Penn State losing the Orange Bowl may be a blessing in disguise

It's hard to imagine a more frustrating way for a season to end than how the 2024-25 campaign just ended for the Penn State Nittany Lions. After blowing out No. 11 SMU and No. 3 Boise State in the first two rounds of the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, the Nittany Lions had a clear path to the National Championship Game. All they had to do was knock off a Notre Dame Fighting Irish team that they were slightly favored to beat.

The first half of the game looked fairly promising, with Penn State leading the game by a touchdown at the break. They regained a seven-point lead with just under eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter to get Nittany Lions fans dreaming of seeing their team in the National Championship. Unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be.

Notre Dame tied the game, and soon after, Drew Allar threw one of the most back-breaking interceptions in program history with just 33 seconds left, gifting the Fighting Irish a chance to steal the game. That interception essentially ended Penn State's magical season.

As crushing as it is knowing that the Nittany Lions won't be participating in this year's National Championship, this loss might have been a blessing in disguise for Penn State.

Heartbreaking Orange Bowl loss might be a blessing in disguise for Penn State

Is this copium? Maybe a little. There's nothing Nittany Lions fans wanted more than to see their team in the National Championship Game, and they saw that dream slip away in the most excruciating fashion imaginable. Still, there are a couple of reasons why this loss can be seen as a blessing in disguise.

First, this loss eliminates any possibility that the Nittany Lions would've lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes again, and this time, lose to their conference rivals on the National Championship stage. Yes, Penn State fans would've loved to see their team in the National Championship, and beating Ohio State (assuming they make it) would've made a title that much sweeter, but does anyone really think that would've transpired based on the recent histories of these two programs? Not only did the Buckeyes beat the Nittany Lions on the road this season, but they've beaten Penn State each of the last eight times they faced off. Why would a matchup in the National Championship be any different?

Second and most importantly, this loss almost certainly ensured that Drew Allar will end up keeping his word and return to Penn State, avoiding having the Nittany Lions scramble in the transfer portal for a new quarterback.

Yes, he struggled mightily and threw an inexcusably bad interception, but Allar was still one of the best quarterbacks in the country this season. The 20-year-old completed 67.4 percent of his passes for 3,192 yards and 25 touchdowns compared to seven interceptions in 15 games this season. After a couple of really inefficient seasons, Allar was in control most of the time he took the field and played like one of the best quarterbacks in the country. There's a reason he was generating real first-round buzz if he were to have left school and declared for the 2025 NFL Draft.

Considering how rough this game was for him, there's virtually no way he will end up declaring for the draft. It was unlikely regardless of how these playoffs went, but this game sealed it. His stock will have taken too much of a hit for it to make sense. He didn't play well on Thursday, but Allar is better than any other quarterback they could've realistically lured to Happy Valley.

Again, losing this game, especially with how it ended, was bad. There's no sugarcoating that. However, there are positives to come from this game. Ensuring that they won't lose another game to Ohio State and that Allar will be back next season are clear positives to take from this frustrating loss.