Dwayne Haskins finished with 270 yards with three touchdowns and an interception on a tipped ball, but the true star of the game was defensive end Chase Young, who finished with two sacks, a batted down pass on a key Penn State fourth down and the stuffed running back on the fourth down carry by Miles Sanders that clinched the game for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State moves to 5-0 (2-0 Big Ten) and will host 4-1 Indiana next week for Homecoming.
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1) Even though the Buckeyes struggled often during this game, only when Penn State scored midway through the fourth quarter to move ahead by twelve points did I begin to become really discouraged.
I actually felt better at halftime with so much going Penn State's way as far moving the football to be only down 13-7.
2) The game swung a bit late in the first half when Ohio State forced a fumble that Dre'Mont Jones recovered in Penn State territory.
The short field allowed the sputtering Ohio State offense to score their only points of the half when Dwayne Haskins beat the blitz on a short pass to J.K. Dobbins, who then raced twenty-six yards into the end zone for the score.
Up to the point, Ohio State had not seriously threatened and the touchdown allowed me to feel better as I mentioned above at the half.
3) The Buckeyes took another hit to their defensive line as Dre'Mont Jones left the game with an injured ankle, but he would return to play late in the game.
However, Jones left the locker room in a walking boot according to Eleven Warriors and is questionable for Indiana next Saturday.
4) Isaiah Pryor was ejected in the fourth quarter for a targeting penalty that knocked K.J. Hamler from the game.
Pryor's contact was to the head of Hamler and with the shoulder, not head to head, but by the rule, the call was a fair one.
The issue with the targeting call is not about trying to avoid contact with the head, it is the lack of consistency with the rule itself.
The rule would be easier to take if they kept the helmet to helmet portion, but eliminated the other types of contact and added intent to injure for the requirements for the call.
5) Ohio State lost three points in the third quarter when Luke Farrell was called for a facemask as Sean Nuernberger connected from 33 yards away.
The penalty (which I didn't see as I was driving to work) forced the points off the board and Nuernberger's resulting attempt from 48 yards was no good.
6) I'll end the negatives with this note- Penn State did an excellent job in rushing Dwayne Haskins and forcing him to get rid of the ball early, but I was disappointed in the passing game not taking more shots downfield.
It seemed to me that the playcalling was stuck in the J.T. Barrett age and didn't take advantage of the different skills of Haskins, but it does seem that there is something about playing at Penn State that turns Urban Meyer into Woody Hayes.
Trips to Happy Valley usually results into the offense playing things very close to the vest and conservative and often that can get you beaten against a lesser team in a loud stadium.
7) Dwayne Haskins showed on the final drive why he is going to receive Heisman consideration and why he is likely to leave at the end of the season.
Poised in the pocket and throws that had both steam and touch as well as accuracy, Haskins shows the skills that will make him a high draft pick. although returning next year would be better for his development.
8) I noted above that the star of the game was Chase Young, who dominated in the absence of Nick Young was strong in rushing Trace McSorley (two sacks), wasn't afraid to drop back in coverage (a key fourth-down pass was knocked down by Young) and finished the game off strong against the run when he stuffed Miles Sanders to finish off the game.
Bosa and was the best player on the field.
While Nick Bosa has a chance to be the first pick in the 2019 draft (depending on the need of the team selecting first), don't be surprised if Chase Young is in the same situation in the 2020 draft.
Entering next season, the Buckeye that everyone will be talking about will be Chase Young.
He's going to be that good...
9) I know Penn State had a sizable lead in offensive yardage. (492-389) and the difference was the inability to stop Trace McSorley do the one thing that makes him a dangerous QB- run draws and moving away from the pass rush.
Tuf Borland was mentioned early in the game as being assigned to "spy" on McSorely and make sure that he didn't do what it turned out that he would do effectively and either Ohio State decided to get away from that idea or Borland (who did cause the second quarter fumble that led to the first Buckeye score) was caught up in space as he was when McSorley ran for a 51 yard gain in the first half.
It feels like the boss or parent that says "I just asked you to do one thing"!
I've been critical of McSorley through the years and particularly for his "chuck it up and pray" passing style, but he was tremendous on this evening and deserves Heisman consideration should Penn State win out and he can maintain this level of play.
10) I loved the TD pass and run by Binjamin Victor that quieted the Penn State crowd and turned the game into a one-score battle.
Victor could have easily gone down on contact or even stepped out of bounds at one point, but instead, he kept moving, extended the play, made some Lion defenders miss and turned what could have been a modest catch for a first down and turned it into six points.
I've always thought that of his particular recruiting class that Victor is the one with the highest potential to be a star.
11) J.K. Dobbins scored twice (one rushing and one receiving), but his 57 yards (3.4 average) doesn't seem all that impressive.
Don't be fooled and read beyond the scoresheet, Dobbins ran very well in the second half, wasn't afraid to put his shoulder down and run with power.
Until the final two drives, you could make a real argument that Dobbins was keeping Ohio State in the game on the scoring drive in the third quarter, the drive that resulted in the missed field goal and moving the chains otherwise.
12) I've been concerned about the secondary all season and the school record 93 yard touchdown toss and run from Trace McSorley to K.J. Hamler showed why when Hamler just blew by the defenders (give credit to someone, who chased Hamler all the way down the field and his dive just missed him, I can't name him because I've not rewatched the game yet), but it could have been worse.
The one handed catch by Juwan Johnson was just one of those great plays that happen as Damon Arnette couldn't have had better coverage and other than that the Buckeyes managed to avoid giving up the huge yardage plays that had haunted them at times against lesser competition.
13) Penn State fans have some reason to be upset with the coaching staff and James Franklin.
Yes, the final draw play was a weak call, but there were other mistakes during the game that have to have Nittany Lions fans wondering.
Franklin passed on a long, but makeable field goal (41 yds) in the third quarter to go for it (this was the Chase Young batted pass play), and burning timeouts before that final running play, so the Penn State defense would not have to make Ohio State make a first down to end the game-BUT that wasn't all as Franklin tried to go after a critical Penn State fan after the game, delivered a bizarre press conference in which he claimed Penn State "was great and satisfied being great" while Ohio State was "elite" which is where he is going to be or drive everyone crazy trying.
That wasn't even all as Franklin then threaded his players lack of commitment to "Going to class consistently so coaches don't have to babysit them".
Franklin might have had a span of time that ranked with the worst at Penn State going back to you know what and I wonder how Penn State deals with this if this leads to a lesser season that their fans expect.
14) Finally, the most difficult road game is over and the Buckeyes escape with a win.
Yes, the November road trip to East Lansing will be difficult and after last year's Iowa debacle, no one should take any team lightly, no matter their record ( I can say that because OSU has already played Rutgers).
4-1 Indiana is next at home, but their best win is over Virginia and struggled to a seven-point win over Rutgers yesterday- the same Rutgers that had allowed 97 points the previous two weeks in losses to Kansas and Buffalo.
3-1 Minnesota is next, but they lost their last game to Maryland in a blowout and will visit Columbus coming off a rivalry game vs Iowa.
If you are looking for a trap game, try at 2-3 Purdue under an innovative head coach in Jeff Brohm, Purdue Pete blew out ranked Boston College and then Nebraska in their last two and their three losses are by combined seven points.
The Purdue game leads to a bye week to end October so one would think, although guarantee nothing that Ohio State will hit November's four games at 8-0.
That's a number that few of us would have thought was likely with seven minutes to go at State College- I'll take it...
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