About two weeks later, it’s time to look back at the 2020 Penn State football season, but don’t expect much harsh judgment in this space.

All things considered, it was a disappointing season in State College.

Entering the year with plenty of optimism and high expectations — the Nittany Lions were ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP Top 25 — Penn State stumbled out of the gate in its delayed season with a last-second, 36-35 loss to Indiana.

From there, things spiraled for weeks.

Penn State dropped its next four games to get off to an 0-5 start. It was the worst start to a season in program history, and also marked the first time a preseason AP Top 10 team got off to that record.

For as bad as it was, though, credit the Lions for turning it around and finishing the year on a four-game win streak before declining to participate in a bowl.

And for as bad as it was, perhaps consider giving the Nittany Lions and their coaches a bit of leeway about how things went. Plenty enough happened outside of their control that made an already turbulent year even tougher.

Let’s start from the beginning.

In early August, star linebacker Micah Parsons — widely considered a top 10-15 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft — opted out of the season due to concerns over COVID-19.

Then, on the other side of the ball, stud running back Journey Brown was forced to medically retire from football after doctors discovered he had a heart condition that rendered it unsafe for him to play. He didn’t play a single snap in 2020, either.

Noah Cain, the heir apparent at the position and Game 1 starter against Indiana, took three carries before suffering a season-ending leg injury.

In addition, Pat Freiermuth, the team’s starting tight end, suffered a season-ending injury against Ohio State in the Lions’ second game of the season. He’s slated as an NFL prospect, as well.

So within two games, Penn State was down three of its NFL-caliber players, two of which never stepped on the field, as well as a key contributor as presumed starter in Cain.

And then there’s how the season started once the Nittany Lions actually took the field.

Up 21-20 with about 1:43 to play, Penn State had the ball deep in Indiana territory and simply needed to run out the clock, since IU didn’t have any timeouts left. But the Hoosiers allowed Devyn Ford to score, putting PSU up 28-20 and giving IU the ball back.

The Hoosiers, of course, drove the field and forced overtime, and it only got crazier from there.

Penn State struck first in overtime to take a 35-28 lead, and then Indiana responded with a touchdown of its own. But instead of going for double OT, the Hoosiers went for two and the win.

Quarterback Michael Penix made a dash for the corner of the end zone, laid out for the pylon and — in the opinion of the referees — just nicked the marker to score the two points and win the game. The call stood upon replay, since there was no real clear evidence that the decision was wrong.

It was, in a word, heartbreaking for Penn State. It was the sort of loss that just deflates an entire team, particularly in a shortened season with little to no second chances with the playoff committee.

If ever there would be a second chance though, it came the next week when Penn State went to Columbus, Ohio, to take on Ohio State. However, that culminated in a 38-25 loss, which began the snowball effect we saw until after midway through the year. Losses came against Maryland, Nebraska and Iowa before PSU broke into the win column.

Put it all together, and you have circumstances that virtually no team could have overcome at the start of an already trying season in the midst of a pandemic, save for maybe the five-star recruit factories at Clemson and Alabama.

None of this means that there aren’t things the coaching staff needs to find answers for, though. For example, the quarterback situation between Sean Clifford and Will Levis was a mess pretty much all season, and that must be figured out moving forward.

But for as much as Penn State dealt with to begin the year, it’s a credit to the Nittany Lions that they were able to even come close to .500 after beginning the season with the circumstances they had. And for that, James Franklin, his staff and the players deserve a pass on how the 2020 campaign played out.

(Joel Whetzel, assistant sports editor of The Bradford Era, can be reached at jwhetzel@bradfordera.com.)