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Ohio State withstands Penn State comeback, wins in 2OT
A game that had all the makings of a blowout turned into one of the more exciting finishes of Week 9.
After No. 13 Ohio State jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead on the road at Beaver Stadium, a gritty Penn State team fought all the way back to force overtime. In the end, the Buckeyes held on 31-24 in double overtime via two J.T. Barrett touchdown runs and a huge sack by Joey Bosa that sealed the victory.
Barrett (74 passing yards, 75 rushing yards, three total TDs) shook off two interceptions and gutted out a win after playing much of the game with a banged up left knee. Penn State largely kept him in check, but the redshirt freshman did his best Braxton Miller impression in overtime and utilized a tricky fake on the read option, enabling him to find the end zone twice for the Buckeyes in overtime.
Overtime was the furthest thing from the minds of the faithful in Beaver Stadium after the Buckeyes dominated the first half. Ohio State scored its first touchdown of the game on an Ezekiel Elliott 10-yard score. Elliott’s touchdown followed an OSU interception that looked like it should have been ruled an incomplete pass. On top of that, Ohio State’s next drive ended in a 49-yard Sean Nuernberger field goal, but that attempt should have been whistled dead due to a delay of game. The refs missed it, and Ohio State took a 10-0 lead.
While the Penn State offense sputtered, no controversies surrounded the Buckeyes’ next score – a Barrett 1-yard pass to tight end Jeff Heuerman with 2:20 left in the half.
The Buckeyes looked to pile on in half two, but Barrett was intercepted by defensive tackle Anthony Zettel. The 6-foot-4, 274-pound Zettel dropped into coverage on a zone blitz and stepped in front of a crossing route and took it 40 yards for a score.
All of a sudden, a lifeless Beaver Stadium was rocking again with the Lions down just 17-7. The rest of the third quarter, however, was a defensive struggle. Penn State forced two punts and a missed field goal, while Ohio State forced a punt and intercepted Christian Hackenberg (31-of-49, 224 yards) to end a promising PSU drive.
Once the fourth quarter rolled around, Penn State’s defense made another big play. Senior linebacker Mike Hull, who racked up 18 tackles for the game, intercepted Barrett to give the Lions great field position. Eight plays later, Hackenberg found true freshman wideout Saeed Blacknall in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown to cut OSU’s lead to 17-14.
Penn State’s offense eventually regained possession at its own 9-yard line with 2:58 to go. It wasn’t pretty, but Hackenberg engineered a methodical 19-play, 77-yard drive that allowed senior kicker Sam Ficken to tie the game with a 31-yard field goal, forcing overtime.
The teams traded touchdown runs in the first overtime and Barrett scored again quickly to take a 31-24 lead in the second overtime.
When it was Penn State’s turn, the Nittany Lions took a shot toward DaeSean Hamilton (14 catches, 126 yards) in the end zone on third down, but the pass fell incomplete. With the game on the line, Bosa, the Buckeyes’ standout defensive end, burst through the line and overwhelmed PSU running back Akeel Lynch. Bosa blew through Lynch, who fell back into the leg of Hackenberg, who crumbled for a sack, ending the game.
The win kept Ohio State unbeaten in Big Ten play and improved the Buckeyes to 6-1 overall. Along with 7-1 Michigan State (4-0 in conference), the Buckeyes still are the class of the Big Ten’s east division. If the Buckeyes can take care of business at home next weekend against Illinois, it’ll set up a much-anticipated rematch of last year’s Big Ten title game on Nov. 8 at Spartan Stadium.
The loss dropped was the third straight for Penn State, who dropped to 4-3 (1-3 Big Ten). The team did show improvement compared to losses to Northwestern and Michigan. The Nittany Lions will have a chance to get back into the win column next Saturday at home vs. Maryland.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
