Football

Ten Things We Learned From Ohio State’s 39-38 Win Over Penn State

by Tony Gerdeman

Ohio State hosted Penn State this past Saturday and the two teams held a rousing game of pigskin.

It was really quite the spectacle. People came from all around to witness the contest.

The Buckeyes came away with the 39-38 win over the No. 2 Nittany Lions, and while the victory was plenty, Ohio State also came away with control of their Big Ten Championship fate.

Onlookers also came away with a few things, mainly answers to a whole bunch of questions we have been waiting to be addressed.

We were waiting for this game to figure out what kind of team this actually was, and now it would appear that we know.

That wasn’t all that we learned this weekend, however.

1. Ryan Day was a good hire.

Last week I wrote about one of the things that Ryan Day has brought to Ohio State, which he calls “one inching the defender.” Basically, what Day is asking his quarterbacks to do is skim the ball over the linebacker to the receiver behind that level of the defense. He doesn’t want a lot of loft on the ball, which is why he has his quarterbacks shoot for just an inch or so out of the defense’s reach. It has been an effective tool this season, and when the game was on the line Barrett one inched the linebacker, finding tight end Marcus Baugh in the end zone for the game winner.

2. Jordan Fuller is possibly an elite tackler.

There have been several tackles by Jordan Fuller this season that I didn’t expect him to make, and yet he has made almost all of them. I only say “almost” because I don’t remember them all, but I assume he’s missed some that he was supposed to. Against Penn State, Fuller was everywhere. He led the team with nine tackles, but his biggest tackle was also his most difficult. On third-and-2 late in the fourth quarter, Saquon Barkley took a hand-off and before he could head upfield, Fuller was already on him. Fuller came on a run blitz and he had Barkley dead ahead, but that’s not always good news for a defender. This is usually when Barkley becomes superhuman and makes the defender miss. Fuller wasn’t having it, however, and brought Barkley down all by himself for a 4-yard loss. Then again, who knows, maybe Barkley was superhuman on that play, and Fuller was just better.

3. The offensive line dominated.

The damnedest shame from this game is that if J.T. Barrett sells the quilt that he made while standing around in the pocket all Saturday night long, the NCAA will rule him ineligible. We often think of offensive lines dominating because of the rushing yards they create, and while the Buckeyes did rush for over 200 yards against a defense, the real domination here was in pass blocking. Barrett was able to go through his progressions throughout the game, but especially when the game was on the line. The offensive line was never better than when they absolutely had to be. They had an opportunity to make some kind of amends for what happened at Penn State last year, and they reached down for every last ounce of necessity and left the Nittany Lions waiting outside in the cold.

4. Zone 6 is legit.

Urban Meyer has said all season long that the culture of this group of receivers was as good or better than any he’s ever had. So many times his praise for the receivers has been met with eye rolls. After Saturday night, however, the only response should be nodding heads. Of J.T. Barrett’s 33 completions, 25 of them went to the receivers. Six different wide receivers caught passes, and Binjimen Victor wasn’t even one of them. He did draw a significant pass interference penalty, however. Austin Mack caught everything thrown his way — literally. Barrett threw six passes to him, and he caught all six of them. And they weren’t always easy catches. Parris Campbell left the game, but he says he’s okay. Terry McLaurin is producing down the field. K.J. Hill is the kind of security blanket that a quarterback needs when it’s cold and dark like it was Saturday night. And their blocking is even more impressive. Check out Austin Mack sometime.

5. The leaders responded.

Watching the game, the Buckeyes never really felt out of the game…until maybe J.T. Barrett’s fumble. At that point, doubt began to seep in for most, but not for Ohio State. Even after hanging his head following his fumble, Barrett gathered himself and rallied the troops. The troops, as it turned out, are always rallied and none of this was too much to bear. Middle linebacker Chris Worley was back flying around. Jerome Baker was looking like the Jerome Baker we expected from day one. J.T. Barrett did his thing. Sam Hubbard tackled an entire backfield. Jalyn Holmes took flight for a sack. The Ohio State coaches could not have asked anything more from their leaders and the culture that they have cultivated. The win was great for them, but the affirmation of the culture should never be overlooked.

6. J.T. Barrett is everything Urban Meyer has always said he was.

J.T. Barrett is the best quarterback in Ohio State school history. And that was before Saturday night’s performance against Penn State. Barrett completed 33-of-39 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for 95 yards on 17 carries. The 423 yards of total offense was a school record, but it will be his fourth quarter of 13-of-13 passing for three touchdowns to bring the Buckeyes back that will live forever. Record books change with the seasons. History, however, remains. This was a historically great performance by a historically-criticized quarterback. Penn State does not have a great defense, but this was a very big game played with tons of pressure. Urban Meyer has tried to tell us all about J.T. Barrett. We didn’t always listen. We should now.

