Oregon was driving down the field on the opening possession of the Big Ten Championship and quickly found itself in scoring position. Running back Jordan James’ five plays and wide receiver Tez Johnson’s 17-yard catch had already given Penn State football a preview of what was coming.

However, Penn State slowed the Ducks and had them facing a 2nd-and-7 from the Nittany Lions’ 44-yard line, and held them to what would’ve been 3rd-and-1 and a chance to force a field goal or punt. Instead, A.J. Harris was called for a facemask, and Oregon scored a touchdown two plays later.

On the next drive, it happened again. This time, it was more frustrating and costly. Following a 26-yard run from tailback Noah Whittington and an eight-yard rush from James, the Nittany Lions had the Ducks figured out. James was held to one yard, and Dillon Gabriel threw an incompletion. James would’ve been halted on 4th-and-1 and given Penn State possession in its own territory, but Tony Rojas was called for a facemask. Oregon scored a touchdown five plays later.

Penn State took three more penalties in a 45-37 Big Ten Championship loss. The final total was five penalties for 65 yards, including four for 50 solely in the first quarter. To put that into perspective, the Nittany Lions had 43 rushing yards in the opening 15 minutes.

Of the five penalties, two were for personal fouls and face masks, and the fifth was a false start. While an occasional face mask or false start is inevitably part of football, personal fouls are not. Those are avoidable and shouldn’t be an issue for a top-five team with aspirations of making a deep playoff run, especially against another team with the same goal.

“Early on the penalties were significant. Four penalties for 15 yards. We had another penalty for 15 yards. And you can’t do that against the No. 1 team in the country and expect to win giving those types of yards away. Penalties are one thing. Fifteen yards is another. I can deal with the face mask penalties. They’re going to happen sometimes when you’re just playing. That’s going to happen from time to time. The other things we’ve got to get eliminated,” James Franklin said.

Taking this many penalties for so many yards was especially damaging because it enhanced a slow start. This arguably killed Penn State’s hopes of toppling No. 1 Oregon in a one-score game, as the loss of yardage at crucial moments kept the Nittany Lions from keeping up with the Ducks.

“It’s tough, because when you play the No. 1 team in the country, it’s such little margin for error, and those penalties definitely hurt us in the end of the game,” Harris said.

What’s even more problematic: penalty woes plagued Penn State earlier in the season.

In the first three games of the season, the Nittany Lions were assessed 22 penalties for 201 yards. At the time, that 7.33 per game was tied for fourth-worst in the Big Ten.

“Just some things that we got to get cleaned up, we’re giving yards away and making things more challenging, so that is a major priority for us,” Franklin said at the time. Does that sound familiar?

But somewhere along the way, the Nittany Lions figured it out and their penalty woes appeared to be in the past. They were tied for the 22nd-fewest penalties and 28th-fewest penalty yards heading into the Big Ten Championship. But when the Nittany Lions’ dream of winning a title was almost a reality, the ghosts returned to haunt them. This is strangely familiar to Ohio State when a taunting penalty on third down gave the Buckeyes a first down, then eventually the go-ahead touchdown.

Penn State, in many ways, has been one of the most consistent teams in college football. That’s what got the Nittany Lions to Indianapolis in the first place, but the frequent penalty woes in big situations have held them back from accomplishing even more. Now, they must learn not to repeat avoidable mistakes to boost their chances of a deep playoff run, which starts in two weeks’ time.