The "Block Six, two team's need to move on, deserves a deep rewind

SB Nation

Transcript

00:00It's October 22nd, 2016. We're in Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.

00:06With just over four minutes remaining, kicker Tyler Durbin is lined up to help

00:10undefeated number two Ohio State extend its lead over Penn State on the road and

00:16continue its march to a second national title in three seasons. For the home team

00:21Nittany Lions, hope of returning to national relevance is slipping away

00:24again after six unthinkable years that changed their program forever. There's a

00:30national title run at stake here, but to understand why there's a lot more

00:35hanging in the balance, we need to rewind.

00:41Since recovering from a scandal at the start of the decade, these Ohio State

00:45Buckeyes are almost unstoppable. In 2011, college football was rocked by the

00:54Tattoogate scandal, in which a band of disreputable college football players

00:59dared to capitalize on their on-field celebrity. The horror. The crime of

01:05Tattoogate came when five Ohio State players, including quarterback Terrell

01:10Pryor, fell into NCAA hot water after trading autographs for free ink work

01:15from a Columbus tattoo parlor. But that parlor was already under FBI

01:19investigation for drug trafficking, which you might have guessed because it's a

01:23tattoo parlor in a college town. The fallout of Tattoogate saw OSU losing

01:28scholarships and going on probation, as well as the resignation of head coach

01:31Jim Trestle in 2011 for failing to report the heinous crime of free tattoo

01:36work to the Gestapo- I mean the NCAA. On the field, things had been fine under

01:42Trestle. OSU posted six seasons of 10 or more wins, but after Tattoogate and minus

01:47a head coach, Ohio State briefly fell into a morass, finishing 6-7 in 2011.

01:52Then they hired Urban Meyer, a two-time national title winner lured out of the

01:57announcers booth when his boyhood team fell on hard times, albeit momentarily.

02:02Meyer instantly made OSU a national power again. The Bucks won a perfect 12-0 in

02:072012, but couldn't compete for any postseason titles in the conference or

02:11the national title picture because of NCAA penalties. Off the field, Meyer

02:15cleaned up on talent by applying the recruiting ruthlessness of the SEC to

02:20the previously quaint Big Ten. In 2013, Ohio State finished 12-2 and almost

02:27won the Big Ten. The following season, Ohio State won their first national

02:30championship since 2002. In just three seasons, the Buckeyes pivoted from a

02:35scandal to a national championship. And with the addition of Meyer and his

02:39influx of talent, honestly, Tattoogate made the program better. This 2016

02:44Buckeyes team looks like it could be Meyer's best so far. And that's

02:47especially impressive because a lot of the OSU names who rebuilt the Bucks into

02:51that national power, they're now in the NFL. Even still, the media projected

02:562016's Ohio State team is a top-ten playoff contender, despite boasting the

03:01least amount of experience in the entire country. But that's what happens when one

03:05school leads the Big Ten in recruiting for five consecutive years.

03:11They're young, but Ohio State is experienced at the one position where it

03:16counts most. Junior quarterback JT Barrett is a Heisman hopeful, and he has

03:19young, highly recruited scope position players like running back Mike Weber and

03:23wide receiver Noah Brown to break in. This is both a very young team and a

03:28wildly talented one. Weird things can happen with that combo, but so far so

03:32good. Ohio State stormed out of the gate and walloped Oklahoma and Norman 45-24

03:37in September. And as for this particular moment, it helps that the Buckeyes just

03:41survived these circumstances last week in an overtime win against number eight

03:45Wisconsin. That win, on the road, in Camp Randall, after trailing by ten at the

03:50half, was OSU's 20th in a row on the road. Against those Badgers, kicker Tyler

03:55Durbin hit a 31-yard field goal to tie the game with four minutes remaining.

03:59Almost the same amount of time remaining here.

04:05If the Buckeyes redefine the best-case scenario following NCAA sanctions, Penn

04:10State is living the worst. But there are fake scandals because of fake rules, and

04:14there are real and horrific crimes that change identities and lives forever.

04:18Which is why Happy Valley hasn't been happy for a long, long time. On the field,

04:23Penn State hasn't beaten a ranked opponent in three seasons, and haven't

04:27beaten a top-10 opponent since 2008. A blowout loss to number four Michigan

04:31last month, coupled with an embarrassing loss to unranked in-state rival Pitt

04:36when week two created a ho-hum two-and-two start to the 2016 season.

04:40Entering tonight, head coach James Franklin is 18-14 in one of college

04:44football's all-time winningest programs. He's also 0-7 versus the

04:48Wolverines, Buckeyes, and Michigan State, the three most dominant programs in the

04:52Big Ten this decade. But there's a lot more here than just a slump. In 2012,

04:58longtime Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of 45

05:02charges of sexual abuse to young boys over a 15-year period. Sandusky, who

05:07worked in State College for 30 years, sexually assaulted children in the

05:11showers and bathrooms of Penn State's facilities over a span of decades. Penn

05:15State head coach Joe Paterno, along with several Penn State leaders, were found to

05:19have had knowledge of Sandusky's sexual assaults without notifying authorities.

05:23In 2011, Paterno was fired in disgrace after a 62-year career in Happy Valley.