7. Kevin Wilson is an elite anticipator now.

Early in the season when the offense wasn’t what it is now, Kevin Wilson said he wasn’t doing a very good job of anticipating what a defense is going to do. Since then, however, he is doing so well anticipating a defense I almost think he’s calling plays for both the opposing defense and the Buckeye offense. Like playing himself in Euchre. And now that he’s living in Ohio again, it makes sense that he would be getting better at Euchre. Since the Oklahoma loss, Ohio State is averaging 604 yards of total offense per game.

8. The defensive line lived up to its billing.

I said it everywhere I’ve been over the last two weeks, the Ohio State defensive line was dying for this game. They couldn’t wait. Mostly, they couldn’t wait because it was a big game and they were going to get to play more snaps than they have in over a month. Tyquan Lewis and Nick Bosa kept Trace McSorley on edge, and Sam Hubbard and Jalyn Holmes put him on his back. What they did to the Penn State offensive line and Saquon Barkley, however, was as impressive as anything we’ve seen from Ohio State this season. The Buckeyes had the advantage up front, but an advantage doesn’t always apply to Barkley. It did in this one, however. Penn State had a 5-point lead and the ball with 4:14 to play in the game. They didn’t have to give the ball back if they could get a first down or two. Two snaps later and the Nittany Lions were faced with a third-and-19 thanks to two tackles of Barkley in the backfield. The entire Ohio State team was feeding off of each other. The defensive line picked up where the offense left off in what was almost a perfect fourth quarter.

9. Special teams should be banned.

Obviously, special teams are too complicated to continue incorporating it into the game of football. Or maybe it’s just too complicated for Ohio State. Urban Meyer’s decision to kick to Saquon Barkley was a show of confidence in his kicker and coverage units, but it was also a display of arrogance that his players and plan were better than Barkley. Especially when you consider the struggles they have had in this very area this season. After the game, Meyer said he didn’t want to talk about the kickoff coverage, but acknowledged some personnel changes are going to be made. Allowing a kickoff return for a touchdown to Barkley isn’t unacceptable, but kicking to him might be. And if your kick coverage unit is capable of giving up a 59-yard return to a linebacker, kicking to Saquon Barkley should never be a consideration.

10. With this defensive line and this passing game, anything is possible.

We all wanted to wait and see regarding the passing game. “Wait until Penn State,” we all said. Well, Penn State has come and gone and all we have to show for it is J.T. Barrett’s best game ever — and the best quarterbacking game in Ohio State football history. That’s not a bad game to have when everyone is waiting to see what you do with it. This game was a Rubik’s Cube and J.T. Barrett was Aaron Craft. Each Buckeye receiver provides something different and unique, and Kevin Wilson and Zach Smith are using them very well right now. The tight ends haven’t been bad either. We have already talked about the defensive line, but let’s mention the defensive tackles for a moment. Tracy Sprinkle and Dre’Mont Jones are incredibly quick and they get upfield so well. Robert Landers had two tackles for loss in key situations, showing that a fresh defensive line is going to have its way with a tired offensive line. Which means a fresh Ohio State defensive line is only going to be that much more dominating. And when Olympic Gold Medalist Kyle Snyder wants to shake your hand, you know you’ve done something right.

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20 Responses

  1. 11th Thing we learned…Sean Nuemberger was a stud! 38 and 36 yard fgs and 3/3 PATs. Without him, we had no chance. Special teams are not all bad!

    1. The general consensus on these pages is that the special teams problems are schematic rather than player specific (there are some mouth breathers who think otherwise, thankfully they have been tuned out).

  2. Tony your list is very accurate.

    Fuller is going to be a huge star this year and next two years and then wave goodbye to him.

    Austin Mack is a great blocker. He will drop some passes, but man he blocks very well. Hill really impressed me at WR this game and did you guys notice CJ Saunders even came into the game and caught a big pass for a first down. Not sure how many snaps he played, but I just have a feeling this guy will be a sneaky good possession receiver for us.

    Why has the RB McCall disappeared this year? Showed lots of promise last year.

    I know it is a road game, but I just think we will destroy Iowa, but then I will worry about us getting the big heads for MSU which always plays us tough.

    GO Bucks!

