What looked to be a beautiful day of college football in Happy Valley and after a raucous start to the game turned into a familiar result seen far more often than not. Penn State came up short against Ohio State, 20-13, to take its first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium. Penn State’s offense was held without a touchdown and managed just two field goal drives in the game in yet another reminder of the biggest differences between Penn State and Ohio State. Simply put, Ohio State has players on offense to rely on catching the football in big spots.
Penn State got off to a great start in the first quarter with a field goal on the game’s opening possession on offense and then a defensive touchdown to go up 10-0. [autotag]Zion Tracey[/autotag] read a third-down pass from Ohio State quarterback Will Howard perfectly and ran 31 yards uncontested for a touchdown as Beaver Stadium erupted.
Ohio State responded on the ensuing possession with a 74-yard touchdown drive capped by a 25-yard touchdown pass from Howard to Emeka Egbuka. Ohio State took a 14-10 lead early in the second quarter on a 21-yard pass from Howard to Brandon Innis moments after a costly unsportsmanlike penalty was called on sophomore cornerback [autotag]Elliot Washington II[/autotag] for taunting after a third-down stop. An offside call on Abdul Carter earlier in the drive gave Ohio State a free first down as well, on a 3rd and 2 situation at the start of the second quarter.
It looked for a moment as if Ohio State was about to go up 21-10 in the second quarter when Howard took off running to the left side for an apparent touchdown, but an instant replay showed Howard fumbled the football before crossing the goal line and the ball went out of bounds in the end zone to result in a touchback and possession in Penn State’s favor.
Penn State had a chance to go up just before halftime but a pass into the endzone from Allar could not be hauled in by [autotag]Harrison Wallace III[/autotag], and Ohio State’s Davison Igbinosun came up with an incredible interception before falling out of bounds in the end zone.
The teams traded field goals in the third quarter and Ohio State carried a 20-13 lead in the fourth quarter. With a chance to tie the game up, Penn State was stuffed on three straight plays from the Ohio State three-yard line, and a fourth-down pass was incomplete, giving Ohio State possession and a chance to run out the majority of what was left of the game clock. And that is exactly what it did.
The result was Penn State’s first loss of the season, although the severity of this loss pales in comparison to the weight of past losses to the Buckeyes. Penn State is still firmly in position for a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff with or without a shot at the Big Ten championship. But the margin for error just got thinner for the remainder of the schedule.
Penn State will be home again next week for a Big Ten contest against new conference member Washington. An official start time for next week’s game has not yet been announced.
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