Ohio State Recap: Same Song and Dance

Saquon Barkley had more rushing yards than Ohio State’s Ezekiel Elliot (194 to 153). Christian Hackenberg had more passing yards than Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett combined (120 to 114), given those numbers you would assume Penn State kept it close with the Buckeyes. Hell, you might think they even won, but you’d be wrong. Penn State lost 38-10. While watching the game I scratched and shook my head because I couldn’t believe what was happening. Penn State had 12 third-downs and converted one of them. Many times it was 3^rd and 2, 3^rd and 3, 3^rd and 5, but yet they just couldn’t get the ball over the yellow line on my TV screen. It’s not that we lost because let’s be honest, no one expected us too, it’s that the play calling throughout the game never changed.

When your running back had the career night that Barkley did having and your quarterback only has 12 pass attempts, 2 of them being more than 10 yards, questions will be asked. Now I’m not a head coach but I’ve watched a lot of football and know enough to know that when you’re running game is going well, really well, you can usually open up the passing game. You don’t have to throw a Hail Mary every time, but maybe a play action here and there. 

I said that Penn State couldn’t commit penalties, and they did. Saquon Barkley had a touchdown called back because of a holding, six points off the board. Tight end Mike Gesicki dropped a pass on the sidelines with no one within ten yards of him. Would it have led to a score? Who knows but it would have kept the drive going. It’s the little things that can add up to a big win or a big loss.

Penn State’s defense did give up a lot of yards, 429 of them, but they gave their offense some chances early in the game. The second half was about Ohio State wearing down the unit, which they did with a mix of J.T. Barrett, Braxton Miller, and Ezekiel Elliot. While you could guess which play was coming next, they couldn’t be stopped. Carl Nassib did add to his sack total, now bringing it to 11.5, it didn’t mean much in a 38-10 loss.

One of the differences in the game was Ohio State’s punter Cameron Johnston who continuously would pin Penn State inside their on red zone and the Nittany Lions couldn’t escape. It was a theme all night that would give whoever was taking snaps for Ohio State a short field to work with making for easy touchdowns.

I’m not one that is going to snap and say we should fire James Franklin and his whole staff, we have to be more patient than that, but on the other hand I’ve seen this type of stagnant offense before leading to our defense having to do more than they’re asked. We all know that Christian Hackenberg isn’t the right quarterback for Franklin’s system but when you have a talent like Hack, someone that is looked at as a potential number one draft pick, you need to use him as such.

The lone bright spot from Saturday night is that we saw just how great Saquon Barkley is and great he is going to be. He’s the future of Penn State football and while I’m sure the coaching staff knows they can’t burn him out this early in his career they can’t lock him up either. If he can show that he’s capable of carrying the ball 20 to 25 times a game, let him run free.

Penn State opens as an 8.5-point favorite against Maryland next Saturday. I can only hope that this team plays angry and we see an Illinois-like beat down that we saw in 2005 after an unfortunate loss to Michigan.

Stay optimistic guys.