MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. —It was a pass that will haunt. It was a loss that will sting for some time. It was the end to a season that will ache for most.
This is how Penn State’s 2024 season died.
Drew Allar scrambled out one direction and threw the other way.
His wide receiver couldn’t get separation. The pass wasn’t placed in the right spot.
It was picked off by Notre Dame’s Christian Gray.
It was the thread throughout the night. It was a thread throughout the season.
Penn State’s wide receivers didn’t catch a single pass. They didn’t impact the game.
Penn State’s quarterback seemed rattled by The Moment once again.
Penn State’s running game wasn’t enough even though it was a lot.
Penn State’s defense was great but not good enough.
It was all of those things that killed Penn State’s season, Penn State’s College Football Playoff run and Penn State’s national championship hopes.
All of it died in the Orange Bowl when Notre Dame kicked a game winning field goal with just seconds left.
It’s the most painful loss that Penn State fans have suffered in some time. Maybe ever.
Dejection. Tears. Anger. Frustration. Confusion. Questions.
It spilled down the steps of the stands. It walked down the ramps of Hard Rock Stadium. It poured down the escalators. It slumped out to the parking lots. It will linger on the flights home. It will burn on the drives back to the northern cold.
There wasn’t much to be said. There wasn’t much to be done.
The finality of Penn State’s 2024 season hit and hit hard.
Outside of Hard Rock Stadium, the pits used for F1 races – a spot usually roaring with million dollar engines – echoed with no sound.
Only thoughts of wondering if Nicholas Singleton catches that ball at the goal line. Thoughts of if Abdul Carter’s arm wasn’t hurt, would he have picked up that fumble. Thoughts of why that had to be the moment two defenders slipped.
Thoughts of that pass.
It was hard to think about. It’s going to be hard to think about. It’s going to be hard to stop thinking about.
Those thoughts lingered on as heads hit pillows around Miami. Around Pennsylvania. Around a fan base recharged by the last few weeks.
The heads awoke with emptiness that left stomachs unsettled. It will drone on into the weekend – into the next few days.
There is no thinking about next year right now. There’s only thinking about right now. Or rather what was right there.
A chance for a win to make people stop wondering – in so many directions.
A chance for a celebration.
Right now, it has to wait.
It’s going to have to wait – nearly nine long months before it can all begin again.
Penn State’s 2024 season died in the Orange Bowl on Thursday night.
It was a memorable run – with a painfully memorable final moment.
It was, most of all, the end.
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