Thoughts on OSU vs. Penn State | Week 9 (2014)

Ohio State vs. Penn State

1st Quarter

Buckeyes come out wearing their alternative "all-white uniforms".  No doubt this is in response to PSU's infamous "White Out" where the entire fans (except for the few Buckeye fans present) were wearing all-white.

What a play Vonn Bell made on the opening drive.  While I disagreed with the ruling-on-the-field (and the subsequent video-review), I still thought Bell made a nice effort breaking on the ball (which is what you want to see from your secondary).  (Sidenote: It just kills me how the guys in the booth still get calls wrong. I understand how officials on the field aren't going to catch everything and they are going to make mistakes once & awhile, but there should be zero excuses for getting calls wrong in the booth when they can slow the play down, review it, and look at different angles/views).

So far the PSU crowd has been amazing.  THIS is what a college gameday crowd is supposed to look/sound like.  I do think the PSU crowds are more "intimidating" than Buckeye home game crowds.

Wow... Elliott runs so hard.  Again, really impressed with his style/game.  I feel for PSU (especially knowing the end of the game score) and knowing that OSU gained 7 pts off of an interception that should not have been.

Why Jalin Marshall fields that punt at the 4 yard line, I'll never know.  Heck, I wasn't a punt-returner and even I knew since grade school 'You put your heels on the edge of the 10 yard line, and don't back up'.  If it goes over your head, then you let it go.  Gotta let that one bounce into the endzone.

Wow... Nick Vannett with a VERY nice seal block to stop the defender and allow J.T. Barrett to pickup the 3rd down conversion.

2nd Quarter:

Elliott with another strong/hard run.

Unbelievable.  The false starts are killing this drive.  Again... the PSU crowd is ruckus and causing some big problems with the snap count.

Barrett... you can't take a sack there on 3rd and 16 from the 23.  Know where you're at on the field.  You have an easy 3 pts.  DON'T TAKE A SACK!  Luckily, Sean Nuerenberger drilled a 49 yard field goal to add the 3 on, irregardless.  Speaking of the FG, it looks like the officiating crew and the PSU coaching staff missed another one.

Didn't it used to be a penalty if the kick returner signaled a fair catch and then tried to advance the football?!  Whatever happened to that rule?  I'm pretty sure it was a rule at one point.  I can't stand when returners signal fair catch and then try to catch the ball and advance it up field.  That fair catch is in place knucklehead so you don't get BLASTED on 9 out of 10 punt returns.  To Jalin Marshall's credit, he didn't signal fair catch tho, I suppose; rather, it was more of a 'get away from the football' signal to his own teammates.

Another delay of game penalty.  Yes the crowd noise is a big factor, but the coaching staff has to get the play in sooner.  They're taking way too long and not giving the players enough time to audible the call(s).

Barrett takes a lick on the option (to Elliott), but man am I impressed with Barrett's decision making.  Once again he's making all the right decisions (i.e., pitching and keeping it).

Holy schnikes! Armani Reeves just DESTROYED Penn State's WR Geno Lewis.  Oh lawrdy.

Ohio State now with a 17-0 lead heading into halftime.  ZERO excuses for OSU to lose this game.  ZERO.

3rd Quarter

Wow... Barrett's INT on the opening drive (Pick 6) of the 2nd Half was pretty bad.  The PSU defense lulled Barrett into making a freshman mistake.  You gotta see those interior DT's dropping back into coverage.  The sad part is, there really wasn't that much pressure off the sides.  Barrett could have stayed in the pocket & simply hung in there.  The Pick 6 is a longstanding tradition in the Ohio State-Penn State series, and unfortunately the Buckeyes were on the wrong side of this one.

Darron Lee with a nice blitz/sack.  I really think we need to use him more in blitzes; he seems to be very effective when he does.

If Michael Thomas is going to be that big, bad WR that we keep saying OSU is so desperately missing, then he's going to have to make a play there on that long pass-play and find some way to come down with the completion there.

3rd & 1 here and J.T. Barrett is out of the game.  The announcers are speculating he hit his arm on someone's helmet the previous play.  Cardale Jones comes into the game (which I kinda actually like since it's 3rd & short and he's so big), and he doesn't pickup the 1st down.  You're 6'5 250 lbs.  You gotta make a play there, Cardale.  Fall forward, big man.  Did you come to play school?

