Ohio State Stymies Penn State, Keeps College Football Playoff Hopes Alive

The Buckeye defense held Penn State to just 33 yards on 29 rushes all night.

Ohio State survived its biggest challenge of the season, closing October with a sixth consecutive win to move to 7–1 on the season. C.J. Stroud threw for 305 yards and Noah Ruggles connected on four field goals to give the Buckeyes the victory. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Ohio State's offense struggled to get rolling in the first half and the Buckeyes had to play from behind. Penn State struck first on a five yard pass from Sean Clifford to Brenton Strange to cap a 13-play, 89-yard drive.
• The Buckeyes responded with a 35-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 7-3.
• C.J. Stroud found Chris Olave for a 38-yard score to give the Buckeyes with their first lead with 3:48 left in the half.
• Ohio State's defense responded to the poor opening showing with a number of great series. Their best play came from Jerron Cage, who picked up a Sean Clifford sack-fumble and ran it back 55 yards for a touchdown. It put the Buckeyes ahead 17-7.
• The Silver Bullets kept Penn State off the board until the final play of the first half when they kicked a field goal at the gun.
• On the first drive of the second half, Penn State drove down the field and scored on a Jahan Dotson speed rush to the left pylon from just two yards out. That score tied the game at 17-17.
• Ohio State picked up 58 yards on a long pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the next drive, but they committed a false start on fourth and goal from inside the one yard line and were forced to settle for a field goal. Ohio State led 20-17 with 6:42 left in the third quarter.
• After TreVeyon Henderson ripped off a run of nearly 70 yards, the Buckeyes' freshman running back finally punched in his first TD of the game to give OSU a 27-17 lead with 3:35 to play in the third quarter.
• Penn State answered on the ensuing drive, capping an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a 1-yard run from Keyvone Lee. The Buckeyes took a 27-24 lead into the fourth.
• Ohio State drove all the way down the field to open the fourth, but couldn't cash in on a touchdown pass on fourth and three from the Penn State 13 yard line. But a few plays later, Cam Brown intercepted Sean Clifford to give Ohio State great field position.
• Noah Ruggles added a 25-yard field goal to make it 30-24 midway through the fourth quarter. Then with just under three minutes to play, Ruggles added another short field goal to extend the lead to 33-24.

BOX SCORE NUMBERS

• C.J. Stroud finished the game 22-of-34 for 305 yards, but just one touchdown and no interceptions.
• TreVeyon Henderson closed the night with 28 carries and 152 yards. 68 yards came on one carry and 22 came on a late one. The rest of his production was as difficult as he's had to deal with all season.
• The defense racked up four sacks and eight tackles for loss, frustrating the Nittany Lions ground game all night. PSU managed just 33 rushing yards in the game.
• 102,951 fans provided an insanely loud environment at Ohio Stadium in the "Scarlet Out".

Much more to come from Ohio Stadium after Ryan Day and the Buckeyes address the media.

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