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Penn State Recap

1. With the 44-31 win yesterday, Ohio State improved its record against Penn State to 24-14 overall, and 22-8 in Big Ten play. Penn State: Still not elite ... still not our rival.

2. A 13-point margin of victory over the #13 team in the country looks pretty impressive, and the win would've looked even more impressive if the Buckeye defense hadn't surrendered a garbage time touchdown. In reality, however, Ohio State played about fifteen minutes of winning football yesterday, but those winning minutes produced 38 of the Buckeyes' 44 points (86.4%); 270 of their 452 total yards (59.7%); and all four forced turnovers. Ohio State continues to be a quick-strike team on both offense and defense, a team that has difficulty grinding out long drives on offense or preventing big plays on defense (see below).

3. For 3+ quarters, CJ Stroud played a fairly ordinary game. Then with Ohio State trailing 21-16 with 9:26 left in the fourth quarter, Stroud went on a Heisman-worthy tear. Over the next 4:06, Stroud completed 6 of 8 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown, while the Buckeyes forged a 37-24 lead (soon to be 44-24 courtesy of a pick six) and it was game over. For the contest, Stroud completed 26/33 (.788) for 354 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions.

4. With Miyan Williams sidelined much of the game and the Penn State defense relying on a variety of blitzes, the Ohio State running attack never really got into gear. TreVeyon Henderson had 16 carries for 78 yards (4.9 average) and 2 TDs, one of which came from 41 yards out. Remove that long burst, and Henderson had just 37 yards on 15 carries for a paltry 2.5 average.

5. Henderson's 41-yard touchdown run was his sixth touchdown of 40+ yards for his Buckeye career, which ties him for 12th-place in Ohio State history; Ted Ginn Jr. leads all Buckeyes with 17 touchdowns of 40+ yards, while Devin Smith is in second place with 15 such scores. Henderson has racked up his six touchdowns of 40+ yards in just 20 games; from 1963 to 1968, a span of 55 games, Ohio State as a team had just seven touchdowns of 40+ yards. It is definitely a different game today.

6. Marvin Harrison Jr had another excellent game, with 10 receptions for 185 yards (but no TDs, a rare occurrence). If the voters are paying even the slightest bit of attention, then Harrison should be the clear frontrunner for this year's Biletnikoff Award, as he already has 48 receptions for 783 yards (16.3 average) and 10 touchdowns. The only reason he might get slighted is that his teammate, Emeka Egbuka, has posted nearly identical numbers (47 receptions, 788 yards, 16.8 average, 7 touchdowns). Egbuka had a relatively quiet game yesterday (6 receptions, 53 yards), but his 42-yard reception in the fourth quarter set up Ohio State's final offensive touchdown. Cade Stover had 6 receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown, while Mitch Rossi had a reception for 16 yards and a run for 8 yards (both resulting in first downs).

7. I generally don't like to complain about play calling for two reasons: (a) each play call is tactical decision, and rarely does one tactical decision decide the outcome of a game (or even a drive), and (b) I don't possess all the information available to the play caller, so I don't know why he made a certain tactical decision at a certain time of the game. With that being said, a play caller's tactics should match his strategy. Ohio State still generally runs some sort of spread offense, where the strategy is to remove defenders from the box in order to open up the middle of the field. So, if your strategy is to spread a team horizontally to attack it vertically, then why would you throw wide receiver screens which are designed to outflank a defense that is loading up the box? And if you insist on throwing wide receiver screens, then why tip off the defense by spreading out your 250-pound tight end who is supposed to (but often does not) provide the block that is the key to the play working. For what it's worth, Ohio State's five wide receiver screens yesterday netted a grand total of 2 yards.

8. And while we're talking about play calls, it was absolutely coaching malpractice for Ryan Day to have tried for a touchdown at the end of the first half. The Buckeyes were trailing 14-13 and had the ball at the Penn State 8-yard line with just six seconds left on the clock. In that situation, take the sure three points and take the lead into the locker room. But Day got greedy, rolled the dice, and came up snake eyes (Stroud got sacked to end the half).

9. The defense played an erratic game to say the least, surrendering 31 points and 482 yards to an offense that hasn't exactly been explosive this season. The nemesis of the Buckeye defense was wide receiver Parker Washington, who caught 11 passes for 179 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown courtesy of some very poor tackling (note that Washington entered the game averaging 4 receptions for 55 yards, and had just one touchdown). The defense gave up seven plays of greater than 20 yards (23, 26, 27, 27, 35. 42, 58) and allowed Penn State to convert 9/20 (45.0%) on 3rd and 4th down. On the other side of the equation, the defense forced four turnovers that led to 21 points.

