GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jake LaMotta took so many punches he earned himself a middleweight boxing championship and a movie about his life. He was known as “The Bronx Bull,” and he was sent to the canvas just once in 106 fights. LaMotta’s face would swell as his lips cracked with blood, but rarely did his eyes completely shut. He was relentless.
LaMotta was far from the greatest boxer of his time, but he was tough enough to hold the middleweight belt for three years.
In many ways, Penn State is equally as imperfect yet adequate within the current landscape of college football. The Nittany Lions haven’t let an eighth-consecutive loss to Ohio State define their season. They haven’t rolled over in the face of adversity, whether it be injuries or in close games that appeared to signal an impending defeat.
Penn State won those contests. And a 31-14 win over Boise State in Tuesday’s Fiesta Bowl was another example of the Nittany Lions’ imperfections and masterful ability to execute in the games they were supposed to win. They may not be the best team in the country, but they’ve lasted long enough in the ring to be in the conversation.
“You roll with the punches. You don’t get knocked out and it’s over. You keep going. You keep fighting and keep going in life, in everything,” center Nick Dawkins said postgame. “So, when you lose one, go down one to a good team, all it is for us is, ‘Alright, we got knocked out in one round, come back, get knocked down, we come back.’ We just keep fighting.”
Broncos’ tight end Matt Lauter waltzed into the end zone uncovered for a 53-yard touchdown that trimmed Penn State’s lead to three points during the third quarter. Abdul Carter, the Nittany Lions’ standout defensive end, was sidelined and could hardly move his left arm. The momentum was shifting in a game that began with it all in Penn State’s favor.
Then, piece by piece, the Nittany Lions broke out of their slump.
Drew Allar snapped an 0-for-7 streak on pass attempts. He threw a go-and-get-it dime to his tight end, Tyler Warren, in the end zone for the team’s first touchdown since the first quarter. Boise State didn’t score again after its glimmer of hope. It punched and Penn State withstood the blow.
The same story that defined the Nittany Lions’ regular season has added a chapter in the College Football Playoffs. In a year that’s seen countless programs fall to beatable opponents, Penn State hasn’t wavered in that department. James Franklin has delivered his program’s first 13-win season and its closest shot at a national title in three decades.
“When things don’t go well, our guys don’t panic. The coaches don’t panic. We learn from it and then we get on to the next play,” Franklin said. “When you’re playing really good teams at this point in the season, they’re going to make plays. They’re going to do some good things. You just got to weather the storm and battle back.”
Allar epitomizes this message like hardly any other Nittany Lion. His once-subtle demeanor has faded. He’s become a demonstrative and vocal leader whose greatest skill is his ability to flush bad plays and move on. That wasn’t always the case, but it is now. Allar’s blossomed into a thermostat, veering from a thermometer. He controls his temperature.
At times, Allar looks the part of an NFL starter. His two touchdown passes to Warren and one in the basket to wide receiver Omari Evans couldn’t have been placed better. Other times, he looks anything but.
But Allar hasn’t let bad plays define him, just as Penn State hasn’t let losses to Ohio State and Oregon, injuries to key starters like Carter and Kevin Winston Jr. and other bouts with adversity derail a year of great anticipation. It’s unlikely any team benefited more from playoff expansion than the Nittany Lions, and squandering their first opportunity wasn’t an option.
“We’re only guaranteed 65 plays a game on offense. So it’s about earning another 65 plays the next week,” Allar said. “Everybody talks about it’s a four-game season. It’s really not. It’s only a one-game season and it’s survive and advance. So, that’s the mindset that we’ve had these past two weeks. I think it’s paid off for us right now.”
Franklin was booed off the field after falling to Ohio State. It was an understandable circumstance for a fandom that’s grown frustrated of losing the big one every year. But the big one doesn’t mean what it used to. The game has changed. Alabama can beat Georgia all it wants, but if it loses to Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, it ain’t getting in the playoff.
Penn State doesn’t need to beat the Buckeyes to get to the national title. In fact, it stands just one win away from a championship appearance, solely by knocking off every team it should’ve knocked off. The Nittany Lions have perfected the art of not losing better than any program. That’s arguably more important than winning under the current playoff structure.
There’s a fair argument that Penn State had a favorable draw of facing SMU and Boise State in the first two rounds of the playoff. But the path that led the Nittany Lions to the national semifinal didn’t start in December.
It began against West Virginia on the final Saturday in August. It stopped by a fiery locker room amid a halftime deficit against Bowling Green. It traveled to Los Angeles and soared through the uprights in an overtime victory at USC. It passed through the Beaver Stadium tunnel as Franklin was cursed at and scorned after another loss to the Buckeyes. It ventured north and witnessed a playoff-sealing fake punt at Minnesota. It led to the Big Ten Championship, shoveled through the snow against SMU and just flew out of Arizona.
The path points toward the Orange Bowl, where a ticket to the national championship sits in the storage cabinet, waiting to meet its worthy owner. The path is real. The path is alive. The path hasn’t hit the canvas.
“People want to say, ‘Oh, it’s an easy path, easy path, easy path,’” said defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas. “I mean, if it’s an easy path, everybody would be here.”
