Is Dotson the best Penn State wide receiver ever?

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Jahan Dotson needs a cool nickname. I'm gonna go with Jahan Awesome, which is pretty cheesy, I know, so if you've got a better one, post it in our comments section.

Or, can we just call him this?

The best wide receiver ever at Penn State.

Sure, absolutely, that title is debatable. And you can cast your vote here.

Allen Robinson had a school-record 97 catches for the Nittany Lions in 2013 and is one of the best receivers in the NFL. Robinson was so terrific that he even made Christian Hackenberg look like a good quarterback. (If you think that's a low blow, then prove me wrong!)

Bobby Engram was outstanding and had a 14-year NFL career with 650 receptions. Kenny Jackson was outstanding. Chris Godwin made every 50-50 catch in college and has become an excellent NFL receiver.

But if we're talking the best Penn State receiver while in college, watch Dotson play and tell me you've ever seen anyone better.

Because Jahan Dotson is amazing, and he proved it in record-setting fashion Saturday to lead Penn State to a 31-14 win over Maryland at College Park. The Lions snapped a three-game losing streak and avenged last year's stunning 35-19 loss to the Terps.

My 10 takeaways from Penn State's win:

1. Dotson destroys Terps' defense in brilliant one-man show

Dotson set the Penn State single-game record with 242 receiving yards, and finished with three TDs among his 11 catches. After the game, FOX analyst Reggie Bush praised Dotson, calling him the best receiver in the country, and that follows recent praise from ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr., who rated Dotson as the top receiver for next year's NFL draft.

This play wound up being the winning score, coming right after Maryland had just tied the game at 14 with 14:56 left to play.

Now, not to toot my own horn, but that play came literally a few seconds after I had tweeted the following. Because Maryland had just tied the game on a nice drive that included some great playcalls, including on a 2-point conversion that pulled the Terps even.

Penn State's offense Saturday basically came down to Clifford hitting Dotson on big plays. The Lions finished with 456 yards, and Dotson caught 242 of those. When they needed to make a play, he's the guy that made the play.

Just watch this route by Dotson. He is so, so good at footwork and getting himself open. He's fantastic at actually catching the ball, too -- I believe he still hasn't dropped a pass all season, giving him the longest streak in the nation -- and when you combine that with the footwork and route running, it makes for a fantastic combination.

Dotson now has 71 catches this season in nine games, averaging 7.9 per contest. He needs 26 more to catch Robinson's single-season record, and Dotson will have a good chance at it. One of the reasons is because Penn State struggles so much running the ball that it needs to throw a ton, and Dotson catching some short passes is actually an extension of the running game.

Whether you believe Dotson is the best Penn State wide receiver ever is entirely up to you. And clearly there's some recency bias going on here. But if you watch him play -- and specifically watched him play Saturday -- you certainly could make a strong case for it.

2. Penn State's defense comes up big again ... with some help

The Lions continued their bend but don't break thing, as Maryland gained a lot of yards (419) and was in position to score a bunch of points.

But Penn State's defense recovered a fumble and picked off Taulia Tagovailoa once, and both turnovers wound up being huge.

Ji'Ayir Brown had the defensive highlight of the day with an interception that he returned 87 yards for a TD. That sealed the deal as it gave the Lions a 31-14 lead with 2:39 to go.

That was a really bad pass from Tagovailoa, and it wasn't the only time the Terps helped out the Penn State defense. Maryland had first-and-goal at 6 in the third quarter, and Tagovailoa couldn't handle a high snap and fumbled. Brown also recovered that one, and it was a costly turnover by the Terps in a close game.

3. Wow, there were a ton of passes in this game

I didn't fully realize it watching the game, but the final stats show Tagovailoa threw 57 passes. A whole bunch of those came late as Maryland was trying to rally.

The Maryland QB finished 41-of-57 for 371 yards with one TD and one interception.

So much focus will be on Dotson's big game, but Clifford had some huge numbers, as well, thanks in large part to his explosive receiver.

Clifford threw 47 passes, completing 27, for 363 yards with the three TDs to Dotson. In his three career starts against Maryland, Clifford has thrown for 363 yards this year, 340 last year and 398 in 2019.

Clifford had to throw all day because, once again, Penn State's running game didn't have a great day. But ...

4. The running game was at least good enough keep the offense moving

The Lions finished with only 93 yards rushing. But that includes losing 16 yards in sacks, so the running backs and Clifford actually gained 109 yards on the ground. That's not great by any means, but there were enough positive running plays to at least take some pressure off Clifford.

Keyvone Lee led the ground attack with 50 yards on eight carries, while Noah Cain carried 10 times for 35 yards and John Lovett seven for 24.

5. There's still a whole lot to be desired from the Penn State offense

The Lions won the game, and they got explosive plays from their best player. But watching throughout, this offense continues to be a big disappointment.

