Every Penn State fan knows where they were on October 22, 2016.

The Nittany Lions were never supposed to win that game. Some folks wanted them to lose. 

Yet four years after the NCAA tried to banish the program to the cellar of college football history, Penn State earned a signature moment that proved to the nation it was back and here to stay.

For those who haven’t already caught on, it’s been 10 years since Penn State’s famous upset of the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes in front of a White Out crowd at Beaver Stadium. 

It defined the next decade of football in Happy Valley, and it’s no stretch to say it was the most impactful play in program history.

Heading into that game, Penn State was a 20.5-point underdog. It had started the 2016 season, the third of James Franklin’s tenure, in mediocre fashion, and the sportsbooks expected nothing different that night.  

Conversations had already been swirling the season prior on whether Franklin was the right fit for the job. The Nittany Lions went 7-5 and finished with a TaxSlayer Bowl loss to Georgia.

The regression of former five-star recruit and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Christian Hackenberg didn’t help his case either, and the alleged tension between the quarterback and head coach during Hackenberg’s departure for the NFL raised a few eyebrows at the time. 

But the Hackenberg era ended in 2015, and the Trace McSorley era was just beginning. 

Penn State’s 42-39 loss to Pitt in Week 2 was a serious gut punch to a team looking for a breakthrough season. And Michigan’s blowout of the Nittany Lions two weeks later was a sign that another middling season might be on the horizon.

Then came the Minnesota game.

Penn State trailed the Golden Gophers by 10 points at halftime. The teams were tied 23-23 before Saquon Barkley broke free in overtime to secure the win and electrify a Beaver Stadium crowd. 

It was just what the Nittany Lions needed.

After taking down Maryland in Week 6, it was finally time for Penn State to get its first home crack at an AP top-5 team since it lost to Alabama in 2011. It was also the first time the Buckeyes had returned to Happy Valley since their double-overtime win in 2014.

A subtle excitement was brewing on campus. If Penn State ever had a chance to make a statement, it was during the Ohio State game under the lights on Saturday night.

The scarlet and grey controlled the game from the get-go. JT Barrett and Curtis Samuel set the tone, and Penn State shot itself in the foot with a bad punt snap. Blake Gillikin fell on the ball in the end zone, resulting in a safety.

A touchdown pass from McSorley to Chris Godwin gave Penn State its only points through three quarters, as the Nittany Lions trailed by 14 entering the final frame.

McSorley took one in himself to open the fourth quarter and bring the game to within a score. 

Then, the moment.

With 4:39 remaining in regulation, Buckeye placekicker Tyler Durbin lined up for what would have been a career-long 45-yard field goal. 

As Chris Fowler now famously said, Durbin was “super reliable from inside of 40.” The walk-on from Burke, Virginia, was 8-for-8 in that range entering the White Out. 

Fortunately for him, the extra 5 yards kept the streak from being in jeopardy. Unfortunately for him, the kick was blocked.

The outstretched arms of a leaping Marcus Allen batted the ball out of the air, sending it rolling down the turf toward the Penn State end zone.

Grant Haley scooped it up cleanly after a bounce landed it perfectly in his grasp, and he began the mad dash toward the white Penn State end zone paint.

With only Durbin to beat, Haley tumbled into the end zone, giving the Nittany Lions their first lead of the evening.

Two sacks on Ohio State’s final drive sealed Penn State’s 24-21 win, and a sea of white overtook the field in celebration. 

It was magical. It was unifying. It was a moment that college football fans everywhere could appreciate, but only Penn Staters could truly understand what that game meant to the university and its football program. 

Now, 10 years later, so much has changed, but perhaps even more has stayed the same.

It’s not crazy to say that the blocked field goal that secured the upset was the play that kept James Franklin in his job for nine subsequent seasons.

Without that moment, who knows if the Nittany Lions would have had the spark to win the next six games in a row en route to a Big Ten title.

Conversations about Franklin’s job security stalled, as the man in charge became the face of a new era of hope in State College, Pennsylvania.

Since then, Penn State has played Ohio State nine times. The Nittany Lions are 0-9 in that span. 

In 2017, the Nittany Lions blew a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter, undoubtedly one of the biggest “what-ifs” for a team destined for its first College Football Playoff appearance. 

In 2018, Penn State gave up another late-game double-digit lead to the Buckeyes in a game that had more hype leading up to it than perhaps any other in Beaver Stadium history.

Since 2020, Penn State is also 0-16 in regular-season games against top-10 opponents and may now be facing its fourth five-loss season.

Franklin’s end came during the 2025 season, and the narrative around his tenure has shifted from a blocked kick that propelled Penn State to the next level to one that delayed his inevitable demise.

With Matt Campbell now at the helm, fans still look back on that night in 2016 with nostalgia and reflection. 

The “block six” serves as a dual reminder: while the win might have given Penn Staters a false sense of long-term hope, it also marked a turning point for the program after its darkest days.

A generation of Penn Staters grew up as fans in the shadow of scandal. Their earliest memories of the program were defined by controversy and disparaging media coverage, rather than wins. They watched other ranked teams bask in the spotlight, wondering if the Nittany Lions could ever reach that level of gridiron glory again.

On October 22, 2016, they got their first taste of triumph.

As we look back on the blocked field goal a decade later, let us remember the power of Penn State that so many of us felt that night, whether it be on television or on the field of Beaver Stadium.

Wins will come and go, but memories like that will last a lifetime.