Frustrating.  Devin Smith has his man beat, and Barrett underthrows the pass, so Smith has to stop and turn back.  After watching the replays, the ball appears to go thru the defenders hands and then right thru Smith's hands!  Devin... you gotta make the catch!  I understand it's a hard catch because the defender is in the way, but buddy... step up and make a play!  We throw down-field to you once a a game, and I was just thinking to myself Where's our deep ball play to Smith?! and here it is... and you let the pass go right thru your hands.  That's not going to help with your case of getting back onto the field.

SMH.  Neuernberger has a chance to put the Buckeyes up 20-7, but instead he misses to the right and now the Buckeyes have just wasted a nice drive.  The defense has played lights out, really, to this point.  Penn State's only points of the game have come from a Pick 6.  The defense has been stout and doing their job (tho, to be fair, Penn State's offensive line is a joke, and I would have hoped/expected going into this game that our defense would handle them easily).

You gotta love defensive back coach Kerry Coombs emotion.  The dude is ALWAYS the first one jumping up & down on the sideline anytime the Buckeyes make a play; doesn't matter if it's his personnel group or someone else's.  Offense or Defense.  Coombs is guaranteed to be the 1st one jumping up & down.

Wow... my boy Tyvis Powell with a GREAT INT to stop a driving PSU offense.  That play was MUCH needed, as the Nittany Lions were driving and looking to score.  Now the Buckeyes need to switch the field position game again.  Let's move the ball, Boys!

4th Quarter

Buckeyes are up 17-7.  Again... no excuse for a loss here.  Have to finish the game strong.  Game announcer Todd Blackledge acknowledging the dominance by Ohio State's defenses.  Amen.  They truly have played awesome tonight.

Oh Barrett... just threw his 2nd INT of the game.  Smh.  I see how he doesn't see PSU's middle LB there.  Not so much Barrett's fault, rather, just goes to show that you HAVE. TO. BE. AWARE. of your SURROUNDINGS.  Hopefully this INT won't come back to haunt the Buckeyes.

Eli Apple has to turnaround and locate the football there.  JT's INT has now put the Buckeyes in a 17-14 pt game (2 turnovers, 14 points off turnovers for PSU).  Smh...  What a catch by PSU's Blacknall.

Holly Rowe (side line announcer) just reported Barrett mentioned some pain in his left knee to the coaching staff.  Ut-oh.

Devin Smith with a nice down of a punt at the 1 yard line.

Very first play, OSU comes out in an all-out blitz, and PSU was ready for it as they ran the perfect play (a quick screen) to pickup a 1st down and get out of their own shadows.

Terrible Pass Intereference call here on PSU's drive. Armani Reeves makes a nice play on the ball, and the officials throw a flag and call it on Vonn Bell.  Bell wasn't even anywhere near the play/action.  The only Buckeye that looked near the play was Reeves, and it looked like a clean pass-breakup to me.  I think the officials gifted one to PSU there on 3rd down to give them an automatic 1st down.

Penn State is forced to punt.  The Buckeyes have the ball now at mid-field with just over 5 minutes left to go in the game.  Have to move the chains here and run this clock out.

Hate the decision to run the read-option (even tho it has been successful almost all game/season).  If Barrett's knee truly is dinged up, then just turn around and hand the ball off to Elliott.  Stop messing around with the read-option.  Now you just put yourself in 2nd & 11.  Smh...

Here we go... PSU's ball at the 9 yard line... less than 3 minutes to go.  The Silver Bullet defense needs to come up big here one more time...

Impressive stat... Avg Drive Start = Buckeyes own 37; PSU own 22.  That's a pretty nice difference.

Buckeye defense continuing the 'bend, but don't break' defensive mentality.  Giving up the short underneath passes, but not letting anything over the top.  I'm fine with this, but why aren't we covering/protecting the sidelines?!?!  Seems like PSU is getting whatever they want on the sides.

OH MAN!!!  COME ON ELI!  Apple has to come up with an INT there on Hackenberg's duck pass there.

Vonn Bell has to make the tackle there on 2nd & 10.  He makes the tackle on that flare pass, it's then PSU 3rd & 10/11.  But by missing the tackle, it's now 1st & 10 for PSU at the 45.  (Also would have kept the clock running.)  Smh.

