Penn State football’s issues have been put on blast all season long. Whether it’s the fact that the Nittany Lions can’t throw the ball deep or can’t stop the run to save their life, it’s not hard to deduce major inconsistencies and problems with this team.

Penn State is in the middle of one of its most atrocious run of games ever. The Nittany Lions have dropped five straight Big Ten games and remain winless against Power Four opponents. Nobody expected this, but it’s reality.

Yet, despite all of its issues, Penn State has had big-time plays that should have propelled the Nittany Lions to victory in most of their recent losses.

Third quarter. Rose Bowl. UCLA. Dani Dennis-Sutton blocks the Bruins’ punt and Liam Clifford scoops it and runs the ball into the end zone. The Nittany Lions brought that to a one-possession game going into the fourth quarter. Major momentum swing.

First quarter. Kinnick Stadium. Iowa. Zakee Wheatley picks off Mark Gronowski on the third play from scrimmage in the first game of the post-James Franklin era. Momentum swing and tone-setter from the start.

Second quarter. Kinnick Stadium. Iowa. The Hawkeyes attempt a 66-yard field goal, which Xavier Gilliam blocks and Elliot Washington takes back to the house. Major momentum swing.

Second quarter. Ohio Stadium. Ohio State. Dennis-Sutton forces a fumble on Buckeye running back C.J. Donaldson Jr., and Chaz Coleman picks it up and returns it nine yards to Ohio State’s 13-yard line. Kaytron Allen punches it in and provides a major jolt just before the half. Major momentum swing.

The common denominator in all of these instances? Penn State didn’t take advantage of the golden opportunities to flip the script. The Nittany Lions lost all of those games.

“We have to be mature enough to come out of halftime and capitalize on that,” Terry Smith said postgame. “Get a three-and-out stop, offense gets the ball right away…We just haven’t been able to just put a good quarter, a full quarter of that together. And that’s the challenge. So, we’re going to keep fighting that and try to correct it.”

At some point, though, why should Penn State even need momentum to propel itself back to competitiveness in these games against UCLA and Iowa? It’s unfair to say that about Ohio State, but this all stems from the offensive incompetencies that are still plaguing the Nittany Lions.

A key example of this is Smith saying throughout the week that the offense needed to extend the field and take deep shots with Koby Howard and Tyseer Denmark to have a good shot at the Buckeyes. He said they would have a bigger role. What did that end up being? One reception for Howard for 26 yards in the fourth quarter.

Yes, the offense was humming in the first half. Yes, some of the Penn State faithful actually started to believe there was more to the game than a blowout. So, why is it seemingly impossible for Penn State to snatch that aura surrounding big plays and use them as energy sources to squeeze out a win?

Linebacker Amare Campbell said that Julian Sayin’s 57-yard deep shot to Carnell Tate brought a screeching halt to Penn State’s positivity coming out of halftime and heavily disrupted the momentum swing the Nittany Lions felt.

“We’ve been preaching all week, all practice, keep the ball in front of us. Early in the first half, they got some balls behind us, and then they came out in the second half and throw one behind us. So, we got to be better. We got to be better as players,” Campbell said.

Kaytron Allen voiced frustration with the way Penn State came out offensively in the second half. He said the offense didn’t finish strong and that Ohio State’s elite defense isn’t an excuse for the offense to not play up to its standards.

“It was a game of two halves. Thought the first half, we came out and played valiantly…Then we came out in the second half and the third quarter set the tone for them. They got 14 points, and we just never could respond,” Smith said. “I’m super proud of our guys for fighting to the end. They didn’t quit, but we have to learn and to finish.”

The frustrating part of all of it, though, is that Penn State does all of the hard work it needs to do to reel the struggling offense and defense back in. Both of its momentum-changing plays against UCLA and Iowa were on special teams, arguably the most difficult unit to make a game-changing play in.

Whether the team is still feeling the aftershock from James Franklin’s firing or it’s some deeper, even more grievous issue, there’s seemingly no explanation as to why Penn State can’t ride the wave it creates for itself. It’s ugly. It’s bad football.

Nevertheless, Penn State’s season wrapped up a while ago. It’s unfair to nitpick all of what could’ve been against the No. 1-ranked team in the country. Penn State fought hard and Ohio State was simply too hard to contain down the stretch. Penn State just has to brush itself off and get ready for next week.

“The one thing that we’re trying to emphasize in the building is you’re going to make a good play and you’re going to make a bad play, but the next play is the most important, so that’s what we’re going to focus on,” Smith said.