Penn State fans furious at refs after three egregious first-half calls vs. Ohio State

James Franklin and the Penn State Nittany Lions entered Saturday's high-octane matchup with the Ohio State Buckeyes with a lot to prove. A win would keep the team undefeated and nearing lock status for the College Football Playoff. A win would potentially push OSU into the danger zone for the CFP. A win would prove that Franklin can, in fact, win the big one.

Unfortunately, Penn State fans (and probably Franklin, too, based on his sideline reactions) felt like the Nittany Lions were having to face off with the Buckeyes and the referees in Saturday's matchup, particularly in the first half.

And while we're never going to say that the officials are the only reason that Penn State went into halftime trailing 14-10 at home in Happy Valley, when you look at some of the more egregious calls that went against the Nittany Lions or weren't called at all, it's hard to say they didn't have some hand in it.

Penn State fans think Nittany Lions were screwed by refs vs. Ohio State

Perhaps the worst call that almost any college football fan would push back against was called on Elliott Washington II. The defensive back helped stop Carnell Tate short of a first down and could've forced the Buckeyes to punt. But as he got up, he whipped his leg over the OSU wide receiver to stand up, which was called taunting and a 15-yard penalty.

But does this truly look like taunting, especially if you're a Penn State fan?

No one in Happy Valley was all that happy about that call. However, what the Ohio State defensive backs were getting away with was what was actually making Franklin more visibly angry on the sidelines.

The first potential missed call was when a Drew Allar pass to Liam Clifford fell incomplete, but seemingly because Clifford's route was blatantly disrupted by a Davison Igbinosun hold that wasn't flagged by the refs.

It didn't stop there, though, as another third-down pass play wherein the Ohio State DBs were pushing and holding the Penn State pass-catchers caused a collision and an incomplete pass. Despite all of the contact, again there was no call against OSU.

Again, there were a fair share of mistakes made by Penn State regardless of the officiating. However, when you're trying to take down a team with the talent of the Buckeyes, it's a near-impossible task when the whistles aren't coming when they probably should or are coming when they potentially shouldn't.