I don't know, maybe my expectations for Mike Yurcich as an offensive coordinator were WAY too high. Looking at the numbers his offenses have put in his career, I just assumed the Lions would be outstanding this year.

Yeah, you know what happens when you a-s-s-u-m-e.

Far too often, Penn State's offense and playcalling just look, for lack of a better word, bland. It's either hand the ball off up the middle, let Dotson make a play or try to hit Parker Washington on the outside. OK, of course, that's an oversimplification of things, but you get the idea.

Maryland ran some really nice plays in key spots Saturday, so give coordinator Dan Enos a lot of credit. He mixed things up very well, and it's not his fault his receivers dropped too many balls or that the center had a high snap at a terrible time inside the 10-yard line.

This Penn State offense relies so heavily on Dotson that this question -- and my answer -- on Twitter were appropriate.

6. Win keeps Franklin off the hot seat, could be just the momentum builder Penn State needs

The fourth quarter might have turned out to be one of the most important quarters of James Franklin's career. Tied at 14, the Lions were very much in danger of losing.

A loss could have been devastating for Franklin, both locally and nationally.

If Penn State would have dropped its fourth in a row, the fan base would have gone ballistic. There certainly would have been calls for Franklin's job, as public perception would have turned heavily against him. Now, just so everyone is clear, Franklin is in no danger of being fired this year no matter what happens. He's under contract through 2025, and even a second straight bad season wouldn't be enough to get him canned.

But it would have been enough, perhaps, to remove him from contention for jobs at USC, LSU and maybe any other huge jobs that might come open.

By winning, Franklin keeps hope alive that he can turn this season around, maybe finish 9-3 and go to a good bowl game. All of that would help him and Penn State.

In a best-case scenario, this win could be just what the Lions needed to springboard them to a terrific finish. Hey, maybe it won't be, because the offense still has major problems and the schedule is very difficult. But a win is a win, and any win builds confidence.

You have to think these Penn State players will be feeling a lot more confident this week after snapping the losing streak.

7. Lions got away with a dirty play on the sideline

There's no defending what defensive lineman Fred Hansard did on the sideline when he pushed Tagovailoa down as the quarterback ran out of bounds on Penn State's sideline.

It was a dirty play. A play that should never happen in football. It should have warranted a penalty during the game, but Penn State got lucky that it didn't. Maryland wasn't so lucky as Tagovailoa got knocked down and was shaken up enough that he had to miss a play, which essentially killed a drive when the Terps' offense was moving the ball.

If there's any Penn State fan out there who tries to justify what Hansard did, TAKE OFF your blue-tinted glasses and come back to reality. Because in reality, if an opposing player had done that to Sean Clifford on the sideline, the Penn State fan base would have gone berserk ripping the other team.

Franklin needs to punish Hansard some way this week, sending a message to everybody on the team that that sort of thing cannot be tolerated.

The initial reaction during the broadcast was that the No. 53 who hit Tagovailoa was offensive lineman Rasheed Walker, but that was an honest mistake since Hansard also wears 53. A correction was made on the air once they realized it was Hansard.

8. Analyzing the announcers

I didn't travel to Maryland for the game, so I got to watch on FS1 like just about everyone else. I don't get to see a lot of Penn State games on TV because I'm usually at the stadium, so it's interesting to be able to hear the perspective of the broadcasters.

I thought color analyst Petros Papadakis, a former USC running back, was solid throughout with his comments, and play-by-play man Dan Hellie did a nice job, as well. They were fair to both teams and offered good insight.

Except on one issue.

They talked about how "Penn State is desperately trying to find a running back" and that the Lions "need more out of their running backs."

Maybe that's what they were told from coaches in pre-game broadcast meetings, I don't know. But I just don't believe that to be the case at all.

My feeling has always been that Penn State's offensive line is awful at run blocking, so it doesn't matter which running back you have back there. Those guys don't have anywhere to run on most handoffs.

I don't know, I guess it's just easier to blame the running backs than it is to really get in depth and call out all of the problems -- from personnel to schemes to execution -- that the Lions have on their O-line.

Papadakis did have this great observation late in the game, though, and he was spot on about Penn State.

"A lot of feast or famine out there for the Penn State offense, and that's kind of been the story of the year," he said.

Bingo.

9. Bowl projection

I'll predict Penn State finishes 8-4 and goes to the Outback Bowl against Ole Miss. I think the Lions beat Michigan this week and Rutgers next week, then lose the regular-season finale at Michigan State.

10. Looking ahead to Wolverines

Next week's game against Michigan at Beaver Stadium will kick off at noon, it was revealed late Saturday.

Penn State will hold a helmet stripe promotion, which is pretty neat and a variation of the whiteout.