Like clockwork... Joey Bosa comes up with a sack with less than 50 seconds left in the game, forcing PSU to burn their 2nd TO, and putting the Nittany Lions in 2nd & 17.  HUGE!  The Buckeyes have to come up with the stop here now.

Unreal.  The Officials flag Curtis Grant with a 15 yard personal foul penalty.  Are you freaking kidding me?!?!  Also... why is Grant in there and not McMillan?!?!  McMillan is the better pass defender.  You know PSU is going to air it out here.

Wow.  Unreal.  Franklin blows a costly timeout here.  I have no idea what happened, but somehow PSU had to use their 3rd and final timeout.  That is VERY costly.

OMG!  REEVES!  CATCH THE BALL!  You have a gifted INT and the game is OVER!  CATCH.THE.BALL!  

LOL.  PSU spikes the ball when the previous play was ruled out of bounds. [PSU does not deserve to win this game; to many bonehead decisions/calls/plays.]

Wow.  Vonn Bell with perhaps the play of the game.  No one talked about it, but Bell came form his safety position and underneath to jump and break up the pass attempt PSU threw in the endzone there right before they settled for their FG on 4th down.  Without Bell making that play, I think the PSU receiver might have had some separation to make the catch.  HUGE play by Bell that went quietly unnoticed.

17-17.  End of regulation.

Overtime

Buckeyes win the coin toss.  Elect to defend 1st.  I'm feeling pretty confident with the decision.  What a cluster f--- tho that coin toss was, lol.  So much confusion.

Holding on PSU.  OSU has Penn State in 1st & 20.  No excuse here now to give up a TD.  Hold them to a FG!  (Note: I do agree... that looked like an acting job by Washington more than it was an actual 'Hold', but I'll take it nonetheless.  Steve Miller can't get beat there on the outside and give up that many yards).  YOU CAN'T GIVE UP a 19 yard pass on the very next play!!!!

Wow did Lee and Apple bite hard on the WR screen fake.  Great call/execution by the PSU coaches there.

OSU's turn now with the ball.  1st play = read-option w/ Elliott up the middle for 3 yards.  2nd play = read-option, and Barrett makes a PHENOMENAL read (so good he faked out the camera guy) and rushes around the end to the 5 yard line.  #LoveIt.  3rd play = read-option, Barrett again shows great decision and keeps it to run up the middle for the TD.  (Wow... the Personal Foul on Penn State there at the end of the play is HUGE.  Enforced on the 2nd OT; puts OSU to start out at the 12.5 yard line, instead of the 25 yard line)

OSU starts off again with the read-option (why not... PSU hasn't been able to stop it all night).  Play #2 = Pass play with Barrett having all-day to throw, and AGAIN Barrett exercises good judgment by tucking the ball and running for more yards.  3rd & 2 now and Barrett on a QB draw for a TD.  Wow.  Let's Go!

Penn State ball now... 1st play = sweep to the left for nothing. 2nd play = pass to the left for 4 yards. 3rd down = deep pass to the endzone, incomplete.  4th down... here we go... likely the play of the game... 4th & 6... time to STEP UP...

And what do you know.  Who comes up with the biggest play of the Buckeye season so far? (One more time from a different view.)  Joey. freaking. Bosa.  Ironically, "That wasn't what [Bosa] was supposed to do - [he] was supposed to hit the guard and wrap out, but [the guard] blocked down so the hole opened".  It literally can't be said enough... Bosa is an NFL-ready guy out there playing against amateurs.  Bosa just steam-rolled PSU's RB right into Hackenberg.  The game literally couldn't have ended in a more perfect way.  Urban Meyer said it best, "For how good of a player Joey Bosa is, you expect him to make a play to go win the game, and that's what he did."

