It was supposed to be a Heisman showcase, a chance for one of the greatest college football players in the nation to prove his bonafides against top-caliber competition. That is, indeed, what happened Saturday night in Ohio Stadium. Just not for the player most people expected.
While Buckeye QB J.T. Barrett exploded for a school-record 423 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, Penn State RB Saquon Barkley had a much quieter day.
After returning the opening kickoff for a 97-yard touchdown, Barkley added a 36-yard touchdown early in the second quarter that extended Penn State’s lead to 21-3. Outside of that 30 total seconds of excitement, one of the country’s most exciting players was nearly invisible.
He rushed a total of 21 times for 44 yards, meaning Barkley had just 8 yards on his other 20 rushes. And a week after creating a nightmarish matchup for Michigan’s defense in the passing game, he managed only 23 yards on four catches.
After the game, Urban Meyer was so shocked by the stat sheet that asked OSU sports information director Jerry Emig to confirm that the numbers were really correct.
“He had 21 carries for 44 yards, if I’m reading that right. Is that right?” Meyer asked. “One was a 36-yard carry. Our defense was all over him.”
But to Meyer, shutting down Barkley through the air might have been even more impressive.
“One of the biggest things that makes him such a great player is the ability to catch the ball. And I was as worried about that, because we’re a man coverage team, all of a sudden you get stuck with a linebacker playing man-to-man, like you saw against our rivals. That’s a credit. We had the bye week to prepare for them, too. But we still have incredible respect for him as a player,” Meyer said.
OSU DE Sam Hubbard said that the key to success was that the Buckeyes weren’t trying to do too much, and just plugged the holes they were supposed to.
“Gaps, being gap sound,” Hubbard said. “(Barkley) likes to jump things out. You saw him jumping around, spinning around a lot just because he had nowhere to go with the ball. There were no seams. We were fundamentally sound and that’s really the key. He finds the holes where defensive linemen who are looking to make a big play get out of the gaps. We didn’t do that.”
LB Chris Worley agreed, “This is not the first time we’ve played against him, so we know what kind of back he is. We knew if we took care of what we needed to take care of, we would be in good shape as a defense. For the most part, we did.”
LB Jerome Baker was tasked with tracking Barkley for much of the day. He said he and the Penn State star had a running, but respectful dialogue on the field.
“He was like ‘are you looking for me every play?’ And I was like ‘yeah, I definitely am,'” said Baker. “He’s a great player, though. It was definitely fun playing against him. That’s just a credit to our defense that we are a great defense and we do our job.”
Baker said that hearing about Barkley’s impressive stats and status as a Heisman frontrunner all week helped drive him.
“Definitely. I’m a competitor. I love to compete, I love to play the best guys,” he said.
One of the most memorable defensive plays of the afternoon was also one of the biggest moments of the game. With the Buckeyes down 38-33 and desperately needing to get the ball back, Penn State opened their drive with 4:14 left on the clock, 1st-and-10 at their own 15.
Hubbard beat a pulling guard and came in clean of the edge. He drilled Barkley six yards in the backfield just as PSU QB Trace McSorley was handing the ball to him. Hubbard managed to wrap his arms around both Nittany Lions and hung on and waited for backup. It helped ensure PSU would go 3-and-out, and set up the winning Buckeye touchdown.
“That was one of the best moments of my career,” said Hubbard. “I’m happy that Jalyn (Holmes) was there to help me clean it up because those are two dynamic players and the fact that I held onto them both was…”
Hubbard’s voice trailed off, he shook his head and smiled. It was a common reaction from the Buckeyes and their fans in the moments after the game. There was no way to describe it.