady pace in the team's previous three games, which were decided by an average margin of 45.7 points.

But the rotation against Ohio State was limited, especially in the fourth quarter when the only non-starters to play were defensive end Shaka Toney, linebacker Micah Parsons and cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields, who came in as part of a five-defensive-back look. The Lions couldn't get pressure on quarterback Dwayne Haskins and missed several tackles on the two TD drives.

>> READ MORE: Five observations from Penn State's gut-wrenching loss to Ohio State

"I think obviously we're always going to be working to get better on fundamentals and techniques," said Franklin, whose team has a bye Saturday. "They've got great players and they've got great depth and they've had that for a number of years. I do think come the fourth quarter, we had guys play a lot more reps than they've ever played, and we started to wear down, and that showed."

Franklin said the Nittany Lions' defensive scheme was solid. Ohio State gained around 210 fewer yards than it had averaged in its first three games, and scored half as many points.

He also said his review of the game tape showed that his team played "really hard."

"What I'm always looking at is, have we improved every single week?" he said. "And I can't imagine there'd be anybody out there that follows Penn State closely that doesn't feel like we haven't improved every single week, from [Appalachian] State all the way to Ohio State, and I think we did that. Obviously we didn't do enough to win the game, and we'll look at all those things in great detail."

Penn State's final play, a run by Miles Sanders from the Buckeyes' 43 on fourth-and-5 that lost 2 yards, has been subject to much criticism. Offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne said in an interview Monday with the Associated Press that he took responsibility for the play call.

Franklin said he's proud of the fact that his players and coaches take responsibility for their decisions.

"I think there's a lot of value in that," he said. "That makes me proud of what we're building here. But again, like I said on Saturday night, ultimately I'm the head coach and I'm responsible."