10. The main reason that the defense didn't completely collapse was the historic performance from defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau, who had six tackles, two sacks, another TFL, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, two interceptions (one of which was a pick six), and a deflected pass that led to a third interception (by fellow defensive lineman Zach Harrison, who also played a very fine game). Some observers have stated that JT's performance might have been the best ever for an Ohio State defensive lineman, maybe the best ever for any defensive lineman for any team anywhere. While it's easy to spew hyperbole in this era of instant hot takes, I really can't argue against anybody's "best ever" analysis of JT's game.

11. JT's pick six was the first against Penn State since the 2012 season. From 2001 to 2012, Ohio State had 9 pick sixes against Penn State, which had some of believing that PSU stood for Pick Six University. Here's a list of Buckeye pick sixes against Penn State this century:

2001: Derek Ross, 45 yards
2002: Chris Gamble, 40 yards
2004: Tyler Everett, 24 yards
2006: Malcolm Jenkins, 61 yards
2006: Antonio Smith, 55 yards
2007: Malcolm Jenkins, 24 yards
2010: Travis Howard, 30 yards
2010: Devon Torrence, 34 yards
2012: Ryan Shazier, 17 yards
2022: J.T. Tuimoloau, 14 yards​
 
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I loathed the insistence on running those WR screens. I dislike that play in general, but it was maddening seeing it rum over and over with abysmal results.

JT's performance is hands down the greatest individual defensive performance I've ever seen at any level of football. It was a privilege watching it
JT's performance was already stupidly good, then he capped it off with a pick six. I was actually laughing at that point. It kind of reminded me of Forest Whitaker in Fast Times at Ridgemont High....

 
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From a pure play calling perspective, I didn't have any problem taking one more shot at the endzone. The issue was the execution. That's gotta be a one read or through it into the stands quick. That's not what I saw. I think, however, given the way that game was going, you're correct that taking the 3 points was the better decision in that spot.
And the other problem was the clock management leading up to that.

I understand Day letting the clock run down to 21 before calling the timeout prior to the 4th down play, in case they were stopped it made it tough for Penn State to score.

But I thought they should have spiked the ball after getting the first down with 17 seconds, it would have saved 2 seconds and losing a down wasn’t an issue at that point. Then they would have about 15 seconds on the 29-yard line. They then could have done it again after getting inside the 10, and had at least 8 seconds, certainly enough time to run a play.

And I wouldn’t criticize Day and Stroud for clock management after the fact just cause they didn’t score. I was yelling ‘spike it’ as Harrison was being tackled. There is the factor, however, that Day thought that Penn State would be less ready defensively if they hurried up instead of spiked the ball.

The real problem was Stroud not throwing it right away on the play with 6 seconds, that should be automatic in that situation. I’m assuming the process will be reviewed and they’ll be smoother next time.
 
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And the other problem was the clock management leading up to that.

I understand Day letting the clock run down to 21 before calling the timeout prior to the 4th down play, in case they were stopped it made it tough for Penn State to score.

But I thought they should have spiked the ball after getting the first down with 17 seconds, it would have saved 2 seconds and losing a down wasn’t an issue at that point. Then they would have about 15 seconds on the 29-yard line. They then could have done it again after getting inside the 10, and had at least 8 seconds, certainly enough time to run a play.

And I wouldn’t criticize Day and Stroud for clock management after the fact just cause they didn’t score. I was yelling ‘spike it’ as Harrison was being tackled. There is the factor, however, that Day thought that Penn State would be less ready defensively if they hurried up instead of spiked the ball.

The real problem was Stroud not throwing it right away on the play with 6 seconds, that should be automatic in that situation. I’m assuming the process will be reviewed and they’ll be smoother next time.


THIS
 
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From a pure play calling perspective, I didn't have any problem taking one more shot at the endzone. The issue was the execution. That's gotta be a one read or through it into the stands quick. That's not what I saw. I think, however, given the way that game was going, you're correct that taking the 3 points was the better decision in that spot.
Completely agree. I like taking a shot there, but it has to be one read and if it's not immediately there you throw it through the endzone.
 
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