Ohio State’s Predictable Win Over Penn State at ‘Crossroads’ Sets Up Crucial Final Stretch

Some pressure lifts from Buckeyes coach Ryan Day, who moves to 6–0 against the Nittany Lions, but the real test against rival Michigan still looms.

Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Emeka Egbuka celebrates a touchdown against the Penn State Nittany Lions. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history had seen enough, even before all hope had been extinguished. Rivers of white shirts flowed to the exits, as the vast majority of the 111,030 fans felt the familiar sting of scarlet-and-gray defeat sink in. The Ohio State Buckeyes were punching the ball downfield, running out the clock, doing what they always do against the Penn State Nittany Lions. 

Winning.

Ohio State’s 20–13 victory Saturday was its eighth straight in this non-rivalry, and 12th win in the last 13 meetings. The games play out differently from year to year, but the end result is a numbing sameness. Penn State is good—still perhaps College Football Playoff-level good—but never good enough to beat the Buckeyes.

This twisty, turbulent contest turned for the final time on a stretch of grass 108 inches in width. The three yards that separated the Nittany Lions offense from the end zone late in the fourth quarter could not be traversed. The Buckeyes defense stood resolute, their goal-line stand aided by another staple of this series—suspect play-calling by James Franklin’s Nittany Lions.

With a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line, trailing by seven, Penn State hurled running back Kaytron Allen into the middle of the line three straight plays, the last two with 348-pound guard Olaivavega Ioane going in motion and trying to batter the Ohio State line backward. Allen gained two yards on those three runs, leaving a fourth-and-goal at the 1.

Penn State finally tried plan B at that point. They once again brought Ioane in motion after being split wide, but called a play-action pass in which quarterback Drew Allar appeared to be looking for superstar tight end Tyler Warren in the left flat. The Buckeyes covered that, so he had to redirect and fire into traffic in the direction of backup tight end Khalil Dinkins. The ball landed incomplete, Ohio State took over, and the slow dwindling of the crowd began.

“We’ve got to thrive in those moments,” Buckeyes defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau said. “If you shy away from those moments, you’re not here to play Big Ten football. We were tough today.”

This was new Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s welcome to the Big Ten moment, and he came up empty on the key possession. For all the lauding of his creativity, nothing worked well enough to cover those 108 inches. Penn State did not score an offensive touchdown, and has scored just one late, cosmetic TD in its last two games against Ohio State.

At no point in those final four plays did Warren touch the ball. He’d been used as a wildcat quarterback several times earlier in the game, and the 6' 6", 261-pound behemoth had been effective. He produced 47 yards on three carries, including a 33-yarder that set up the goal-to-go futility. Nor did Penn State insert its more athletic quarterback, Beau Pribula, who can put added stress on a defense with his mobility. It was just Allen up the middle in triplicate, then a fourth-down pass into blanket coverage.

While this result loads another sack of bricks onto Franklin’s back, it had a leavening effect on Ryan Day. He has a Michigan problem that remains unresolved for at least a few more weeks, but no such issue with Penn State. He’s now 6–0 against the Nittany Lions.

He’s also 63–9 overall and 42–4 in the Big Ten. But the pressure has been mounting on Day in a season of crushing expectations. Ohio State lost by a point at No. 1 Oregon—hardly an unforgivable result, but still—then flailed last week in an uninspiring win over middling Nebraska. With no substantial wins on the resume, a loss here could have been a playoff eliminator.

Day remains undefeated against Penn State. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

“I think it’s fair to say we were at a crossroads,” Day said. “This was a big game for us. We didn’t really want to publicly say that, but we said it behind closed doors.

“There’s a lot there to probably unpack that I’m not going to get into all of it. But there’s a lot that goes with being the head coach at Ohio State, and you can say, ‘Ignore everything that goes on.’ But your players read it, your coaches read it, your staff members read it, your families read it. You’ve got to stay strong in those moments. But to go accomplish what we did today, a top-five victory, feels good right now.”

Ohio State secured this must-win game despite some quarterback play that could have been catastrophic. Will Howard delivered Penn State’s only touchdown with a pick-six interception on the Buckeyes’ first possession, putting them in a 10–0 hole and setting the stadium on tilt. Later in the first half, Howard was heading into the end zone for a running touchdown when he was stripped of the ball, which bounced off his knee and out of the end zone for a touchback and a turnover.

In between those two cataclysms, Howard was pretty darned good. And in the second half, he was good enough—leading two field-goal drives, making a couple of key throws and runs, avoiding mistakes.

“I played my worst game of the year,” Howard said. “But man, we willed that game. We talked about it earlier in the week—we’re going to have to will ourselves to win this game. There’s no way we’re going to be able to lose. And that’s the way we played.”

Ohio State’s $20 million investment in its roster paid dividends Saturday. 

Injuries had debilitated the offensive line, which bottomed out with just 64 rushing yards against Nebraska. The coaches moved their best lineman—Donovan Jackson, who was one of several seniors who stayed in school with some help from the Ohio State NIL collectives—from left guard to left tackle for this game. 

Jackson hadn’t played tackle since high school, but the move helped stabilize the situation. Penn State’s terrifying rush end, Abdul Carter, got two sacks but didn’t dominate the game, and Ohio State ran for 176 yards on the day.

“We had to run the dang ball,” Jackson said.

Fifty-eight of those rushing yards came on the final drive, as the Buckeyes took over at their own 1-yard line and pushed downfield until the clock ran out. 

“That was fun,” Jackson said. “As an offensive lineman, those are the drives you dream of.”

The running back tandem of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins came up big, pounding out a combined 149 rushing yards. They also caught three passes for 25 yards and delivered several crushing blocks.

Henderson decided to stay for his senior season. Judkins was a transfer addition from Mississippi. When Judkins visited Ohio State last winter, Day had the two backs sit in a room together and discuss how they thought a job share would work out. They came out of the room and told Day they were both onboard.

The Buckeyes have assembled a lot of elite pieces around a quarterback who may be good enough to win a national title. Howard is not the game-changing talent by himself the way Cam Ward is at Miami or Dillon Gabriel is at Oregon. But he can also make enough plays to help win games—as long as he doesn’t make mistakes that lose them.

Ohio State has two overmatched opponents next (Purdue and Northwestern). Then come two big games to finish the regular season—undefeated Indiana and nemesis Michigan. Given the weakness of the early schedule, beating Penn State is a necessary addition to the playoff resume.

“In life, you’re going to go have these opportunities where you’ve got to go will yourself to win,” Day said. “You’ve got to go take something. You’ve got to go find a way to get that thing done.”

Ohio State always finds a way against Penn State. And Penn State always fails to find a way. Same as it ever was.