Blue White Illustrated

The holes that Ohio State gouged in Penn State's defense were a lot bigger than that, at least in the second half. In improving to 9-0 (5-0 Big Ten), the seventh-ranked Buckeyes finished with 234 rushing yards and capitalized on a ragged performance by Penn State, both on offense and defense. The Nit- tany Lions were flagged for nine penal- ties, gave up four sacks and threw a critical interception for a touchdown. Still, the biggest factor was Miller. "He's an excellent player," coach Bill O'Brien said. "He's one of the top five players in the country. We stopped him at times, and other times we ob- viously didn't. We have to go back and watch the tape and see what we can do better to stop a player like that." It was a deflating night for Penn State, which fell to 5-3 and 3-1 in the Big Ten. The team and its fans had in- vested a lot of emotion in a game whose trappings rivaled those of any bowl game. The White Out crowd, complete with thousands of pom-pom wielding students, at least one "Star Wars" storm trooper and a guy dressed up as the Joe Paterno statue, created a tough environment for the Buckeyes. They had to take their first timeout four plays into the game, and the stands were still full even after the Lions had fallen behind by 18 points. "It was awesome," linebacker Mike Hull said. "We really appreciated the fans coming out. It was awesome to play in front of 108,000 fans, and they were rocking the house tonight." The only thing missing was the sto- rybook finish that those fans had come to see. The Nittany Lions threw everything they had at Ohio State, and the Buckeyes withstood it all. Matt McGloin threw for 327 yards and two touchdowns but also had a pick-six that got the second half off to a lousy start. The running game didn't provide much relief, with Zach Zwinak managing only 42 yards and Bill Belton faring even worse, finish- ing with 26. As a team, the Lions av- eraged a dismal 1.3 yards per carry. The problem? Ohio State's defense, which may have gone into the game ranked ninth in the Big Ten in yards allowed but made a big impression on Penn State. "Their front seven is very good, very physical," Belton said. "That was the SCORING SUMMARY 2ND 6:15 0:34 PSU OSU 3RD 13:41 9:50 3:30 0:40 4TH 9:49 6:11 1:41 OSU PSU OSU OSU PSU OSU PSU Yancich, Michael 0-yard blocked punt return (Ficken, Sam kick)................0-7 Hyde, Carlos 1-yard run (Basil, Drew kick) 12 plays, 75 yards, TOP 5:32......................................................................7-7 Shazier, Ryan 17-yard interception return (Basil, Drew kick).....................14-7 Ficken, Sam 27-yard field goal 9 plays, 73 yards, TOP 3:45....................................................................14-10 Miller, Braxton 1-yard run (Basil, Drew kick) 10 plays, 57 yards, TOP 3:11..................................................................21-10 Miller, Braxton 1-yard run (Basil, Drew kick) 8 plays, 85 yards, TOP 2:15....................................................................28-10 Lehman, Matt 2-yard pass from McGloin, Matt (Belton, Bill rush failed) 18 plays, 80 yards, TOP 5:45...................................................................28-16 Stoneburner, Jake 72-yard pass from Miller, Braxton (Basil, Drew kick) 6 plays, 92 yards, TOP 3:32....................................................................35-16 Carter, Kyle 20-yard pass from McGloin, Matt (Ficken, Sam kick) 12 plays, 83 yards, TOP 4:25..................................................................35-23 best front seven we'll probably see all year." The Nittany Lions were amped up for the game – maybe a little too amped up. They were flagged for 85 yards in losses, and while a few of those penalties had the crowd howl- ing, O'Brien acknowledged that his team was not as sharp as it needed to be to defeat a top-10 opponent. "We did some uncharacteristic things," he said. "I need to do a better job." The Lions seemed out of sync on of- fense for much of the game. When they finally did break through, it was not on offense but on special teams. Hull smothered Ohio State punter Ben Buchanan, and the ball bounced into the end zone, where Michael Yan- cich recovered it for a touchdown. "It kind of opened up like the Red Sea," Hull said. "I saw the back wedge kind of [move] rugby style to the right, and so I gave a little head fake and went right inside." But a crucial penalty – a holding call on an Ohio State punt – neutralized the Lions' edge, allowing the Buckeyes to keep possession and setting up the only offensive touchdown of the first half, a 1-yard plunge by Hyde with 34 seconds left. And things only went downhill from O c T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 2 2 there. Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier returned a McGloin intercep- tion for a 17-yard touchdown to open the second half. Then came Miller's remarkable stutter-stepping touch- down for a 21-10 lead, and the soph- omore quarterback ended an 85-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run a few minutes later. The Lions scored twice in the fourth quarter, but by then it was too late. Said Belton, "We just played a better team this week." Next up, Purdue. The first leg of a two-game road trip that will also take it to Nebraska, Penn State's visit to West Lafayette doesn't seem quite as imposing as it did in the preseason when the Boilermakers were being touted as a dark-horse contender for the Leaders Division title. A week after their demoralizing over- time loss to Ohio State, the Boiler- makers were pounded by Minnesota, 44-28, to remain winless in confer- ence play. An inspiring show of re- silience it was not. Now, however, it's Penn State's turn to show some resilience. Said O'Brien, "We're going to go and watch the tape and figure out what [Ohio State] did and what we didn't do and what we can do to help our players play better in the next game." B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M

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