05:30Throughout a half-century, Paterno's stats on the field built Penn State into a

05:34national powerhouse. And despite his age, the program succeeded into the new

05:38millennium under his watch. After news of Paterno's dismissal was announced,

05:42riots broke out in State College. And in a first-of-its-kind move, the NCAA

05:48sought to crush the program for violations unrelated to normal NCAA

05:52matters like eligibility or benefits or academics. The NCAA hit the football

05:57program with a $60 million fine, a four-year postseason ban, and a reduction

06:02of scholarships from 25 per season to 15 for four years. All bull television

06:07revenue Penn State would receive from the Big Ten during that time, which was

06:10around $13 million annually, would be donated to charity. And in a direct blow

06:15to Paterno's legacy, all Penn State wins were vacated, starting in the year when

06:20investigators said Penn State first learned of Sandusky's actions through

06:242011. Crushed by sanctions, the program tried to move forward, selecting New

06:30England Patriots assistant coach Bill O'Brien to take over as head coach.

06:33Almost impossibly, he guided the Lions to an 8-4 record in 2012,

06:38despite the scholarship limitations and an NCAA-permitted open transfer window

06:43for any Nittany Lion player wanting to leave after Paterno's firing. But after a

06:487-5 season the next year, O'Brien, very frustrated with the Penn State

06:53culture post-Paterno and the near impossibility of rebuilding the program

06:57under NCAA penalties, left for the NFL to become head coach of the Texans. Penn

07:02State was a shadow of its former self and far from a destination coaching job.

07:07Enter James Franklin, a Pennsylvania native who pulled off a minor miracle of

07:11his own, turning SEC doormat Vanderbilt into a winning program. Like former SEC

07:15coach Meyer, Franklin immediately improved Penn State's recruiting upon

07:19his arrival, signing back-to-back top 25 classes in 2014 and 15 and throwing

07:25young players straight onto the field to compensate for the Paterno sanctioned

07:28losses. In 2014, the NCAA removed its postseason ban on Penn State, allowing a

07:346-win Nittany Lion team to play in and win the PennStripe Bowl. Penn State

07:39matched its 7-6 record the following season as well, leaving Franklin at 14

07:43and 12 overall. But that's not Paterno-era dominance. In Franklin's first

07:48two seasons, Penn State lost to doormat Northwestern twice and to lowly in-state

07:53rival Temple for the first time in 74 years. Look, the reasons for this dip on

08:00the field were beyond obvious. The sanctions were over, but the impact on

08:03the roster wasn't. Multiple years of diminished scholarships left particular

08:07position groups like offensive line in shambles. But this is college football,

08:12where expectations never meet reality, and expectations were the good old days

08:17of Penn State needed to start happening again.

08:20Entering the 2016 season, Penn State signed another top 25 class as well as

08:25added a new play caller, Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead, to overhaul the

08:29offense for a dynamic new quarterback-running back tandem of

08:32sophomores Trace McSorley and Saquon Barkley, two of Franklin's key signees.

08:36Landing Barkley was the recruiting win Franklin promised fans was possible

08:41during those dark days of sanctions. But these classes, truly great halls

08:45considering the chasm Penn State emerged from both in NCAA sanctions and public

08:50reception, they weren't close to the elite status of Big Ten powers, namely

08:54Ohio State. The 4-2 start with the league's best team visiting town

08:58didn't feel like turning a corner. Both McSorley and Barkley evolved game by

09:03game learning Moorhead's new much-hyped offense, while the defense, well let's

09:08just say they learned on the job.

09:14Look, it's been years since Penn State won a relevant game, but that hasn't

09:18stopped 107,000 fans from creating a whiteout, one of college football's great

09:23stadium traditions and formerly a brutal environment for visiting teams to play

09:27in. But while the scene here in Happy Valley is electric, the football is not

09:32so much. The Buckeyes managed just two field goals from Durbin in the second

09:35quarter to break a scoreless tie, then this touchdown pass to Marcus Ball built

09:39a commanding 12-0 lead against a struggling Penn State offense, repeating

09:43its past performance in statement games. But then proof of concept appeared.

09:48McSorley found receiver Chris Godwin for a touchdown with nine seconds left in

09:52the half, providing the team with its only spark so far. By the fourth quarter

09:56Penn State trailed 21-7. The offense was floundering, but the Lions defense was

10:01allowing a season-low point total against a Power 5 opponent. Still,

10:05something had to happen on offense for Penn State to make any kind of real

10:09statement. First, this explosive Barkley run of 37 yards, the exact kind of play

10:15he was signed to make, flipped the field, then McSorley scrambled for a touchdown

10:19run three plays later. After that, this blocked punt set up the Lions deep in

10:24Ohio State territory, and as you can see and hear, Beaver Stadium white-out crowds

10:28started to believe. Another field goal could only cut the Ohio State lead to

10:36four, and look, that's just not good enough against a championship-caliber

10:40team. For ten plays, the Buckeyes chewed the clock from over nine minutes down to

10:45just 4-27. Barrett hit young Noah Brown for a big gain in between Weber runs to

10:51grind the clock. Even after failing to convert on third down, the Buckeyes can

10:55still extend the lead to seven with another Durbin field goal, confident that

11:00a Penn State offense struggling for most of the night won't be able to answer. The

11:04Buckeyes have led the entire game, and the advantage is now all Ohio State's,

11:07from the field position to the scholarship numbers on their roster

11:10these last five seasons, to their scandal that they bounced back from. Penn State's

11:15road has been harder in every way, shape, and form. After living through a horror

11:20that's impossible to separate from the program's legacy, it's not unfair to

11:24think a moment capable of starting something new, something after, is just

11:29too much to ask for, at least any time soon. Welcome to a moment in history.

11:35This is from 45, and it's blocked! Lyons scoop it up!

11:43Brad Haley will score!

12:05to our content on patreon and join these names

Category

Transcript

Recommended