COLUMBUS, Ohio — Penn State fans are seeing red after the Nittany Lions lost 20-12 to the Buckeyes in The Horseshoe. Again. This century, Penn State is a woeful 5-18 against its next-door neighbors, and just 1-11 since PSU beat OSU in 2011 in the Battle of Interim Head Coaches — Tom Bradley vs. Luke Fickell.
Of course, it is almost never easy for the Buckeyes. And it was not this time around, either.
I was reminded of that on Saturday when I rushed to the water cooler in the press box at the end of the third quarter, with Ohio State ahead, 13-6. I almost literally bumped into Gene Smith, the venerable and uber-valuable athletic director of Ohio State who is soon retiring.
Smith was dashing out of a Ohio State suite and making a beeline to the men’s room.
I heard him mumble, to no one in particular, as I was the only person within 10 feet of him, “Whew, they’re making it hard on us.”
More about that, and the Nittany Lions’ hurting themselves on offense, in this week’s All-22. Despite the loss, the final item is pretty tasty. Just sayin’.
1. Quarterback Drew Allar, now 6-1 as a starter and yet to throw an interception, was emotional when he talked with the media after the game. He said he “sucked,” then was asked why he said that. “Because I did.” Brave, honest kid who didn’t do so great quarterbacking on Saturday.
2. Allar’s passing lines vs. the Buckeyes:
First 57:19 — 10 of 30 for 118 yards, 4 sacks
Last 2:41 — 8 of 12 for 73 yards, one TD pass (to Kaden Saunders, who is from Columbus), 0 sacks
3. Allar is 19 years and 7 months old. He came out to meet the press. His offensive coordinator, Mike Yurcich, who will turn 48 in two weeks and who gets paid about $1.8 million a year (he had a three-year, $5.1 million deal at Texas, his last stop), and called a pretty crappy game no matter how you look at it, did not.
3a. Franklin makes $8.5 million a year, speaking of dollars and sense. After 10 years, that money has to include beating Ohio State more than once a decade. Allar, even though he is represented for NIL deals by the massive firm CAA — the same agency that represents Franklin, BTW — can’t be making more than a quarter mil.
4. I would think many Penn State fans would say that his head coach’s overall performance against Ohio State — including this past Saturday’s — kinda met Allar’s sucking standard as well. Here is Franklin’s record vs. Ohio State since taking over the head coaching job in 2014:
Overall vs. Ohio State — 1-9
Since 2017 vs. Ohio State — 0-7
Overall vs. Ohio State and Michigan — 4-15
Overall vs. Ohio State and Michigan since 2020 — 1-6
5. And, since a few you asked me about this, here is Franklin’s record at Penn State in big games (Penn State was No. 7 and Ohio State was No. 3 on Saturday):
vs. Top 25 opponents — 13-24 overall, 13-18 since 2016, 4-9 since 2020, 2-15 in true road games
vs. Top 10 opponents — 3-16 (wins: Ohio State, 2016; Wisconsin, 2016; Utah, 2023)
vs. Top 10 opponents as a Top 10 team — 2-7 (wins: Wisconsin, 2016; Utah, 2023)
vs. Top 5 opponents — 1-11 (win: that 24-21 upset of No. 2 Ohio State in 2016)
6. Franklin hinted at his post-game press conference — twice — that he was not really happy with Yurcich’s play-calling. He didn’t quite throw his OC from Ohio under the bus, but he did make a note of where it was parked:
7. Franklin: ”All year long, we have called the game and managed the game to put (Drew) in the best situation for him to be successful…and we weren’t able to do that today — for a number of reasons. We’ll look at it. We’ll see the run-pass percentage, especially when you take the two-minute situation at the end of the game out of it and see what the numbers look like and what the efficiency was.”
8. Rich Scarcella, the heady veteran Penn State beat reporter who can be found @NittanyRich, already broke down the run/pass numbers for Penn State’s 68 offensive plays on Saturday:
18 runs
50 pass plays — 42 pass attempts, 4 sacks, 3 scrambles and an aborted double pass.
That’s 73.5% pass plays. In the first six games of 2023,Penn State’s offense had 463 plays — about 77 per game. Of those, 42% were passes (195) and 268 were runs (58%).
On that final drive, Penn State — and Allar — threw 12 consecutive times….13, if you count WR KeAndre Lambert-Smith’s failed two-point conversion pass.
9. Franklin, again: “When you look at today and the combination of the lack of success on third down and lack of explosive plays, we have to look at that hard. I think there are some things we can do in terms of how we’re calling the plays. And I think there’s some things from a fundamental standpoint, there’s no doubt about it. But Drew needs some guys to make some plays on a more consistent basis, there’s no doubt about it.”
10. Last week Franklin reiterated that Penn State counts explosive plays as any runs of 12 or more yards and pass receptions that are 15 yards or more. Here is Saturday’s explosive play breakdown:
Two of Penn State’s explosive plays came in that final drive and only three of Ohio State’s eight explosive plays were made by WR Marvin Harrison Jr. Ohio State QB Kyle McCord hit four different receivers for big plays, even though his usual No. 2 target and potential NFL first rounder, Emeka Egbuka, did not play:
PENN STATE (6)
Run (2) — Nick Singleton (20), Singleton (16)
Pass (4) — Theo Jonson (34), Dante Cephas (19), Saunders (17), Lambert-Smith (15)
OHIO STATE (8)
Run (1) — Miyan Williams (12)
Pass (7) — Harrison (35), Cade Stover (30), Stover (29), Harrison (28), DeaMonte Trayanum (19), Harrison (16), Carnell Tate (15)
11. And about those third (and fourth) downs. Read ’em and weep.
PENN STATE — 3rd down: 1-16; 4th down: 1-3; overall: 2-19 (10.5%)
OHIO STATE — 3rd down: 6-16; 4th down: 0-1; overall: 6-27 (35%)
11a. In the core of the third quarter and most of the fourth, Penn State ran off 21 plays for 20 yards.
