Buckeyes shut down Penn State 20-12 in top-10 showdown

Penn State’s defense did everything to win the game but score a touchdown. And it nearly did that, too.

A flag wiped out a potential scoop-and-score by linebacker Curtis Jacobs, and Ohio State followed with a touchdown instead on Saturday, handing the Nittany Lions another painful loss to the Buckeyes.

Ohio State 20, Penn State 12. And another year of what-ifs for the Lions, whose offense was held to a miserable 36 total yards in the second half before a final drive produced 73 more against softer coverage while down by 14.

The Lions went nearly the entire game without converting a third down, missing on their first 15 tries before finally getting one late to set up their lone touchdown, an 8-yard grab by Kaden Saunders.

Penn State went with the analytics play, going for a 2-point conversion afterward. But that, too, was off-kilter, as a pitch to KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a trick pass fell incomplete.

Ohio State easily recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal the victory.

“To me, the story of the game came down to third down,” Lions coach James Franklin told reporters in Columbus. “We weren’t able to stay on the field on third down on offense, which was the biggest difference in the game.”

Penn State’s College Football Playoff hopes remain alive despite the loss, but the No. 7 Lions (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten) will be required to win their final five games — including a Nov. 11 matchup with two-time defending Big Ten champion Michigan.

With little to no help coming from an offense that was stuck in neutral all afternoon, it was going to take the defense finding the end zone instead to beat No. 3 Ohio State (7-0, 4-0) at the Horseshoe.

Jacobs thought he did it himself, knocking the ball away from Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord on a sack in the second quarter, then snatching it up on the run for a 60-yard touchdown return.

But a penalty erased what would have been Penn State’s biggest play of the season. Cornerback Kalen King was caught holding Ohio State star Marvin Harrison Jr.

“They called defensive holding — obviously that’s a huge play in the game, huge momentum play in the game,” Franklin said. “That was obviously significant. But for me to sit here and talk about how that call looked, I couldn’t tell you.”

Instead of a 10-3 Penn State lead, the Buckeyes got a first down at the Lions’ 16, scoring five plays later when Miyan Williams stretched the ball over the goal line for a 2-yard touchdown.

The Lions offense, meanwhile, could only manage a pair of Alex Felkins field goals in the first half and never even reached the red zone until the final minute of the game.

In a battle of former five-star recruits, it was McCord who outdueled Penn State’s Drew Allar despite missing two of his top weapons in running back TreVeyon Henderson and wideout Emeka Egbuka, who were both injured.

McCord (22-for-35, 286 yards) had the benefit of Harrison as a security blanket and connected with the future NFL star for a game-sealing 18-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter. But he also made a couple key throws that Allar could not, namely a third-quarter dart to tight end Cade Stover against tight coverage.

Allar, as he did for long stretches of his previous two road starts, often looked out of sync with his targets as the offense struggled to find any rhythm. The Buckeyes keyed heavily against the run and the Lions weren’t able to make them pay at all through the air.

The true sophomore finished just 18-for-42 for 191 yards. And while he remained turnover-free on his young career, Allar rarely looked comfortable in the pocket.

“All year long, we’ve called the game and managed the game to put him in the best situation to be successful,” Franklin said. “And we weren’t able to do that today for a number of reasons.”

Allar was inaccurate for much of the day, but that was far from the only issue. The execution was poor, with a handful of drops from receivers and running backs alike. And, as the game wore on and the offense was unable to establish the run, the Buckeyes were able to tee off with the pass rush, picking up four sacks.

Even when the Lions got the break they needed — a Riley Thompson punt bounced off the leg of Ohio State’s Julian Fleming downfield and Tyler Elsdon recovered near midfield at the end of the third quarter — the offense could do nothing with the gift.

A trick play went nowhere on first down. No one blocked the Buckeyes’ best defender, JT Tuimoloau, on second down for a sack. And a checkdown throw on third came up well short of the sticks.

This came after Penn State’s defense came up with a goal line stand to keep the deficit at 10-6. But even a championship-level effort by defensive coordinator Manny Diaz’s unit came up short, especially when tasked to contain Harrison for a total of 76 snaps.

After catching 10 passes for 185 yards last season to beat the Lions, Harrison snagged 11 for 162 and a score this time.

“Give Ohio State a ton of credit,” Franklin said. “I’m not sure if we didn’t just watch two of the best teams in college football, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. We went into this knowing we needed to … limit the impact of (Harrison) in the game. We had a hard time doing that. The guy’s a heck of a player, gotta give him a lot of credit.”

INFIRMARY REPORT

• Penn State played much of the game without standout edge rusher Chop Robinson, who was injured in the second quarter and eventually carted off the sideline. He did not return.

Robinson appeared to have taken a hit to the head and laid face down on the turf for several moments before coming off the field.

Dani Dennis-Sutton took most of the reps in Robinson’s place opposite Adisa Isaac.

• Left guard JB Nelson made the trip to Columbus and was in uniform three weeks after being carted off himself at Northwestern. But it was Vega Ioane who made his second straight start while Nelson spent the day on the sideline.

UP NEXT

Penn State closes out October by returning home to host Indiana next Saturday. Kickoff is set for noon at Beaver Stadium with CBS carrying the broadcast.

For the Hoosiers, it has been a steady decline since their dramatic overtime win over Penn State to open the 2020 campaign. Coach Tom Allen is on the hot seat in Bloomington as Indiana enters the game at 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten after losing 31-14 at home to Rutgers on Saturday.

Allen opened October by firing offensive coordinator Walt Bell, who was replaced by former Temple head coach Rod Carey.

Indiana hasn’t been close to finding a replacement at quarterback for Michael Penix Jr. — who led the upset of the Lions in 2020 and is now a Heisman Trophy front-runner at Washington.

This week the Hoosiers made a switch under center from Tayven Jackson to Brendan Sorsby, who looks to be in line to start against Penn State.