Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel (8) and Oregon wide receiver Evan Stewart (7) celebrate after Gabriel's touchdown during an NCAA college football game against Washington, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Lydia Ely)

The Nittany Lions are crashing the Big Ten championship-game party after Michigan stunned Ohio State, opening the door for PSU.

It’s Penn State’s first trip to Lucas Oil since winning the Big Ten over Wisconsin in 2016.

“Obviously, what we’re all trying to do is to compete for championships,” Franklin said. “The first thing is at the conference level and then the second level is from a national championship standpoint and more times than not you know you have to do one before you can do the other. Our guys are excited about it. So as the staff, it’ll be a real challenge. It’ll be a great environment. We got a tremendous opponent that’s ranked No. 1 team in the country. That’s been in that position for a number of weeks now and has shown consistently that they’re deserving of that ranking.”

Scouting Oregon

The Ducks took over the No. 1 ranking on Oct. 20 and have held it since.

Their best two victories this season came over Ohio State, 32-31, and Boise State, 37-34, both at home.

They also won at Michigan (39-17) and defeated Illinois (38-9).

Of common opponents, Penn State lost to Ohio State 20-13 and beat Illinois 21-7.

Both defeated Washington, Purdue and Maryland decisively.

Both played at Wisconsin with Penn State winning 28-13 and Oregon winning 16-13.

Oregon averaged 35.2 points per game, 20th in the country, while Penn State averaged 33.3 (30th).

The Lions’ defense finished sixth in the country, yielding 14.0 points per game while Oregon ranks ninth at 16.1.

“They’ve been disruptive,” Franklin said. “Dan (Lanning) comes from a similar background that I that I’ve come from and the belief that you, you start up front. You got to win football games up front on the O-line and D-line. They’ve done a good job of that.”

Singleton resurgence

After a three-game stretch in which he totaled just 60 yards, Nick Singleton is averaging 6.1 yards-per-carry in his last four games (40-195). He’s also four receptions over the past five games.

“It’s pretty obvious that Nick is back,” Franklin said. “It’s close to 100% as he’s been in a long time, and you see the burst and the acceleration.”

Injury report

Leading wide receiver Trey Wallace did not play against Maryland after “tweaking something.”

Franklin is hopeful he’ll return for Oregon but said “it’s too early in the week go tell.”

Busy week

The early national letter-of-intent day is Wednesday.

Typically, it’s all hands on deck in the Penn State coaches office, but Franklin said he will handle it and the assistants will continue preparations for Oregon.

“Typically, we’ve all been involved, but with this being in season that’s going to be hard to pull off,” he said. “So I’ll step away for maybe an hour or so to welcome the recruits and their families into our family. But that is really about it.”

NOTABLE

• Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s name is among many that is coming up in connection with West Virginia’s head-coaching vacancy. The Mountaineers let go of Neal Brown on Sunday. Kotelnicki is the former OC at Kansas, which also competes with WVU in the Big 12.

• Jerry Cross, a reserve tight end for the Lions, has entered the transfer portal, On3 reported Monday. Cross is a Milwaukee native who was the Lions’ fourth-string TE. He did not have a catch this season.