STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Julian Fleming’s first trip to Lucas Oil Stadium coincided with his first collegiate start. He was a freshman at Ohio State catching passes from Justin Fields.
Fleming remembers dropping his first ball but rebounding to lead Ohio State in receptions and yards that day in 2020. Those milestones were extra special to him because his Buckeyes beat Northwestern for a Big Ten championship on his birthday.
“I remember a lot about it because it was the biggest game of my life up until that point,” Fleming, now a senior at Penn State, said this week. “I think everyone knows what’s expected and we just want to go out there and perform to the best of our ability.”
No. 3 Penn State heads into Saturday night’s Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium against No. 1 Oregon with a roster that once again has a chance to see how it measures up to one of the best teams in the sport. Quarterback Drew Allar’s wide receivers have been warned about the lighting, not because it might be too bright of a spotlight for this team but because playing in indoor venues, like Penn State did last year at Ford Field and in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, always comes with some vision adjustments. Allar has talked with Fleming about what he remembers from playing in the venue.
“They’ll be used to it by kickoff,” Allar said. “That’s the only thing I heard that’s a little bit different from going to outdoor to indoor stadiums. … It’ll be a really cool environment.”
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Penn State doesn’t want to make the moment any bigger than it is, but playing in the Big Ten Championship Game, something the Nittany Lions haven’t done since beating Wisconsin in 2016, is a meaningful opportunity, both for this roster and for what it could mean in years to come. That detail was prevalent Wednesday as Franklin broke away from game planning for four hours in the morning to help welcome Penn State’s 26 signees in the 2025 class. Penn State’s assistant coaches didn’t break from their game-week routines even if signing day is one of the most important days of the college football year. Franklin said he planned to stay late after practice to catch up on all he missed while handling signing day.
He reminded signees throughout the day as they hopped on video calls with him that this year is different because of what’s at stake on Saturday. Expect to see Penn State’s 11-1 record and the pending College Football Playoff bid plastered on recruiting graphics in the coming weeks — as it should be. For a program that’s spent most of Franklin’s 11-season tenure trying to measure up to the top teams in their now defunct Big Ten East division, the divide between Penn State and the top programs in the county should feel closer now than it’s ever been. Credit a wide-open Playoff field thanks to a topsy-turvy season, but Penn State has a chance to see if it can push Oregon, to see if it just might be poised to spend the next month scheming and executing a championship run — something that hasn’t happened in any of these players’ lifetimes.
Still, it’s about taking that first step in this postseason process.
“We want to have an opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the country,” said Kenny Sanders, Penn State’s director of player personnel. “We want to have an opportunity to win a Big Ten championship. That will definitely impact recruiting in a positive light because we’re going to be able to showcase our skills at a time when we’re the only football game on television.”
Julian Fleming transferred to Penn State after four seasons with Ohio State. (Matthew O’Haren / Imagn Images)
It’s also been eight years since Penn State has been in this position. Selling success to recruits is much easier to do when it’s recent. In the years since the 2016 game, Franklin has said Penn State failed to maximize the moment. It was a chance to push for more resources for the program — which has happened in the years since — but at the time Penn State could have seized it.
Moments from 2016’s conference championship game have flooded timelines this week. Running back Nick Singleton has seen the highlights of Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley in that game. Singleton said he watched on YouTube how Franklin’s most beloved team stormed back to win.
Left tackle Drew Shelton, like Singleton, is a Pennsylvania native. Shelton said he was scrolling through his phone on Wednesday and saw highlights of the comeback on Instagram. It was Shelton’s first time ever seeing it. Even Fleming, also a Pennsylvania native, said he didn’t watch the game in 2016. Eight years is a long time, but Fleming said because so much of his life is consumed with football he doesn’t watch any of it beyond his own game prep.
“It’s cool to see Trace (McSorley) go out there and make those plays and then he’s standing out here at practice,” Shelton said.
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McSorley was on hand Wednesday night and has been around the team at various points this season. Shelton said McSorley often talks with the quarterbacks and they regularly see him in the facility. Barkley, the star of that team, announced via video call the signing of Philadelphia running back Jabree Coleman on Wednesday. Coleman beamed as his favorite NFL player welcomed him to Penn State. Bengals tight end Mike Gesicki, also an integral part of the 2016 team, announced the addition of tight end Matt Henderson.
Whether intentional or not, reminders of 2016 and the impact of that game and what it meant to Penn State have been easy to pinpoint this week. Allar, a fan of any and all football, said he’s dreamt about playing in this game since he was a kid. He said he watches all the conference championship games every year. Allar was in the stands at Lucas Oil Stadium in 2013 watching Ohio State play Michigan State for a conference crown.
Yes, the kid from Medina, Ohio likely had a strong rooting interest for the in-state team in that one.
Whatever happens Saturday night, whether Penn State wins a Big Ten title or not, this is still a Playoff team. With a loss, Penn State is likely hosting a game in Beaver Stadium in two weeks. Penn State could be the coveted fifth seed, setting up a matchup against the 12th-seeded team.
For all the measuring sticks for this program and all that a win could mean, even the worst-case scenario on Saturday — a loss to the top team in the country — is still an outcome that won’t send this season into a downward spiral.
(Top photo: Jeff Haynes / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
