The Washington Huskies have been the poster child for the “teams traveling across time zones have a dismal record against their opponents” statistic. The Huskies are 0-4 when traveling two or more time zones for a game, and, with the exception of this game, outgained their opponent each time, only to lose anyway.
Meanwhile, Penn State was the poster child for “having a letdown game after a big time loss,” either playing lethargically, or outright losing, after games against Ohio State in the recent past. With reason, a non-trivial number of folks figured this game would follow the script.