History has been written. James Franklin and the Penn State Nittany Lions can’t win a big game. No matter how hard he tries, whenever he faces a team from the upper echelon of college football, he just falls short.

Oregon is that kind of team. A combination of the Nike-funded NIL, an SEC coach in Dan Lanning and a recent track record in the Pac-12 makes Oregon a force to be reckoned with, a team capable of competing at the top of college football.

The situation before the game wasn’t exactly favorable for the Nittany Lions either. Oregon was coming off a bye and a game against Washington. They had gotten healthy and brought back Tez Johnson — who would continually torch Penn State throughout the game while the Nittany Lions were decimated by injuries. The closer we got to the game, the more people were convinced it was a foregone conclusion.

It looked like this for much of the half. Untimely penalties, costly tumbles — even by Tyler Warren — and an inability to stop the Ducks’ running attack plunged Penn State into a deep hole. And then, in their best impression of 2016, Penn State got involved. The offense started clicking, the defense slowed Oregon’s attack despite not being able to completely stop it, and the Nittany Lions gave themselves a chance to win the game.

There are a lot of possible outcomes we could explore if a few things here and there were different, whether it was a game being officiated differently, a fumble being recovered by the offense, one less interception by Drew Allar, whatever. But looking into the past prevents us from seeing what lies in the future.

Oregon has proven that they are the best team in the country, and Penn State, who played them just last night, has proven that they can keep up with them. However, Oregon hasn’t always been the best team in the country. They fell just short of Auburn in the 2010 BCS National Championship Game. An early loss to Stanford in 2012 knocked them out of championship contention. In 2014, they narrowly missed their goal again when they faced Ohio State. A painful loss to Arizona State in 2019 ended any chance they had of making the College Football Playoff. Three straight losses to rival Washington prevented the Ducks from reaching their ultimate goal in 2022 and 2023.

If this all sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the story of Penn State. Oregon had a head start on achieving what James Franklin wanted to accomplish in State College, and along the way they faced the same hurdles our favorite team faces now. A decade and a half of dedicated investment has transformed a team that was barely underperforming into one that competes at the highest level of college football.

As frustrating as it may be, Penn State is now in the “just barely” phase. This is a team that has shown on the field that it can compete with the best in college football. We’ll see how the tide turns when the playoff field is announced. But we do know this: the hurdles that James Franklin had to overcome to meet the program’s basic needs have been overcome. The investment in creating a team that can compete for championships is imminent. They will likely never have Nike money, but the opportunity for the Nittany Lions to move into the upper echelons from a talent perspective is there.

They may have fallen short on the field. But this team proved for three hours on Saturday night that they belong.