12. Singleton has to be getting frustrated. Penn State can no longer run the ball. Again. Against the Buckeyes, he gained 44 yards on his first four carries — runs of 20, 16, 6 and 2 yards— in the first quarter. Then he had only five carries the rest of the way and finished with 48 yards rushing on nine attempts, and was was targeted just once as a receiver, a short flare that he dropped.
12a. Singleton ran for 1,061 yards last season as a freshman and was national Gatorade Player of the Year as a high school senior. He’s yet to have a 100-yard game in 2023; his stats for the first seven games of each of the past two years:
2022 — 82 carries, 561 yards, 6.8-yard ave., 7 TDs
2023 — 98 carries, 410 yards, 4.2-yard ave., 6 TDs
12b. The same comparison for RB Kaytron Allen, who ran nine times for 26 yards vs. Ohio State:
2022 — 78 carries, 396 yards, 5.1-yard ave., 4 TDs
2023 — 87 carries, 401 yards, 4.6-yard ave., 3 TDs
13. Several of Penn State’s streaks ended in Columbus:
• 11 consecutive wins, fourth-longest in the FBS (Penn State’s last loss was to Ohio State in 2022)
• 11 straight wins by 14 or more points
• 13 consecutive games scoring 30 or more points
• 38 consecutive quarters scoring points
• 11 straight games with at least three sacks (McCord was sacked two times)
14. A few streaks continued:
• Allar has not thrown an interception in his Penn State career (283 passes).
• Ohio State coach Ryan Day, 35-2 in the Big Ten, has not lost to a conference team other than Michigan.
15. The series with Ohio State continues as well, even though the Big Ten expands to 18 teams, including USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon. The Nittany Lions will be back in The Horseshoe in two years, before rolling off for a short stint:
2024 — Ohio State, Beaver Stadium
2025 — Ohio State, The Horseshoe
2026-27 — do not meet
2028 — Ohio State, Beaver Stadium
16. Like Allar, tight end and co-captain Theo Johnson was in tears after the game. He had a mature answer when asked about what is next for him and teammates, now 6-1: “You have to be open and listen and not close yourself off to the mistakes you made.”
17. Johnson has a bright NFL career ahead of him. For the NFL, it was one-stop shopping at Ohio Stadium on Saturday: With tons of pro prospects on the rosters of Penn State and Ohio State, the press box seating chart listed 30 NFL scouts from 20 teams at the game, with representatives from the 49ers, Bears, Bengals, Bills (3), Broncos, Bucs, Chargers, Chiefs, Colts, Commanders (2), Dolphins, Falcons, Giants, Jets, Lions (2), Panthers (2), Patriots (3), Raiders (2), Titans (3), Vikings.
18. This number (obviously) goes to Harrison, the star Ohio State wide receiver. ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg adroitly summed up Harrison’s day this way:
“Harrison on Saturday delivered his best and most significant performance of the season for a short-handed Buckeyes offense that needed its best to be at his best. The junior wide receiver recorded a career-high 11 receptions for 162 yards and a touchdown to lift No. 3 Ohio State to a 20-12 win over No. 7 Penn State at Ohio Stadium. He accounted for 56.6% of Ohio State’s receiving yards, half of the team’s receptions, 16 of the 36 targets, 89 of the team’s 135 yards after catch and nine of Ohio State’s 22 first downs.”
19. Penn State is 14-25 all-time vs. Ohio State, but the series wasn’t always so lopsided. Before Penn State joined the Big Ten Conference in 1993, it was 6-2 vs. the Buckeyes. In Big Ten games, Penn State is 8-23 vs. Ohio State. Here’s a breakdown by Penn State head coaches:
Bill Hollenback — 1-0
Rip Engle — 3-0
Joe Paterno, pre-Big Ten — 2-2
Joe Paterno, Big Ten — 6-12
Tom Bradley — 1-0
Bill O’Brien — 0-2
James Franklin — 1-9
20. Urban Meyer, who was 6-1 vs. Penn State and 7-0 vs. Michigan as Ohio State’s head coach from 2012-18, was a very visible presence at The Horseshoe. He’s featured on FOX’s pre-game show, which set up shop in a corner of the stadium turf (ESPN’s GameDay was in the opposite corner) and he stoically watched Penn State warm up. At one point, Meyer took several steps to reach out and shake Chop Robinson’s hand.
21. Speaking of Urban, we had lunch Friday afternoon at his restaurant, Urban’s Pint House, in Dublin, Ohio, a Columbus suburb. Good food, great screens, decent beer. Marvin Harrison Jr. — who else? — was on the master screen during our visit. Harrison was a guest on Pat McAfee’s show, which was being broadcast live across the street from The Horseshoe.
22. Buckeye Donuts. A big treat on any (every!) trip to Columbus is a stop at Buckeye Donuts at 1998 High Street, across the street from the Ohio State campus. Their signature donut, a yummy blend of chocolate and peanut butter, is practically unrivaled.
