Where was Jake Pinegar?

The 4th-year kicker, the man who’s been handling sub-50-yard FG tries for Penn State since 2018, apparently isn’t the team’s best option anymore. That’s as much as you’re going to get out of head coach James Franklin, who addressed Pinegar’s situation in a couple of postgame interviews after place-kicking issues arose in the Nittany Lions’ 16-10 season-opening victory at Wisconsin.

Franklin said Pinegar was on site at Camp Randall Stadium and available. As Penn State no longer puts out depth charts and reveals little about injuries, Franklin’s words with have to stand at face value.

If Badgers quarterback Graham Mertz had succeeded on just 1 of the 3 red zone possessions that he botched, this would be a much more pressing point of contention. But, as it turns out, the PSU defense bailed out new OC Mike Yurcich’s slow-starting offense, Franklin and — especially — suddenly all-situations kicking specialist Jordan Stout.

“He’s a talented guy,” Franklin said of the redshirt senior Stout, who transferred to PSU in 2019 after 2 seasons at Virginia Tech. “He dominated training camp. I feel like he’s the guy to give us the best chance to win.”

To say it bluntly, Stout did not get off to a strong start in his expanded role. He missed an extra point and a 23-yard field goal attempt in a 6-point victory. You can do the math.

Whatever might be going on behind the scenes, this change seems bizarre on the surface. Both Pinegar and Stout seemed comfortably set in their roles entering this season.

Pinegar has handled the pressure kicks for Penn State since arriving on campus in 2018. On FGs, he hit 16 of 24 as a freshman, 11 of 12 as a sophomore and 9 of 13 last year as a junior. That’s 36-of-49 (73.5 percent) in his career, with 8 of the misses from 40-plus yards. From inside 40 yards, he has an 87.8 percent conversion rate.

For the past 2 years, Stout has flourished in a low-pressure role, booming kickoffs for touchbacks better than anyone in the Big Ten and connecting on 3 of 6 FG tries from 50-plus yards and 1 of 2 in the 40-49 range. His 57-yarder against Pitt in 2019 is the longest make in program history. He’s got the leg.

Saturday against Ball State, we’ll see if Franklin is as committed to Stout as his post-Wisconsin comments suggest. If so, fans will have to hope his fulltime debut proves to be a blip on an otherwise upward trajectory.

Speaking of upward trajectories, Stout put on a punting show against the Badgers, averaging 53.9 yards on 7 boots — second best in PSU history behind Ralph Giacomarro (54.75 vs. Syracuse in 1981). Stout blasted one a career-best 76 yards in the third quarter, tying for 3rd-longest in program history.

Pinegar and Stout have worked seamlessly as a dynamic duo over the past 2 seasons. But now Stout steps out into the harsh glare of the place-kicking spotlight. Short-range misses like the 2 on Saturday in Madison won’t always be so easily dismissed.

The missed FG try sailed just outside the right upright; the errant PAT try hit the left upright.

“The one time, I think we kicked the laces,” Franklin said, pinning some share of the blame on the holder. But he added: “You’ve still got to make the field goal.”

Stout should get plenty of chances to fine-tune his short-range aim against Ball State in front of another large crowd — and certainly a more friendly one unless things really go off the rails — Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium (3:30 Eastern, FS1).