The Penn State Nittany Lions likely didn’t sleep well last night. Their heavyweight fight against the Oregon Ducks went the distance — a first-half slugfest that featured a late flurry of points and numerous opportunities to get the big game jinx off of their program and head coach James Franklin. Yet after storming back late in regulation and then taking the lead in the first overtime period, it was Oregon quarterback Dante Moore and the Ducks who made the critical plays and secured a 30-24 road win against the Lions.

Whether it’s the fourth quarter collapse in the 2017 Rose Bowl to USC or the one-point home loss to Ohio State in 2018, it’s always the other team that makes those plays down the stretch. The one stings all the same — because, as always, there were plays to be made. Which ones stand out the most?

Here are three near misses from Penn State’s double-overtime loss to Oregon on Saturday night that could have swung the game.

Three near misses for Penn State down the strech in 30-24 loss to the Oregon Ducks

Dante Moore’s 4th & 1 run in overtime

This was your chance to close the door on the Ducks and finish the comeback. It isn’t the first time a top-10 opponent matchup with Penn State featured a high leverage fourth down run, just like that one-point loss to Ohio State back in 2018. This call, however, saw Ducks quarterback Dante Moore dig through the line of scrimmage off the heels of a double-team from the left side of the line. Falling in behind transfer guard Emmanuel Pregnon and center Iapani Laloulu, Moore was able to find a create off the hip of senior defensive tackle Zane Durant, who had successfully been twisted and bubbled out of his gap.

With a stop, Penn State would have won the game. Instead, the entire stadium blinked and the Lions went from a 4th & game to trailing by 6. Oregon would score on their next two plays from scrimmage.

Zakee Wheatley’s fumble recovery that wasn’t

These are the kinds of plays that certainly feel like they show up in every big game against a top-10 opponent for Penn State. Backed up in their own red zone with the score still tied in the 3rd-quarter, Penn State appeared to catch a field-flipping and potentially game-changing play. The ball squirted loose and onto the turf, only for safety Zakee Wheatley to be on the spot and run the ball back for what would have been outstanding field position and a tied game.

There was no question the ball game out before the ball carrier hit the ground — except the play was reviewed and rule down on contact in the scrum earlier in the play by what could have been no more than a few blades of grass. The ball went back to Oregon and, soon thereafter, they were in the end zone.

Drew Allar’s game-sealing interception

Trailing 30-24 with a chance to score and win the game, the offensive domino was the last to fall. On the first play of the second overtime period for Penn State’s offense, the unit attempted to flood Oregon’s defense with a fake jet motion action of of split backs in the shotgun. That backfield action invited some extra traffic to the front side of the play, in which four Lions eligibles were stacked vertically on top of one another on different levels of the Oregon defense.

Quarterback Drew Allar‘s intentions where pure. The first receiver commanded the attention of two Ducks defenders and he ran vertically to clear space underneath. The intended target, Luke Reynolds, did appear to initially have a crease. But all of that backfield run action invited more defenders to the party, including safety Dillon Thieneman — who fell off of his initial run read with the backfield action and into the throwing window before making a leaping interception to seal the deal.

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