Yeah, that sucked.

In this year’s most heartbreaking result for Penn State football, the Nittany Lions came up short in a 45-37 shootout with Oregon. Drew Allar’s fourth-quarter interception was one of his worst looks of the year as Penn State once again came up just short against a high-level opponent.

There’s lots to complain about. Lots. Onward State, in fact, wrote about those things to complain about here, here, and here.

We aren’t going to complain here. There were lots of things to be happy about from Penn State’s play on Saturday, so let’s dive into what Penn State fans can like about the result.

Penn State Gets A Home College Football Playoff Game

Yes, let’s get it out of the way. Penn State will host SMU at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, December 21. This was always the plan, and by no means is this a bad way to play a College Football Playoff game. This might be a noon game, but Penn State still called for a White Out and will have a chance to show what its fans can do in its most important game since…well, a long time ago.

It would’ve been nice to take a bye week, and playing in the Big Ten Championship means the Nittany Lions will be on shorter rest than they would’ve been and will have to play an extra game. However, Happy Valley takes great pride in the passion of its fanbase. It’s time to show that off in the playoffs.

Nick Singleton & Kaytron Allen Are Back

Man, those guys can run.

It took way too long for Franklin and Andy Kotelnicki to figure out how to use their running game. However, once the Nittany Lions hit the ground, their two top-tier running backs looked better than they have all year long. Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for 229 yards on the ground, plus 58 more yards through the air.

While Penn State’s receiving game was once again underwhelming, Singleton and Allen’s performance was an indicator they’ll be able to show out in the playoffs.

Penn State Hung In There

Fans won’t care about much more than a tally in the win and loss columns, but Penn State took the undisputed No. 1 team in America to the wire. If Allar doesn’t make that poor throw to give up a game-sealing interception, the Nittany Lions probably march down the field and the game comes down to a two-point conversion.

Penn State was never supposed to play in this game, much less win it. All of America, Timothee Chalamet included, picked Penn State to lose this game. Instead of crawling into the fetal position after a disastrous first quarter, the Nittany Lions showed a fight reminiscent of the 2017 Rose Bowl.

This team isn’t a national title contender. The two losses to Ohio State and Oregon showed us that. But this is still a darn good football team.

James Franklin Has Tangible Fixes

James Franklin won’t have any issue figuring out what went wrong in this loss. Penalties, rushing defense, the secondary, and questionable passing decisions killed the Nittany Lions. Each of those are fixable issues.

Sure, Penn State shouldn’t have given up all those penalty yards or had Jordan James, Noah Wittington, and Tez Johnson give them the business. However, Franklin knows what to drill into his players during film and practice sessions.