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We were trying to think of ways to sum up this disaster, and then we stumbled upon this in the official recap at GoPSUSports:
"Senior punter Jeremy Boone had a career-high 10 punts for a 45.8 average."
If you are touting that stat in your post-game recap, you know things have gone horribly, horribly wrong. Onto the recap...
1st Quarter
Ohio State got the ball and promptly went three-and-out, with Pryor throwing two incompletions. Just like we drew it up. Unfortunately, Penn State did no better. Since the Lions were so futile on offense during the whole game, just to make this easier on both ourselves and you, we're just going to post this picture every time Penn State goes three-and-out:
And you can count that one for Penn State's first drive. Unfortunately the first of Boone's 10 punts on the afternoon was returned by Ray Small for 41 yards all the way down to the PSU 9. On second down, Navorro Bowman whiffed badly on Pryor, and he galloped into the end zone from seven yards out.
0-7
Ohio State got the ball back on their own 21, and, beginning a trend that would last all day, ran all over the PSU defense. They ran the ball six straight times to start the drive and picked up three first downs. The drive stalled at the Penn State 29 however, and rather than try a long field goal with a new kicker, Tressel was more than happy to play field position and he punted back.
Ohio State followed up with a three-and-out of their own.
2nd Quarter
It was obvious at this point that any talk of an open playbook for the PSU offense was moot. The Lions ran the ball three times for 11yards to start their next drive, giving them their first first down of the game, and it only took a quarter to do it.
As soon as we said that, of course, Clark hit Zug for a 31-yard completion. After three more runs, a pass interference call moved the ball to the Buckeyes' 2-yard line. The Lions put it in the end zone, but it took four plays and a questionable call to do so.
7-7
Ohio State answered back, going 61 yards on 10 plays (24 of those yards coming on a run from Pryor), capping the drive with a 37-yard field goal.
7-10
Penn State tried to counter, moving the ball well thanks to a couple grabs by Zug, but the drive stalled at the OSU 45. Ohio State went three-and-out on their next drive, and Penn State answered with this:
Pryor lobbed up some passes before the half, but it was nothing doing.
-Halftime-
3rd Quarter
The 3rd quarter opened up with the teams exchanging punts for field position. Fortunately, the PSU boys got the ball moving on their first drive, and avoided our obligatory picture of Jeremy Boone.
OSU didn't fair much better and was forced to punt after 6 plays. They once agained pinned PSU deep.
A run for no gain, a short pass and short run later, it was time for this:
The Buckeyes didn't do much better, but did enough to further their gains in the field position battle.
The eventual punt set PSU up inside their own 10. Again.
Three rushes later it was time to bring out #41.
On the very next play after the punt, Pryor sent one over the top.
62 yards later, Posey was celebrating in our house.
Frown.
7-17
On their next drive, PSU really needed to put together a response. Instead, they put this on the field:
4th Quarter
No battling for field position this time, as Ray Small returned the ball inside PSU territory. It only took Ohio State 10 plays to punch the ball in. Brandon Saine was on the receiving end of a pass from Pryor, his second TD pass of the day.
7-24
After the kickoff, PSU went less than three-and-out. Clark's pass would be intercepted on second down, and Ohio State was free to take the air out of the ball and run out the clock.
The teams would exchange a few more possessions, none of them really going anywhere for anyone. This is what happens when Jim Tressel gets his way, and he sure got his way on Saturday night.
Game.
7-24
3 Big Stat Lines:
- Cameron Heyward: 11 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks
- Ohio State Offense: 228 yards rushing
- Graham Zug: 7 rec, 96 yards
Our Quick Thoughts On The Game:
Penn State Player of the Game: Graham Zug
On a night where almost nothing went right for the offense, Zug was the silver lining. He made some nice catches, a couple for big chunks of yardage, and he basically set up the only touchdown of the night with a big play.
Ohio State Player of the Game: Cameron Heyward
Just when you thought the offensive line was improving, Heyward demonstrated otherwise. He was in the backfield all night, disrupting the offense and making big stops. He was a beast, as was the OSU D-line as a whole. Writing stuff like that makes us sick, but hey, give credit where credit is due.
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