The clock management at the end of the first half was abysmal. You're all forgetting that PSU had just made a first down at the 15 with (I think) 1:03 left and two timeouts. The clock stopped momentarily to spot the ball after the first down. SEVENTEEN seconds then ran off, and THEN a timeout was called -- without running a play. So, there went 17 seconds for no reason whatsoever.
Then, after getting another first down at the 5, PSU still had one timeout left and PLENTY of time to run a quick pass play into the end zone (though sadly, given the inept red zone playcalling in general, that would likely have been a fade to a short receiver). If you complete it, it's a TD; if it's incomplete, then you have still had the benefit of the equivalent of a spike with respect to stopping the clock (the only difference being you would have run an actual play that gave you a chance to score). That still leaves you with two more chances (if needed), one of which could have been a running play because of that timeout you still have in your pocket.
Instead, we wasted the 17 seconds before calling timeout #2, then wasted a play with the spike, and failed to use the timeout, which of course was gone forever.