Interesting Notes:

• Urban Meyer is now 7-0 in his career in overtime games, 3-0 at Ohio State.
• Total (Net) Yards Passing / Rushing
• Passing:
• Ohio State: 74 yds
• Penn State: 224 yds
• Rushing:
• Ohio State: 219 yds
• Penn State: 16 yds
• J.T. Barrett only threw for 74 passing yards (this is very alarming to me; granted the PSU defense was staunch all night, but this is unacceptable)
• Tackle Leaders:
• Josh Perry: 18 tackles (2 tackles for loss)
• Tyvis Powell: 7 tackles (1 INT)
• Joey Bosa: 6 tackles (2.5 sacks)
• Darron Lee: 5 tackles (1.5 sacks)
• Curtis Grant: 4 tackles
• The Buckeyes were penalized 8 times for 70 yards.  Gotta cut that down in half.  No way you're going to beat championship caliber teams by giving up 70 yards of free-yardage.
• Wide receiver Michael Thomas ( 1 rec 3 yds) and H-back Dontre Wilson (6 touches, 34 all-purpose yards) were largely non-factors.
• For the 1st time since the Va Tech loss, Ohio State's offensive line played against a team with talent on the defensive side of the ball.  Penn State pressured Barrett all night.  The O-Line gave up 3 sacks, but there was constant pressure all night.
• OSU Punter Cameron Johnston averaged 45.0 yards per punt and pinned Penn State inside their own 15 yard line on 4 different occasions (including 3 inside the 10).
• The Buckeyes had an AWFUL 4th Quarter (giving up 119 yards and only mustering 26 yards themselves).  While the Offense wasn't that great in the 2nd and 3rd Quarters, the Defense was (giving up only 12 yds in the 2nd Quarter and 11 yds in the 3rd Quarter)
• It's sad to know the Buckeyes blew a 17 pts lead, but it's worthy to note the Buckeyes faced their toughest environment so far (traveling to Happy Valley at night) and handled a hostile environment & weathered the storm the Nittany Lions presented.
• The Nittany Lions presented a much-needed reality check for the Buckeyes before the impending bout with the mighty Michigan State Spartans.
• Something to think about... without question, OSU's biggest challenges this season have been Va Teck (the lone loss) and now Penn State.  Interesting of note is, Va Tech played William & Mary before us (essentially a bye) and Penn State was coming off a bye.  Looking forward, MSU is on bye this week, and then face us in their first game back.  Hmmm....

Bonus Material:

Penn State taking it a little too far..

Evidently, PSU fans thought it would be a good idea to awake the sleeping giant... literally.  Several Buckeye players tweeted "Air horns outside our rooms at 4am" and "They disturbed my slumber last night".

Also... what are you doing there #26 sophomore LB for Penn State, Brandon Bell.  Is that an eye gouge you're going for there on our QB, J.T. Barrett?

Muck Fichigan...

Michigan is AWFUL.  We cannot lose to those bums.  I watched the Michigan State vs. Michigan game, and here's Devin Gardner's stat line... He attempted 24 passes (I did not count shovel-passes or screens, because let's face it, those aren't passes; rather they're extended hand-offs).  Of the 24 legitimate passes he attempted (i.e., passes greater than 3 or more yards past the line of scrimmage), 10 of them were to his boy Devin Funchess and 14 of them were to someone other than Funchess.  So that right there tells you Funchess is accounting for almost half of Gardner's down-field targets (i.e., guard/stop Devin Funchess, and you're likely to stop/beat Michigan).  Of the 10 targets to Funchess, only 4 of them were completed passes (granted, one of the incompletions was a defensive P.I. call); and of the 14 targets to someone not named Funchess, only 4 of those passes were completed.  That means your boy Gardner's passing percentage was a measly 33.3%.  #Atrocious.

Michigan has exactly 3 NFL players on their team. WR Devin Funchess, DE Frank Clark, and LB Jake Ryan (maybe, OT true-freshman Mason Cole, but the jury is still out on him as it's too early to say one way or the other).  Other than that, Michigan is a bunch of scrubs playing together trying to play something called "football".  Funchess (Jr), Flark (Sr), and Ryan (Sr) will not be back on the team next year.  Michigan is in some serious trouble next season, as who will be their playmakers when they already don't have any on this horrendous team.

Also, I think it was Chris Spielman who said it (maybe it was the other announcer), but the fact that the Michigan coaching staff keeps sticking with Devin Gardner says that they honestly believe Gardner gives them the best chance to win.  If that is the case, man... how awful must Shane Morris be?  Gardner has literally stunk up this entire season, and the fact that a coaching staff that is literally on their last leg hasn't looked to 'switch it up' tells you all you need to know about Morris... That kid is simply not ready.  Michigan is a complete, utter mess right now (And this guy is loving EVERY second of it.).