STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Dillon Thieneman intercepted Drew Allar's pass in the second overtime and No. 6 Oregon outlasted No. 3 Penn State 30-24 on Saturday night.
Jamari Johnson ran for a touchdown in overtime, Dierre Hill Jr. caught a touchdown pass, Jordan Davison ran for another score and Atticus Sappington kicked a field goal for the Ducks (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) who won their FBS-leading 23rd straight regular-season game. “We just talked all week about it’s about getting a cut," Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. "It’s death by 1,000 cuts. Eventually that cut was going to be a jugular and that last interception was a jugular.”
They also improved to 12-0 in regular-season Big Ten play and did so in one of college football’s most hostile environments, winning the rematch of last season’s conference championship game. They did so despite 111,015 fans — most of them clad in all white — trying to lift Penn State in the final minutes.
Trailing 17-10, Penn State got the ball with 7:07 left to play. An offense that had managed just 189 yards to that point drove down the field where Allar hooked up with Devonte Ross for a 7-yard touchdown to force overtime.
Ross caught a 35-yarder from Allar earlier in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to keep Penn State from falling to 4-21 against AP Top 10 teams since James Franklin became coach.
Kaytron Allen scored the opening touchdown in overtime before Johnson equaled it. Allar was intercepted on Penn State's next play.
After enduring a sluggish, back-and-forth first half, Oregon took control in the third quarter.
Led by quarterback Dante Moore, the Ducks drove to Penn State’s 9 where Nittany Lion defensive end Chaz Coleman appeared to punch the football out of Noah Wittington’s grasp. Safety Zakee Wheatley recovered and returned it to midfield before a review overturned the fumble.
The Ducks went up 10-7 on the next play when Moore threw an 8-yard pass to Hill who bulled his way over the goal line with 3:16 left in the third.
Penn State was booed off the field after its next possession — a three-and-out that featured two incompletions and a 1-yard catch.
Oregon took a 14-point lead with its ensuing possession, a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended when Davison burst up the middle on fourth-and-1 for an 8-yard touchdown with 12:25 left to play.
The students that sit around the stadium’s south end zone erupted into “Fire Franklin!” chants.
They changed their tune when Allar found Ross running wide open to the corner of that end zone for a 35-yard touchdown pass that cut Oregon’s lead to 17-10.
Allar went back to work on Penn State's next possession, steering his offense 62 yards and finding Ross with a pass that turned into a 7-yard touchdown and tied it 17-17 with 30 seconds left.
Both teams’ defenses starred in the first half.
Oregon kept Allar from getting into a rhythm while holding Nittany Lion tailbacks Allen and Nicholas Singleton to 18 rushing yards over the first two quarters. The Nittany Lions punted three times, but got a 49-yard field goal from Ryan Barker to take a 3-0 lead with 13:26 left in the first half.
Meanwhile, Penn State’s defense was just as tough. The Nittany Lions forced a punt, a turnover on downs and a missed field goal before Sappington nailed a 42-yarder to tie it 3:42 before halftime. “It’s as proud as I’ve been of our team playing well on both sides of the ball," Lanning said. “The score maybe didn’t indicate that in the first half with our offense, but defense played really well in the first, second half offense really picked it up.”
The takeaway
Oregon: The Ducks came into one of college football's most hostile environments and did what they needed to do to get a win. The defense bottled up Penn State’s rushing attack while Moore was nearly unflappable despite the constant drone from the crowd.
Penn State: The Nittany Lions believe they have the pieces to make another deep run in the College Football Playoff, but they need to do some soul-searching after this one. Their offense played its worst game of the Andy Kotelnicki era.
Up next
Oregon: The Ducks are idle next weekend before hosting No. 11 Indiana (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) on Oct. 11.
Penn State: Visits UCLA (0-4, 0-1 Big Ten) on Saturday.
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