Blue White Illustrated

One of the main things that stood out about this game was the disparity be- tween the teams' respective perform- ances in the trenches. Ohio State was able to control Penn State up front on both sides of the ball. Its defensive line blew up the Nittany Lions' backfield, and its offensive line was able to keep quarterback J.T. Barrett cool, calm and collected. The end result was that even though the Lions owned a 15-point fourth quarter lead, they could not make enough plays on either side of the ball to stem the tide. Four-minute offense was an issue that Penn State identified in the off-season as something that needed to be ad- dressed. In the final game of the 2016 season, the Lions had a late lead against Southern Cal but couldn't hold on. Coach James Franklin said that he thought the problem had been resolved in Penn State's first seven games of this season. "I thought we changed our identity," he said. "We tried to run the ball. It's easy for me to say this right now but as the play caller, we're not protecting well and we're not running the ball. So it's easy for us to sit here and say a>er the fact that we need to be better in that situation." The point was true defensively as well, Franklin continued, explaining the op- tions that opened up for Barrett as the typically disruptive Penn State defen- sive line was virtually silenced. "I think as the game went on, their of- fensive line was able to protect their quarterback and he stood in the pocket [looking] very comfortable," Franklin said. "When you have a quarterback who has played that much football and he stands in the pocket with the athleti- cism and speed that they have at wide receiver, it's going to cause a long day. It's the same thing with their defensive line. Their defensive line, as the game went on – we had a hard time with those guys." Later, he expanded on the topic. "We just had a hard time slowing them down," Franklin said. "The biggest issue was that I think the momentum was getting to the point where we had a hard time slowing them down. … I thought we did a pretty good job against them in the running game, but when your quarterback is able to stand back in the pocket that comfortably, he just got momentum. They have a bunch of play- ers who can make plays in space. You can't cover those types of athletes that Offensive, defensive lines struggle in loss to Buckeyes O c T O B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 11 G A M E N O T E B O O K

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