Penn State fans rip Big Ten officials for seemingly lopsided officiating in Big Ten title game

Penn State was never supposed to be in the Big Ten Championship Game this year. The Nittany Lions backdoored their way into the game when Ohio State was upset in the final week of the regular season by Michigan, but that doesn’t make a 45-37 loss hurt any less for the fanbase. Now, the fate of the No. 3 team in the country rests in the hands of the College Football Playoff committee on Sunday, but on Saturday night, Penn State fans felt that the team’s fate was decided by the officials in Indianapolis. 

Penn State was called for five penalties for 65 yards compared to Oregon’s three for 24, but beyond the laundry on the field, there were plenty of other decisions that went the way of the Ducks. Within the final few minutes of the fourth quarter, Penn State had an Omari Evans catch for a first down, that was ruled a catch on the field, overturned without a review or explanation, and a Zion Tracy punt returned wiped away from a judgement call on a fair-catch signal that CBS rules analyst Gene Sterratore disagreed with. 

The officiating crew, which was the same crew from the Ohio State game when Penn State fans also felt slighted, did not call blatant holding penalties and on one of Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel’s touchdown passes, ignored multiple ineligible players downfield on an extend run-pass-option. 

There are plenty of reasons that Penn State lost to Oregon. Drew Allar’s interception on Penn State’s final possession, and the decision to throw that pass and call that play chief among them. However, the officiating can’t be ignored in the story of this game, a game that drops James Franklin’s record against top-5 ranked opponents to 1-17. 

Penn State will have another chance against the top teams in college football in the 12-team playoff, and the Nittany Lions and their fans will be hoping for a more favorable whistle that time around.