Penn State Football: Comeback effort fails against Kentucky in Citrus Bowl

Penn State football nearly mounted a furious fourth-quarter comeback in the Citrus Bowl 

Despite scoring 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, Penn State football fell short in its effort to come back against the Kentucky Wildcats in the Citrus Bowl. The Nittany Lions couldn’t get a final stop when needed and walked away with the 27-24 loss.

The Nittany Lions quickly found themselves down 10 points in the first half and had to be in catchup mode the entire game.

Penn State was plagued by several huge miscues on special teams during the first half that proved huge. That’s surprising, knowing that head coach James Franklin emphasized extra practice time for special teams as part of his team’s bowl preparations.

On the first drive of the game, head coach Franklin opted to run a fake punt on the Penn State side of the field that failed. Later in the quarter, Kentucky scored on a 58-yard punt return. The Nittany Lions suffered from poor starting field position in the first half due to poor returns and a particularly bad decision by DeAndre Thompkins to let the ball go over his head.

As if those miscues were not enough, kicker Jake Pinegar missed two field goals, including one that was blocked at the end of the half that would have tied the game.

Then, to make matter worse, Penn State began the second half by kicking the ball out of bounds, giving Kentucky great starting field position that led to an eventual touchdown.

For as bad as things were going on offense for the Nittany Lions, fortunately, the defense was very strong in the first half. The Nittany Lions only allowed three points before halftime.

Unfortunately, the Kentucky run game, led by Benny Snell, seemed to wear down the Penn State defense as the game wore on. Snell scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and finished the game with 144 yards and two touchdowns. Snell finished as the all-time leading rusher in Kentucky football history.

Penn State looked dead in the water heading into the fourth quarter down 27-7, but that was before senior quarterback Trace McSorley gutted out a courageous effort. McSorley, who was banged up earlier in the season, was injured late in the first half and didn’t start the second half.

Rumors flew around on Twitter that McSorley was dealing with a broken right foot. However, he rushed for a touchdown and threw for another one in the fourth quarter. Playing in his last collegiate game, McSorley finished with 246 passing yards and two touchdowns, while also adding 75 yards and a score on the ground.

After pulling to within six points late in the fourth quarter, Penn State was driving and had a chance to take the lead. However, the drive stalled and Franklin opted for a filed goal, rather than attempt a forth down deep in Kentucky territory.

Unfortunately for Franklin, his defense was unable to stop Kentucky’s running game on the final drive and was unable to get the ball back with enough time to finish off the comeback.

Penn State will enter the offseason with a lot of question marks and some tough decisions to make as far as the coaching staff is concerned heading into the 2019 season.