Penn State had given Ohio State more problems than any other Big Ten opponent in recent years, but the Buckeyes gained 62 yards on their first play from scrimmage, built an early lead and kept the Nittany Lions at arm’s length throughout Saturday night’s resumption of the border rivalry, coasting to a 38-25 victory at Beaver Stadium.
The Lions showed resilience after giving up a touchdown three plays into the game and falling behind 21-3 in the second quarter. But every time Penn State started to tighten the score, Heisman hopeful Justin Fields and the rest of the Ohio State offense had an answer.
Early in the third quarter, the Lions scored a touchdown to trim Ohio State’s lead to 21-13, but the Buckeyes responded with an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive of their own.
“That was our opportunity to get some momentum in the game and get a stop and really make this a game,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “We just were never able to do that. Every time we would get it going on offense, we would give up something on defense. Then our defense would get a stop and our offense would [struggle]. We just really weren’t playing complementary football.”
The stadium was empty for Penn State’s home opener, except for the parents of players and staff and some cardboard cutouts. That negated the Nittany Lions’ usual home-field advantage on White Out night, and maybe a raucous crowd would have been disruptive enough to rattle Ohio State’s offense in the second half and give Penn State a better chance of mounting a comeback. Or maybe not. Whatever the case, with that crowd watching from home, Fields was able to carve up the Lions’ secondary, completing 28 of 34 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns.
Penn State fell to 0-2 and will try to regroup next week against Maryland.
Here’s a look at the good and the bad:
The Good
• Jahan Dotson had a fantastic night, with eight catches for 144 yards and three touchdowns, and he did it while going up against Shaun Wade, one of the top cornerbacks in the country. Dotson’s one-handed 21-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter is sure to appear on future Penn State highlight reels, and the 37-yarder that preceded it, on which he trapped the ball against his helmet before pulling it in, was nearly as spectacular.
The junior wideout has been relied upon to take a leadership role on a young and mostly inexperienced receiver corps, and through two games, he has delivered.
“Jahan did some nice things, which I think are going to be really important,” Franklin said. “Over the last number of years, we’ve always had that one guy, whether it was K.J. [Hamler] or [Chris] Godwin or Mike Gesicki, that people were concerned about. It’s good to see Jahan stepping up right now. We’re going to need to build on that.”
• Speaking of the wideouts, a couple of those young up-and-comers showed flashes on the Nittany Lions’ first touchdown drive of the night. Parker Washington had a 20-yard catch, while KeAndre Lambert-Smith had a 12-yarder. Washington finished the night with four catches for 73 yards, while Lambert-Smith had two for 18. So while the Lions’ offense only moved the ball in fits and starts, there were some things to build on for a youthful position group.
• Jordan Stout had a very good night. He hit a 50-yard field goal with ease on the last play of the first half after a clock-management snafu by Ohio State gave the Nittany Lions an extra play just before halftime. He also had five touchbacks on five kickoffs and averaged 49.0 yards on four punts.
• The Lions cut their penalty total in half from last week, drawing only five flags for 31 yards. In fact, that was one of the few categories in which they outperformed Ohio State, as the Buckeyes finished with nine penalties for 80 yards.
The Bad
• The Nittany Lion defense just couldn’t get stops. Ohio State converted 10 of 18 third-down opportunities, as well as 2 of 3 fourth-down chances. Those conversions prevented the Lions from sustaining their momentum whenever their offense was able to get something going.
One of the most damaging moments occurred in the second quarter. The defense had gotten a third-down stop, but an interference call on Lamont Wade on an overthrown pass gave Ohio State a first down, rescuing a drive that went on to produce a touchdown and a 21-3 lead late in the second quarter.
Ohio State’s proficiency on third down helped it amass 526 yards and 37 minutes of possession time. That was mostly because of Fields, but the Buckeyes also have a solid running back tandem in Master Teague III and Trey Sermon. They might not give Ohio State the home run threat that J.K. Dobbins gave them in recent years, but Teague is a handful. He had 110 yards on 23 carries against PSU.
• Penn State couldn’t run the ball all night. The Nittany Lions finished with 44 rushing yards on 27 carries, averaging a paltry 1.6 yards per attempt.
Ohio State had given up some big plays on QB runs a week earlier, as Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez finished with 85 yards and a touchdown. But Sean Clifford, who had been Penn State’s rushing leader with 119 yards at Indiana, couldn’t find any room to maneuver. Nor could running back Devyn Ford, who finished with 36 yards.
“Not being able to have a running game, with a D-line like that that can just tee off on you in the passing game – you’ve got to be able to be balanced,” Franklin said. “It makes it too challenging on the offensive line and on the quarterback.”
• The Lions were much more careful with the ball than they had been at Indiana in week one, but they still lost the turnover battle. Ohio State coach Ryan Day had prioritized ball security after last year’s 28-17 victory over Penn State, a game in which Buckeye fumbles allowed the Lions to rally in the third quarter. That work paid off on Saturday, as Ohio State didn’t have any giveaways.
Meanwhile, the Lions only had one turnover, but it sealed the deal for Ohio State. Clifford, trying desperately to bring Penn State back from a 13-point deficit, overshot Pat Freiermuth while throwing on the run. Marcus Hooker picked it off.
“We didn’t have any turnovers until the end,” Franklin said, “but we weren’t able to get any, either.”
Looking Ahead
Penn State will still be looking for its first win of the season when it plays host to Maryland next Saturday. Whether this is an opportune bit of scheduling is impossible to know; the Terrapins are as unpredictable as ever this year.
It looked initially as though the Terps hadn’t improved much since last year’s 3-9 finish. They opened with a dreadful loss at Northwestern in which they jumped on top of the Wildcats with an early field goal, only to give up 43 unanswered points over the final 50 minutes. They managed only 207 yards of total offense in their opener while giving up 537 yards. Typical Maryland, right? But then the Terps rebounded on Friday night, fighting back from a late 17-point deficit to defeat Minnesota in overtime, 45-44. In only his second college start, Alabama transfer Taulia Tagovailoa engineered the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in school history, finishing the game with 26 completions in 35 attempts for 394 yards and three touchdowns.
While the Terps bounced back impressively, they still looked to have their share of vulnerabilities. One number that’s definitely going to catch Kirk Ciarrocca’s eye this week is 587. That’s how many rushing yards Maryland has given up in its first two games, including 207 yards and four touchdowns to Minnesota’s Mohamed Ibrahim. The Terps have already surrendered nine rushing touchdowns on the season. For a banged-up Penn State backfield, this game might offer an opportunity to post some healthy numbers.
Of course, the number that Penn State really wants to change is that goose egg in the win column. Said Franklin, “There are a bunch of things we’ve got to get cleaned up. Obviously, we’ve got to get in here on Sunday and get a bunch of things corrected. And I know we’ll do that as a staff and players.”
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