No easing up
The new college football season started over the weekend, garnering plenty of interest from bettors. Penn State, ranked seventh in the AP Top 25 pre-season poll, opened its campaign against West Virginia University (WVU) on Saturday.
decided to go for a touchdown with its final play rather than take a knee
The Nittany Lions won convincingly, 38-15. Many bettors were left unhappy, though, after Penn State decided to go for a touchdown on its final play rather than take a knee to run out the clock.
Penn State was ahead 31-15 and had second-and-goal with just 13 seconds remaining when backup quarterback Beau Pribula came onto the field. He proceeded to run the ball five yards into the end zone and the kicker converted the extra point to end the game 38-15.
A range of opinions
The point spread ahead of the game was 20.5 points in favor of Penn State, which they only covered following the garbage time touchdown. The over/under was also 52 points; the final total was 53. Fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their frustrations:
Others countered the argument that Penn State should have taken a knee. Some spoke about the importance of a backup quarterback getting minutes on the field, especially if the starter suffers an injury at some point in the season. Others believe that teams should always play to the end of the game and that it’s up to the opposition to stop the extra scores.
What goes around comes around
Many other coaches would have taken a knee to see out the game. Media asked WVU Head Coach Neal Brown after the game if he was unhappy with the decision to keep playing. He said that it doesn’t bother him, but it is not something he would have done in the same position. Brown believes that Penn State might rue that decision in the future, saying: “I just think stuff like that comes around and goes around. At some point, it’ll come back around.”
happy that his second-string offense was able to make its way down the field
Penn State Head Coach James Franklin was happy that his second-string offense was able to make its way down the field and finish with a score. The school’s next game is against Delaware on Saturday and is a heavy favorite once again.