The Penn State Nittany Lions and Ohio State Buckeyes are locked up in a defensive battle with Penn State heading into halftime down 10-6. Here are a few quick thoughts on the first half of action.
The Positives
- Nicholas Singleton is running with confidence today something we didn't really see before last week against UMass. Singleton is averaging six carries for 45 yards including a long of 20.
- The Penn State defense all things considered has done a damn good job. They're struggling with Marvin Harrison Jr a bit, though 35 of his 75 yards did come on one play.
- The defensive pressure has been able to get to McCord a bit, who hasn't looked all that great, completing just 11-of-21 passing attempts for 125 yards.
- Penn State's defense is keeping Ohio State to 3.1 yards per carry.
The Negatives
- There were a lot of question marks if Drew Allar would be able to rise to the moment. It was a very rough first half for the Nittany Lions signal caller in his home coming, completing 6-of-17 passing attempts for 91 yards.
- Marvin Harrison Jr cannot be stopped, he can only be slowed down. Well he's on track for a pretty good day for the Buckeyes, totaling five receptions for 75 yards.
- Penn State star defensive end Chop Robinson left the game with what appeared to be an upper body injury. He seems unlikely to return.
- Kalen King had two costly penalties on Ohio State's touchdown drive including a holding that negated a would be defensive touchdown for Penn State.
- Penn State is 0-for-7 on third down.
What to watch for in the second half
Penn State in the first half averaged five yards per carry including 7.5 yards per carry from Nicholas Singleton. The Nittany Lions have shown the ability to move the ball on the ground but totaled just 12 carries between Singleton and Allen. Can Penn State take a bigger advantage of the Ohio State rushing attack in the second half?
- The Nittany Lions will need defensive ends Adisa Isaac, Dani Dennis-Sutton, and Amin Vanover to step up. The Nittany Lions have one sack on McCord on the day plus one that was negated by a holding penalty. But have no other quarterback pressures in the game. They'll need to start getting pressure on McCord if they hope to pull out a win.
- Ohio State's defensive line has been getting pressure on Drew Allar quite a bit with four quarterback hurries recorded as well as one sack. The Buckeyes are not doing anything special, but any sort of pressure is rattling Allar whose had the worst showing of his career thus far.
- Penn State's defense probably played as well as you could ask them to in the first half minus Kalen King's penalities on Ohio State's scoring drive. That being said, no matter what the Nittany Lions defense does, the offense needs to show something in the second half or it will be a wasted effort for Manny Diaz's defense.
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