Penn State's humble hero: Tyler Warren's historic performance wills No. 4 Nittany Lions to key road victory

The Penn State tight end did it all on Saturday and announced himself to the nation in a big way

LOS ANGELES -- A jubilant and sizable contingent of visiting Penn State fans weren't leaving until Tyler Warren did first. 

The hero of No. 4 Penn State's come-from-behind, 33-30 overtime win over USC in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum warranted their time after a historic 17-catch, 224-yard performance. After Warren wrapped up a postgame interview with CBS' Jenny Dell, they loudly beckoned him over with "Ty-ler, War-ren" over and over. As he dashed toward the locker room, he stopped over to celebrate with the remaining fans, giving low-fives to as many as he could, as a "We love you, Tyler" chant rang out. 

And, no, it wasn't Penn State coach James Franklin who started that chant, but it's safe to say he shared that feeling. 

"I've been talking about him being the best tight end in college football," Franklin said, "but the reality is he's now part of a conversation of one of the best players in all of college football."

You could feel the narratives around Franklin building in real time. 

After building the runway for excuses ahead of time, Franklin's Nittany Lions looked well on their way to losing their toughest road game on the schedule. For a coach who has dominated the Big Ten's also-rans but struggled against its powers like Michigan and Ohio State, the takes were brewing that this was more of the same for "Big Game James." Penn State seemed destined for a spot in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff after coming up just short multiple times in the four-team era, but a loss to the Trojans would make that path considerably more arduous. 

Enter the 6-foot-6, 261-pound Warren, who was essentially unstoppable against USC. 

Down 20-6 coming out of halftime, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnecki told his squad if they had the ball on the left side of the field past the 50-yard line, it was time to break out the trick play they had been practicing for weeks. When a Drew Allar pass to Nicholas Singleton got the ball to USC's 32-yard line, it was time. 

"Everybody kind of knew on the sideline this is going to be the one," receiver Julian Fleming said. 

The play call had Warren lined up at center, the rest of the offensive line all stacked to his right and backup quarterback Beau Pribula set to receive the snap. It was a play Penn State had been practicing for weeks and had evolved over time, including Kotelnicki scrapping pre-snap motions that the PSU defense sniffed out in practice. 

Warren had a little experience snapping a football, even starting his flag football career as a center before he made the switch to quarterback during a successful high school career. That experience paid off when the tight end delivered a perfect snap. "I was looking between my legs," Warren said. "I wasn't going to make it any harder than it needed to be." 

Pribula quickly threw the ball toward the sideline to Allar, who turned around and hit Warren in the end zone for a 32-yard touchdown. Warren started and ended the play, believed to be the first touchdown of its kind this season at the FBS level. 

"It's gonna sound funny, but we practice that all the time," Warren said. "So it was just doing another job on the play. And, you know, Drew gave me a chance to go up and make a play."

Warren became the third player in FBS history to record 17 catches as a tight end in a single game, joining New Mexico tight end Emilio Vallez's 1967 performance against UTEP and Northwestern tight end Jon Harvey's 17 catches against Michigan in 1982. 

USC defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn has earned kudos for his second-half adjustments in previous games, but there was no answer for Warren on Saturday. He dominated the Trojans in every way, from blocking to running past their defenders for big gain after big gain. 

"We had a couple coverage busts on him, and I think that's the thing we'll look back on," said USC coach Lincoln Riley. "When you play a really good player like that, you just want to make them earn it, right? If they make a play, you want to be like, 'Hey, we were in coverage, we were in the right spot.' The guy made a play, but we gave them a couple that we didn't make them earn it. And that's probably the thing that hurts the most." 

When you've had 17 catches for 224 yards, you've earned it. Warren certainly did during a performance that if the records didn't definitively prove happened would be almost incomprehensible to believe. 

For as dominant as he was on the field, Warren was as reticent off it to accept any of the spotlight. He celebrated with the Penn State fans in an impromptu moment, but when asked by a swarm of reporters question after question about his big day, he deflected better than any USC defender did. He downplayed what every reporter knew to be the kind of incredible display that would make Travis Kelce and Sam LaPorta jealous. 

"There's 11 guys on the field at a time and one guy usually will make a play, but there's so many things that go into it," Warren said. "Ten other guys had to do something for that one guy to make a play. That's why I love football; it takes your team, takes the guys around you and that's something I really enjoy about the game." 

While Warren refused to do anything close to bragging about himself, his teammate Fleming raved about him. The Ohio State transfer who played with the likes of Marvin Harrison Jr., Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Jaxon Smith-Njigba in Columbus summed up just how special Warren's performance against the Trojans was.

"Right now he's playing at a very, very different level," Fleming said. "He's playing the best ball i've seen in a long time from somebody."

His best ball came when Franklin and Penn State needed him most. The man who now wears the crown as the nation's top tight end kept the narratives at bay and the program's big dreams still alive.