Penn State Seems Poised to Tackle Its Ohio State Demons

The Nittany Lions have just one win in nine tries against the Buckeyes under James Franklin. They seem as well-positioned as ever to nab another Saturday.

Penn State’s six-year pileup of pain at the hands of Ohio State began miserably enough, in 2017, when the Nittany Lions frittered away an 11-point lead in the final five minutes to lose by a point. That was bad, but it quickly got worse.

The fourth-and-5 handoff to nowhere that killed a potential game-winning drive in ‘18? That crashing anticlimax of a play call followed three successive timeouts—two by Penn State, one by Ohio State—and it came after blowing a 12-point lead in the last half of the fourth quarter. That was the White-Out that lives in infamy. That was the nadir. It doesn’t mean it was the end.

There was the rally that fizzled in ’19, scoring zero points in the final four offensive possessions after surging back from a 21–0 deficit. That comeback stalled when a potential tying drive in the third quarter was pushed back from a first-and-10 at the Ohio State 11 to a fourth-and-23 field goal. The Buckeyes, naturally, went on to the College Football Playoff.

The only memories Penn Staters choose to retain from the pandemic season of 2020 are that the Nittany Lions were bad, the Buckeyes were good, and the game between them wasn’t very close. Again, Ohio State went to the playoff.

There was the fourth-quarter fade of ’21. The final three Penn State possessions went interception-punt-missed field goal and the Buckeyes kicked two late FGs to preserve the win.

Then there was the J.T. Tuimoloau Game last year, when the defensive end recorded 21 percent of his career sacks, 100 percent of his forced fumbles, 100 percent of his interceptions and 100 percent of his touchdowns in one afternoon. He was Chase Young for a day. Once again, Ohio State was playoff-bound while Penn State was not.

This is the baggage James Franklin carries with him into the Horseshoe on Saturday. You think Ryan Day has a Michigan Problem? Buddy, it’s small compared to Franklin’s Ohio State Problem.

Franklin, right, is 0–4 against Ohio State since Day, left, took over the Buckeyes :: Adam Cairns/USA TODAY Network

Six straight losses. Eight in his nine years coaching the Nittany Lions. Franklin needs to thank his black-shoed angels for Grant Haley’s 60-yard return of a blocked field goal in 2016; it’s the only thing separating him from being oh-for-Ohio State.

He’s won 70 percent of his games at Penn State, virtually identical to Joe Paterno’s record once the school joined the Big Ten in 1993 (Paterno’s winning percentage was .701). He’s won 11 games four different seasons, taken teams to the Rose Bowl (twice), the Fiesta Bowl and the Cotton Bowl. But the Ohio State-Michigan blockade atop the Big Ten East Division has been unbreakable since 2016, with the Buckeyes proving to be the more persistent nemesis to Penn State.

That’s been true of almost everyone Ohio State has faced over the last decade-plus. The Buckeyes are in a golden era even by their historical standards, having won 89.9 percent of their games since Urban Meyer became the coach in 2012. That means Franklin is actually doing better than the rest of Ohio State’s collective opponents by winning 12.5 percent of his matchups against the scarlet and gray.

But this is Penn State, a place that has won national championships, a place that spares no football expense, a place that puts 100,000 fans in the stands. Those places aspire and expect to stand toe-to-toe with the best, instead of being toes-up at their feet.

Thus Franklin’s futility in this series is the story line looming over this game. The 51-year-old coach, no idiot, knows it. He also chooses not to engage on the subject.

“You’re going to ask these questions, I get it,” he said during a marathon, 48-minute press conference Tuesday. “We’re trying to find a way to get a win this week. We approach it the same every single week. Everyone outside is talking.”

We are indeed, but the talk has veered in a slightly different direction. It’s less about the Nittany Lions’ past futility against the Buckeyes and more about their present opportunity to do something about it.

This year, cautious optimism is peeking its head above ground in State College, gazing west, looking toward Columbus. Seventh-ranked Penn State is 6–0, as is No. 3 Ohio State. Penn State is talented, with future NFL players dotting the roster. Penn State is statistically dominant, leading the nation in several defensive categories. Penn State is second nationally in turnover margin, the statistic that has the strongest correlation between winning and losing.

Penn State, by acclamation, has a real chance to get out from under its pile of Buckeye pain. And the Nittany Lions might not have to perform any out-of-body feats to do so.

In the course of Franklin’s long Q&A Tuesday, that seemed to be the veiled message. He believes his team is good enough as is, as it has played all season. No radical revisions necessary. Keep doing what we’re doing, and we’ll be O.K. Saturday.

“I think what you have to be careful of is, you have to understand and figure out what the identity of your team is, and embrace that identity no matter what the outside world is saying,” Franklin said. “You have to be comfortable in your own skin and own who you are and be comfortable in how you play.

“Studying the analytics are important … but a lot of times those analytics and those trends are there for a reason. It means you’re good at something. The mistake some people make is that you get to games that are this or that, and you start doing things you haven’t done the first six or seven weeks.”

Former Penn State wide receiver Parker Washington recorded 11 catches and 179 yards against Ohio State last year, but the Nittany Lions have missed his big-play potential this year :: Adam Cairns/USA TODAY Network

If Penn State is going to do the same things it has done, that means the following: ball-control offense that churns out moderate gains while minimizing big mistakes; airtight defense that keeps opponents out of the red zone and turns them over; the occasional big special teams play; and winning field position.

It hasn’t been a sexy formula. The lack of splash plays on offense—Penn State is 129th out of 133 teams nationally in scrimmage plays of 20 yards or more and dead last in plays of 40-plus yards—has been perplexing. But Franklin will take a methodical offense as long as first-year starting quarterback Draw Allar maintains his streak of 241 career college passes without an interception. Discretion often is the better part of quarterback valor, and sometimes that means checking down and dumping off and throwing away passes.

“I want Drew to do the same thing he’s done all year long,” Franklin said. “You spend your whole career trying to get quarterbacks to take check downs. Every quarterback wants to throw the corner route or the go route or the post. Who’s throwing check downs in their backyard, right? Here we’ve got a young kid who’s starting for the first time, and we can call those plays and he’ll take the check down. He’s doing a really good job of keeping the main thing the main thing, which is protecting the football.”

Defensively, the step up in competition will be significant this week. Playing Iowa and Massachusetts doesn’t do much to prepare a unit for wideouts Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, or tight end Cade Stover. But the Nittany Lions also are not facing an elite-level Ohio State quarterback for the first time in years. It might have been telling that in Franklin’s initial press-conference rundown of the Buckeyes’ personnel, he didn’t mention QB Kyle McCord. (Franklin did praise his performance later.)

In sum, there isn’t much other than home-field advantage to separate these two teams. And Penn State might be good enough to overcome that, if it can avoid the recurring scenarios of recent seasons.

“You’ve got to be able to win games in the fourth quarter,” Franklin said. “You’ve got to be able to win one-score games. … We expect this to be one of those games.”

Penn State fans hope—maybe even expect—this to be the year they end the Ohio State pain. If so, they can move on to confronting their Michigan issues Nov. 11 in Happy Valley. But please, one nemesis at a time.