STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes (5-0, 2-0) won a dramatic come-from-behind battle 27-26 over No. 9 Penn State (4-1, 1-1), giving the Nittany Lions their first loss of the season. After the game, Urban Meyer and several Buckeyes spoke with the media to give their thoughts on the game, the team, and just the evening as a whole.
Urban Meyer
+ Binjimen Victor started the comeback for the Buckeyes with a play of the year. He’s been “outrageous” in practice the last three weeks.
+ The first half was awful offensively. Give credit to Penn State for that.
+ On Dwayne Haskins: “When he’s upright, he’s been good.”
+ Penn State blitzed 70-80% of the time.
+ “Hats off to the defense because they kept us in this game.”
+ The penalties were awful.
+ Dre’Mont Jones rolled an ankle.
+ “Ben Victor changed the whole deal.”
+ Greg Schiano called the final timeout when Penn State had the fourth down and said they’d run the zone read and they called a play to handle it. It worked.
Dwayne Haskins
+ Penn State wasn’t allowing downfield throws, so the offense had to stay patient and stay short.
+ It’s a credit to how great this offense is that they never gave up and found ways to move the ball at the end.
+ Haskins was only thinking about what he could do to help win the game, he wasn’t thinking about the crowd or anything like that.
Jonathon Cooper
+ They didn’t hear anything about how this game was supposed to be a shootout. They all knew their roles and they took pride in standing up to a very tough Penn State offense.
Ryan Day
+ Penn State was pressuring and blitzing a lot, so the screens were a good call to take advantage of that aggression.
+ Binjimen Victor’s play is what they have seen in practice and it’s great to see. It didn’t just start tonight. “I think it’s a defining moment” for Victor.
+ The kids hung in there and “winning on the road is hard.”
+ You have to believe that the game is never out of reach, and this team responded with exactly that mindset. They showed poise.
+ They knew in the second half that they had to get the tempo going, and they were able to do that with the screens. They told the receivers at the half that they needed to be ready to block out wide.
Davon Hamilton
+ All he was thinking about on the fourth down was that the defense had to make a play. He wasn’t thinking about past games against Penn State, only that this game was about to be decided and a play had to be made.
+ The defense isn’t close to its full capacity yet and the big plays need to be controlled.
Dre’Mont Jones
+ The defensive line was cautious not to jump offsides on the final fourth down play.
+ The defense rose to the occasion when they had to have a stop, but they have to figure out the big plays.
+ “We’ve got to put some work in. It’s still early in the season. Got a lot of time. We need to find a way to be stout in all aspects.”
Isaiah Prince
+ The adjustments in the second half were the difference. They couldn’t move the ball in the first half, then fixed that at halftime.
+ “This was a great team we played against. They’ve been great all year. We just came prepared to be in a dog fight.”
+ Regarding being backed up on the 4-yard line late in the fourth quarter: “There isn’t a reason to be nervous. No reason to flinch. Stick together as brothers, play for each other, and just continue to play hard. We’ve been in situations like this before so it’s nothing new to us.”
Penn State linebacker Koa Farmer
+ On the second half: “They just had great play calling, to be honest. I wasn’t expecting the to do what they were doing and that’s why we failed.”
Penn State cornerback Amani Oruwariye
+ “Guys are down because we put so much work in for this game and every game. It’s tough because we work so hard and to fall short by one point the past two years sucks.”
Penn State head coach James Franklin
+ “This one hurts, obviously. We didn’t finish the game when we should’ve finished the game. There is no doubt about it, we played a great first half and we weren’t able to finish late in the game.”
+ “I’m pretty upset right now because I a hurting for those guys right in that locker room. I know how hard they’ve worked.”
Linebacker play has been substandard since Fickell left, despite decent recruiting. Wondering if we will soon miss Kerry Coombs as well.
I’m a firm believer that stats DON’T mean everything, BUT, they do mean something. Defensively for the Buckeyes, tackling has been atrocious. We can reminisce about the good old days when Luke Fickell was guiding the defense and the linebackers specifically for fond memories. Heck, we can go back to even the John Cooper days (and before) and find statistically, the Buckeye linebackers and safeties littering the top 200 spots Nationally in tackling. In many of those years the Buckeye linebackers fell easily in the top 100 spots. Yep, Linebackers and safeties always trend to dominate tackle categories and the Buckeyes over the past 20 years have dumped a ton of players among the best in the Nation. TFL and sack leaders are mostly defensive line oriented and typically dominated by them, with LB’s sprinkled in. Not a surprise that the Buckeyes are among the Nations best in those stat categories.
