There were big problems for Ohio State in the first quarter against previously undefeated Penn State. The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 10-0 lead when Zion Tracy intercepted a Will Howard pass at the Buckeyes 31-yard line and raced untouched into the end zone. The Buckeyes were coming off a poor effort in a narrow win over Nebraska, and they appeared to be on the wrong end of a matchup against a motivated opponent.
Ryan Day seemed to be under the gun. His team had lost an earlier road game to No. 1 Oregon, and it didn't look like things would go much better against No. 3 Penn State. But the Buckeyes played with poise the rest of the way and the Ohio State defense limited the Nittany Lions to a field goal during the final 54-plus minutes. Ohio State earned a 20-13 victory.
Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki has been lauded as one of the most creative play callers in college football. However, Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was able to prevent his offense from getting into the end zone for the first time since the 2021 season.
Knowles clearly has some insight in how to slow down a Kotelnicki offense. He was the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State in 2021 the last time Kotelnicki's charges had been held without a touchdown.
Howard and Buckeyes offense refuse to panic
Many teams would have cracked after falling behind by two scores and playing in front of more than 111,000 fans at Beaver Stadium in University Park. However, Day saw Howard pick up his level of play and the dormant Ohio State ground game also came to life.
On the drive following the pick-6, Howard threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Emeka Egbuka to steady the offense and then followed with a second TD pass to Brandon Inniss that gave the Buckeyes a 14-10 lead that they would not give up at any point in the game.
Ohio State's rushing attack came back to life after a brutal performance in its previous games against Nebraska. Quinshon Judkins gained 95 yards on 14 carries and TreVeyon Henderson added another 54 yards on 10 carries.
Penn State had a chance to tie the score in the fourth quarter when they had a 1st-and-goal at the Ohio State 3-yard with 7:33 to go, but linebacker Cody Simon and the Buckeyes defense stopped three straight running plays and quarterback Drew Allar's fourth down pass fell incomplete in the end zone.
Ohio State moved to 7-1 with the victory and the 4th-ranked Buckeyes will clearly move up in the rankings. The Buckeyes host Purdue in its next game. The Nittany Lions (7-1) will attempt to get back on the winning track at home against Washington.
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