My Thoughts.....Penn State

                                 In what was one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen (I will address officiating in a separate post), Ohio State played one of its worst games since 2011, yet managed to perform well when the game was on the line, coming out none the worse for the wear in a 31-24 double-overtime win over the hard-fighting Penn State Nittany Lions.

In a tale of two halves, Ohio State dominated the first half and was able to run the ball between the tackles quite effectively against Penn State’s number one rush defense, while the defense easily stifled the Lion’s anemic offense.  However, give credit to Penn State’s coaching staff for making halftime adjustments and to Penn State’s stellar linebacker Mike Hull for playing lights-out defense in the second half.  Credit also needs to be given to Penn State’s DT Anthony Zettel for dropping back into coverage, confusing J.T. Barrett to the point where he threw a pick right into Zettel’s hands and he returned it 40 yards for a touchdown which completely turned the game around. 

But, at times, Ohio State was their own worst enemy.  Both Ezekiel Elliott and Mike Thomas had crucial false start penalties inside the red zone that might have cost Ohio State a touchdown and nearly cost it a field goal that eventually put OSU in front 10-0. Elliott's turned a 2nd and 10 into 2nd and 15 and Thomas put the Buckeyes in a 3rd and 16 hole.  The roughing the passer calls against Joey Bosa and Curtis Grant looked bogus, but they kept Penn State drives alive.  There were obviously numerous other player mistakes that OSU would like to have back such as Barrett's two picks and Nuernberger's missed 41 yard field goal, issues that could prove more costly against a better road opponent. On the coaching side of things, beyond the clock management snafu that should have cost OSU five yards before the 49-yard field goal, there was very poor clock management on Ohio State’s final possession of the first half in which they allowed 26 seconds to run off the clock between first and second down.  The offensive line, although improved from the loss to Virginia Tech, showed they have a ways to go to be ready for Michigan State.  The run blocking was decent most of the night.  Against the Lions defense that was leading the nation against the run, the Buckeyes managed 216 yards on the ground utilizing many runners and even the Wildcat formation several times.  The pass blocking suffered a bit especially up the gut as Jacoby Boren, Billy Price and Pat Elflein struggled with their individual matchups as well as cohesion/communication against stunts and twists.  Barrett's 19 pass attempts marked the fewest since the season opener while his twenty carries  were the most since the week two loss to the Hokies.  At times in the second half, J.T. Barrett looked like a redshirt freshman.  In addition to his two picks, I noticed times when he held on to the ball too long and then had to run for his life or end up getting sacked.  But, most people will remember the gutsy side of J.T. Barrett when the chips were down in overtime and how he literally put the stagnant offense on his back.  His two touchdown runs in overtime looked to be sheer will as he wasn’t going to be stopped, and he was playing on a slightly sprained knee to boot.

The Ohio State defense was sensational, albeit against less than a stellar Penn State offense, and they were able to get to Christian Hackenberg repeatedly.  The defensive line stepped it up, turning in a performance that helped offset the struggles of the OSU offense.
In the first half alone, the defense held PSU to 78 total yards on six possessions, limiting them to just five 1st downs, 0/5 on 3rd down and only 1.2 yards per carry. The resulting zero points in the opening 30 minutes marked the first time since 2009 that the Nittany Lions were held scoreless in the 1st half. Penn State ran just two plays in OSU territory as the Buckeyes took a 17-0 lead at the break. The defense did yield 162 yards in the 2nd half for 240 total but 77 of those came on one drive accounting for nearly a third of their total game output. On the night, the Ohio State defense racked up 10.5 TFL, five sacks, two picks and a forced fumble while giving up just 0.5 yards per rushing attempt. Joey Bosa was the main story as he racked up six stops and 2.5 sacks including the game winner in which he literally threw Penn State RB Akeel Lynch into Hackenberg. Not to be forgotten is the solid play of LB Joshua Perry who turned in the best game of his career, with 18 tackles and two TFLs.
The Buckeyes managed to survive, which is sometimes what football is all about, in the most hostile environment they will face all year.  Perhaps they will use it to their advantage when they visit East Lansing on November 8, but there still remains work to be done on the offensive front and pass protection schemes for the Buckeyes to pull off a win up there.