LOS ANGELES — Penn State traveled about 2,500 miles across the continent on its first trip in the new Big Ten. The Nittany Lions then spent most of Saturday playing from behind against USC.
Thanks to several clutch throws from Drew Allar, a few key defensive stops and one of the greatest games by a tight end in FBS history, the Nittany Lions can make the long trip home with their unbeaten record and national championship dreams intact.
Tyler Warren caught 17 passes to tie the FBS single-game record for tight ends, Ryan Barker hit a 36-yard field goal in overtime and No. 4 Penn State rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half for a 33-30 victory over USC.
Allar threw for a career-high 391 yards and two touchdowns despite three interceptions for Penn State (6-0, 3-0), which didn’t lead in the final 49 minutes of regulation. The Nittany Lions came back three times to tie it in the final 20 minutes, the last on Nicholas Singleton’s 14-yard touchdown reception with 2:53 left.
USC then got shoved 3 yards backward on its first three plays of overtime before Michael Lantz missed a 45-yard field-goal attempt. Penn State advanced to the 19, and Barker’s teammates stormed the Coliseum field to celebrate after he buried the winner.
“I think the word ‘resilient’ was probably the best word to define our team today,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “And it’s good to be able to go in and say, ‘Hey guys, we’re a second-half team.’ But I’d prefer not to say that anymore. I’d prefer to be a four-quarter team, a start-fast team, all of it.”
Quentin Joyner scored two early touchdowns for the Trojans (3-3, 1-3), who have lost three of four. USC hasn’t beaten a top-five team since it held off No. 5 Penn State in a 52-49 thriller of a Rose Bowl in January 2017.
“It’s a gut-punch, no doubt about it,” said Lincoln Riley, who has lost eight of his last 13 games.
Penn State relied heavily on Warren, who racked up 224 yards and a touchdown even though his only catch after the third quarter was a 3-yarder in overtime. He matched the record for catches by a tight end set by New Mexico’s Emilio Vallez in 1967 and equaled by Jon Harvey for Northwestern in 1982.
“In the flow of the game, you don’t realize that,” said Warren, shrugging off his records. “I thought we just did an all-around good job.”
Warren made his TD catch in the third quarter at the end of a trick play on which Warren snapped the ball to backup QB Beau Pribula, who lateraled to Allar.
Although USC finally blanketed Warren on the Nittany Lions’ final drives, the senior set a record for the most receptions by an opponent in USC’s 137-year football history.
“It just shows the player he is,” Allar said. “Ty Warren had an insane game today, and I’m just super happy for him. I think he’s shown that he’s the best tight end in the country through the first part of the season.”
The Nittany Lions started slowly on their longest regular-season trip west since 1991 but finished impressively. After going up 3-0 on its first drive, Penn State trailed 20-6 at halftime before its offense got moving.
USC’s Kyron Hudson then caught a go-ahead touchdown pass from Miller Moss with 5:56 left, but Allar converted two fourth downs with desperate passes to Julian Fleming before Singleton was left all alone for his tying catch.
USC drove to midfield in the final seconds, but Riley curiously used no timeouts to extend the Trojans’ drive before Jaylen Reed picked off Moss with 5 seconds left. Riley said he didn’t want to leave any time for Penn State to make a final drive.
“The reality of it is we’ve played the toughest schedule in the country the first six games, (and) we’ve had a chance to win all six games,” Riley said. “That’s hard to do … so we’re doing a lot of good, and I understand that that good is not going to get seen by the outside right now, because they’re going to focus on the record and the fact that we’ve lost three games on the last play.”
Moss passed for 220 yards and two scores, while Joyner rushed for a 75-yard touchdown in the first quarter and made his first TD catch in the second quarter. Woody Marks rushed for 111 yards.
“They all hurt, (but) this one especially was excruciating just in the manner that it happened,” Moss said.
Penn State couldn’t score a touchdown in the first half, but got rolling with Allar’s TD throw to Warren. The Nittany Lions made a 90-yard march to tie it moments later, with Kaytron Allen taking it in.