What’s depressing to learn is that this year, Jordan Fuller (who missed a full game) being the top Buckeye tackler……..in at 498th Nationally (slightly above middle of the pack among all defenders). Malik Harrison is the only LB in at 628th Nationally, which is middle of the pack level among the 130 teams of the FBS.
For years, even on this site all we heard were screams to FIRE FICKELL, yet his linebackers and coordinating duties produced MANY All Americans, many major award winners, and kept the Buckeye defenses among the Nations elite tackling factories and producers Nationally.
All we hear now from a lot of people are excuses for why the Buckeye linebackers have literally fallen off the statistical and LITERAL map. People give me shit here for harping on it, yet, many of those same people were proudly carrying their FIRE FICKELL protest signs, for consistently producing outstanding results. But why do I harp on it? Because the staff says they are doing a good job, and anyone with an IQ above 1 knows that’s a flat out LIE. Deceptive would be knowing that there’s a problem, hiding it from the public and actually fixing the issues behind the scenes. When nothing in a train wreck is being mitigated and remains a road block, saying it IS being cleaned up when the visible results prove otherwise, deception is a lie. Squeaky wheels should get the grease. The grease is on the shelf, yet the Buckeye defense with 2 clerks (Greg Schiano and Davis) can’t read the damned label.
This is the first I time I can ever remember of an The Ohio State football team using screens in their repertoire! They will get better with each game just like the first National Championship game!
Even a blind squirrel gets a nut once in awhile. Borland is still hobbled and slow. It was so evident on a play in the first half when he was the spy on Mc Sorely. he got sucked going the wrong direct as usual then when he did read the play too late, Trace ran by him like he was standing still… I completely agree with James Mills……..Harrison, Hilliard and Booker are our best players at LB. Don’t understand why they aren’t playing (Booker and Hilliard). If we want to improve that group without the help of development, and coaching, then for Gods sake just put in the best athletes……That being said, awful proud of the way the kids fought when their backs against the wall. HUGE WIN
Yes, Borland made a great play to force a fumble, but I do not think he is 100% physically. If the Buckeyes are going to have a defender “spy” a mobile quarterback, that should be Malik Harrison. The dropped passes and penalties are mental errors. Hopefully, those situations improve by next Saturday. This was a great learning experience for Haskins. I think he may have been a little rattled for awhile, but he came back strong in the fourth quarter. Also, credit the coaches for some excellent play calling in the second half.
Who did you think was more disappointed James Franklin or Chris Flowler and espn OMG had to turn down the volume doing the game
Schadenfreude. I certainly revel in their misery!
When Luke Farrell had that face mask penalty and forced our kicker to re kick the field goal 15 yds further and he missed, I said that may come back to haunt us. I turned off the tv when psu went up 26- 14. I went upstairs to get ready for bed and decided to turn on the tv and saw that we scored a td. I watched the rest of the game and I’m glad that we were able to pull out the win.
I’m glad McSorely won’t be back next year. I can’t believe he ran for 175 yds and threw for almost 300 yds.
Eliminate the big plays? It sucks because it was so obvious and evident tonight. Tuf Borland is nowhere near 100%, and Pete Werner is nowhere near being ready to be a starting linebacker.
Keep Malik Harrison on the field
Justin Hilliard the MIKE
Dante’ Booker to start opposite of Malik Hooker.
When Tuf is actually close to healthy then find situations to rotate him in for Justin.
Dust hands and call it a day.
On offense? To the wideouts. STOP pressing because it’s showing up with dropped passes.
The left side of the offensive line is limiting the offense against any team with a pulse.
A win is a win, except when it’s not. The Buckeyes ESCAPED Sappy Valley.
Who was it who forced the fumble that got the Buckeyes on the board and kept it close enough for the comeback? Some stiff named Borland?
Yes I know that he did. He also made one other good play, but the middle of the defense was exposed over and over and over and over BECAUSE Tuf cannot move his feet. He might have the desire, and even know what and where he needs to be, but, he doesn’t have the wheels to get there. He still has a noticeable limp. Just like it never a very good idea to play an injured quarterback, it’s never a a smart idea to play an injured defensive quarterback.