FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT PENN STATE, OHIO STATE'S 11TH OPPONENT OF THE 2019 SEASON
In its final home game of the season at Ohio Stadium on Saturday, Ohio State will host a top-10-ranked team with just one loss this year and a chance to prevent the Buckeyes from winning the Big Ten East title.
Penn State will bring a 9-1 record to Columbus this weekend, and with it perhaps the best chance of any team yet of playing spoiler to Ohio State’s currently undefeated season. The Nittany Lions were ranked ninth in last week’s College Football Playoff rankings, and if they can pull off a road upset over the Buckeyes on Saturday at noon, they would only need to finish their regular season with a win over Rutgers – who has lost every Big Ten game it’s played this season, including a 56-21 loss to Ohio State this past weekend – to win the division and clinch a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game.
This week’s game was expected to be a high-stakes game all along, and that’s nothing new. Penn State won the Big Ten East title after a surprising 24-21 win over Ohio State in 2016. Ohio State won the division in 2017 and 2018, but not before the Buckeyes put together fourth-quarter comebacks to defeat Penn State by just one point in each of those seasons.
Ohio State is favored by three scores to win this year’s game, but the recent history between the two teams and the postseason possibilities that will be on the line once again should be enough to ensure that the Nittany Lions aren’t an opponent the Buckeyes will take lightly.
We take a look at what could make Penn State the toughest test of the season to date for the 10-0 Buckeyes, where the Nittany Lions could be vulnerable and more you should know about James Franklin’s squad.
DOMINANT RUN DEFENSE, SUSPECT PASS DEFENSE
Penn State’s rushing defense has allowed just 2.19 yards per carry this season, less than any other team in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Nittany Lions have held all 10 of their opponents to less than 3.5 yards per carry, and have only allowed more than 100 rushing yards in games where their opponents have run the ball more than 40 times.
The Nittany Lions’ passing defense, however, has been shaky – especially in their past two games. After holding each of their first eight opponents to 21 points or less, the Nittany Lions gave up their 31 points in their loss to Minnesota and 27 points on Saturday against Indiana, and the success they allowed their opponents to have through the air was the biggest reason why.
Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan completed 18 of 20 passing attempts for 339 yards and three touchdowns against the Nittany Lions, while Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey completed 31 of 41 passing attempts for 371 yards and a touchdown this past weekend in Happy Valley.
While Penn State ranks first nationally in yards allowed per carry and fourth in rushing yards allowed per game (75.9), the Nittany Lions rank 37th in yards allowed per pass attempt (6.9) and 84th in passing yards allowed per game (240.3). They’ve allowed 33 passing plays of 20 yards or more this season, compared to just five such plays on the ground.
That means Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, fresh off the first 300-yard passing game of his career, could be in line for another big day through the air on Saturday – and if the Nittany Lions are able to bottle up J.K. Dobbins the way they have most running backs this season, the Buckeyes might need to rely on Fields’ ability to make plays with his arm.
HOME-RUN HITTERS ON OFFENSE
Penn State’s offense has shown no shortage of big-play ability this season with 17 plays of 40-plus yards, second-most among Big Ten offenses and ranked among the top 20 nationally. With a strong-armed quarterback in Sean Clifford, a speedy slot receiver in K.J. Hamler, one of the nation’s best tight ends in Pat Freiermuth and a talented stable of running backs led by Journey Brown and Noah Cain, the Nittany Lions have perhaps the most explosive stable of offensive weapons that Ohio State has faced all year.
The Nittany Lions can be described as home-run hitters rather than consistent contact hitters on offense, though, because even with the big plays they’ve been able to produce, Penn State’s overall offensive numbers haven’t been spectacular.
Penn State ranks 15th nationally with 36.8 points per game, more than any team Ohio State has played this season, but the Nittany Lions rank just 41st in yards per play (6.21) and 50th in yards per game (426.6). They’ve only topped 400 yards of offense in one of their last five games.
The Nittany Lions have had solid offensive balance this year, passing and rushing for at least 100 yards each in every game but one, but they haven’t stood out as regularly excellent in either phase.
Clifford will be arguably the best quarterback Ohio State has faced this year, and Hamler is one of the most dangerous wide receivers in the entire country, as Ohio State fans will remember from his big game against the Buckeyes last year, which included a 93-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
Hamler left Saturday’s game against Indiana with an undisclosed injury, however, leaving his status in question for this week’s game, though Franklin said Saturday that the Nittany Lions are “pretty hopeful” Hamler will be able to play against the Buckeyes. Cain, the Nittany Lions’ No. 2 running back, has not played in either of their last two games due to injury, though he posted in an Instagram story on Sunday night that he is “locked in and ready” to play this week.
If those players are healthy, Penn State could be the best offense that Ohio State faces all regular season, but the Nittany Lions will need to be on top of their game against a Buckeye defense that still has not allowed any opponent to gain 300 yards this season.
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