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rying the ball four times for 30 yards, all while leading his team with four recep- tions for 33 yards and a touchdown. The Buckeyes weren't clicking right out of the gates, though. In fact, Penn State held a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, holding the Buckeyes to just 57 yards of offense and a 1-of-4 rate on third-down conversions. A?er an ineffective start by quarter- back Cardale Jones (9 of 15 for 84 yards), the Buckeyes turned to Barrett at the start of the second quarter. Owning pos- session at Penn State's 31-yard line, Bar- rett and Elliott traded four carries to span the divide, capping the 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive with a 5-yard carry by the backup quarterback. "I thought we were actually playing pretty good when it was a traditional drop-back quarterback, running the ball with a traditional running game," Franklin said. "Now Barrett comes in and with the speed and the athleticism that he has, [he can] not only beat you with his arm but also with his legs. I think the combination of the tailback, the quarter- back and Braxton Miller, those three guys just play at a different speed, and that definitely factored in. There's no doubt about it." The night's impressive offensive per- formances were not a one-sided affair, however. Paced by true freshman run- ning back Saquon Barkley, who finished with 194 yards a?er returning from a two-game layoff caused by an ankle in- jury, the Nittany Lions managed to move the ball effectively. By hal?ime, Barkley had already accumulated 86 yards on 13 carries. Penn State was even able to amass a respectable 148 yards of total of- fense against the Buckeyes' highly rated defensive front, while limiting sacks sur- rendered to a pair. With the Nittany Lions trailing 14-3, two Barkley runs immediately pushed them into Ohio State territory. A bad snap, said to be caused by the rowdy crowd, sent the Lions into a failed fourth-and-8 opportunity. With little faith in punters Danny Pasquariello and Chris Gulla, who averaged a paltry 35.3 and 33.0 yards, respectively, Franklin opted to go for it. "There was one time where I was hoping that we'd punt them deep and didn't do that, so obviously we're going to have to factor all those things into how we're handling normal situational football," Franklin said. Attacked by an unrelenting Ohio State defensive front, Hackenberg was forced to scramble right and eventually was sacked by Chris Worley to end the threat at the 34-yard line. Combined with backbreaking punting from Ohio State's Cameron Johnston, a stark contrast to the shoddy performance of Penn State's specialists throughout the game, the Nittany Lions finished with an average starting field position of their own 17- yard line. "Not only was he able to swing field position a few times, but he was also able to sky punt us and back us down there deep a bunch of times," Franklin said. "And then we go to punt it and punt it for – what was the average? It wasn't very good. So that field position kept catching up with us." Even so, the Nittany Lions used their opening possession of the third quarter to great effect. A fantastic catch by Chris Godwin went for 56 yards, Penn State's longest connection of the season, and it was followed by another Barkley carry for 14 yards. Faced with a first-and-goal opportunity at the Buckeyes' 8, Hacken- berg hooked up with DaeSean Hamilton for a swing pass, only to see the wideout go full-out extension for the touchdown. Having cut the deficit to 21-10, Penn State traded field possession with Ohio State for the rest of the quarter, with the Buckeyes again getting the best of the Lions' bad punting. A 39-yard field goal by Jack Willoughby stretched the lead to 24-10, setting up the Lions' last gasp. Spurred on by Barkley's biggest carry of the night, a 56-yarder highlighted by broken tackles, the Nittany Lions found themselves facing fourth-and-2 at the Buckeyes' 13. Stalled in the red zone on three consecutive carries, the fourth- down attempt was le? to the passing game. "We went for the flat to a stick route. We had options, we thought we had a chance at the stick route. It didn't hap- pen," Franklin said. "They kept getting push and getting pressure." Unable to find Barkley, who appeared open, Hack- enberg was sacked on the play, and the Lions were out of options. "Barkley was the fourth progression on the back side," Franklin said, absolving his quarterback. "For Christian, to think we're going to get back to the fourth pro- gression on a three-step drop is probably not going to happen." SCORING SUMMARY 1ST 11:32 PSU Julius, Joey 33-yard field goal 6 plays, 61 yards, TOP 2:26......................................................... 3-0 2ND 13:43 OSU Barrett, J.T. 5-yard run (Willoughby, Jack kick) 10 plays, 70 yards, TOP 3:56....................................................... 3-7 9:26 OSU Elliott, Ezekiel 10-yard run (Willoughby, Jack kick) 5 plays, 45 yards, TOP 1:59........................................................ 3-14 3:17 OSU Barrett, J.T. 13-yard run (Willoughby, Jack kick) 6 plays, 66 yards, TOP 2:37........................................................3-21 3RD 13:59 PSU Hamilton, DaeSean 8-yard pass from Hackenberg, Christian (Julius, Joey kick) 3 plays, 78 yards, TOP 1:01....................................................... 10-21 4TH 12:54 OSU Willoughby, Jack 39-yard field goal 11 plays, 53 yards, TOP 5:24.................................................... 10-24 6:25 OSU Miller, Braxton 5-yard pass from Barrett, J.T. (Willoughby, Jack kick) 8 plays, 85 yards, TOP 3:35..................................................... 10-31 4:14 OSU Thomas, Michael 6-yard pass from Barrett, J.T. (Willoughby, Jack kick) 3 plays, 22 yards, TOP 1:01...................................................... 10-38 O c T O B E R 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O m 2

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