During Saturday afternoon’s game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Penn State Nittany Lions, Penn State had a defensive touchdown nullified by a defensive holding penalty. And Penn State head coach James Franklin acknowledges that the call was critical to the outcome of the game.
During his postgame press conference, James Franklin said that the call “was obviously significant,” but he did not have any specific comment on whether or not he thought it was the right call from the referees.
“They called defensive holding,” Franklin said in his postgame press conference according to On3. “Obviously, that’s a huge play in the game. Huge momentum play in the game and then I think after that followed up with another interference call. But that was obviously significant. But for me to sit here and talk about how that call looked, I couldn’t tell you. I just know what they told us.”
The defensive touchdown would have given Penn State a 10-3 lead midway through the second quarter. Instead, Ohio State retained possession deep in Penn State territory and ultimately scored a touchdown in their favor.
The penalty resulted in a 14-point swing in the game that Ohio State ultimately won by eight points.
[On3]
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