    1. They are leaning towards requesting a medical redshirt for McCall.

  3. 10 Things I learned;
    1. There was no quit in OSU down 35-20 and not converting a 2 and 2, and PSU recovering a fumble near midfield, OSU held, blocked a punt and put PSU on notice that the game wasn’t over.
    2. JTB proved himself, more importantly his 33/39 vindicated that the entire past years were a fluke and given decent O coaching; Wilson and others that he could pass well. If JTB isn’t in the Heisman conversation than there’s no need to have a Heisman.
    3. I had a feeling even with OSU down 21-3, that we could win, we were moving the ball, we basically spotted PSU 21 pts. with special teams gaffs, a fumble, a terrible officiating call and great PSU red zone play.
    4. OSU’s lines basically dominated the game and our depth and talent showed itself in the 4th.
    5. Yes, our special teams need some major work, but great way to rebound with a blocked punt.
    6. Since OK, our LB and DB play has greatly improved; It was very good pass coverage when PSU lead 14-0 with a perfect pass and it was our DB that knocked the ball back into the PSU’s receivers hands to score their final TD. Fuller’s tackle of SB in the backfield was huge. PSU basically had 3 scoring drives worth any significance….just about the same as last year.
    7. OSU had SB to -3 yards in the 2nd half. Besides a nifty 36 yard TD run, SB was held in check, silently, JK rushed for 88 yards and OSU racked up over 200 yards on the ground. Sorry PSU, elite teams can run the ball in the 2nd half, even with your all world RB SB, OSUs D spent the 4th quarter in your backfield.
    8. OSU gashed PSU by 530-280 yards, mistakes just didn’t almost cost OSU this game, but these stats confirmed that PSU team was over matched and gave them the false hope that they were better.
    9. TD’s and FGs as I alluded to last week this could be the key. Early in the game, PSU converted TD and OSU had to settle for FG’s. Late in the game, it was PSU that had to settle for a FG and OSU rattled off 3 straight TD’s.
    10. Great article and spot on. Should JTB keep up this type of precision passing, with our line play and talent, we could go deep.

  4. I am a Michigan fan and I feel sorry for JT Barrett. He was abused the last couple of years by poor play calling and poor coaching. He was not the same player after Tom Herman left and is only now back to being what he could have been. I appreciate that Coach Meyer gave Cardale Jones the chance to be the starter because I think he was just doing what he thought would be in Jones’ best interest from an NFL draft perspective. That being said, Barrett showed during his RS Freshman year he had great vision, the legs to hurt teams, and a more accurate arm than his predecessor. What he didn’t have after that year was a coaching staff that could (or would) mold him further to become what he had shown, and is now showing, he could be. He will leave OSU as one of the most prolific QBs in the school’s history and the history of the B1G. But he could have been even more!! That’s a shame…. Again, I’m no fan of OSU, but seeing talent like his lie dormant because his coaches aren’t helping him is frustrating. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for OSU fans.

    P.S. I always come to this page for the Michigan Monday articles because they are objectively written and offer some excellent insights.

  5. JT=GOAT

    Don’t we have a anyone that can kick the ball out of the endzone??? If not kick it out of bounds!

  6. Several things:
    1. JTB’s development was hurt horribly by the poor coaching he received over the prior two years. I believe this started with his losing the starting job to CJ, which never should have happened with this offensive scheme.
    2. The fourth quarter was nut-cutting time and the coaches were forced to throw the ball downfield. JTB looked like a completely different QB and that is not coincidence. The play-calling changed from too much horizontal to aggressively downfield and JTB really changed with it. Some of those throws had some real zip on them.
    3. The OL gave him all the time he needed. This has been one of the biggest deficiencies on this team the past two years. Saturday he had time to set up and step into throws. What a difference.

    I hope they remember this and really go aggressive for the rest of the year. This should be a real turning point for this team…IF Urby can get ST turned around. I still would like to know who calls those shots, but I have to think that he sets the philosophy.

  7. Austin Mack is and has been money if anyone has been paying attention. My beef with Barrett has really been a beef about the coaching and play calling, he has just taken the brunt of it for his endless running of the ball. Saturday night he did EVERYTHING right. What the hell, even the fumble. He judiciously ran the ball with great success, was never rattled and why am I wasting my breath(fingers), just peep the stats!!! I can be as pessimistic as they get but something about this game. I was telling anyone listening that I just had a feeling that the game was always far from over. Finally, on a different note, was anybody else very annoyed that Meyer chose to pass up a 42 yd fg that could have made it a one score game, instead TRYING to make a 4th and 8? I complained about that for a while but what the hell…….GREAT CALL!!!!!!!!

  8. Good job by the OL. They really came through at the end. Excellent job by JT. The defense came through also when they had to. We tried very hard to give psu the game but eventually we woke up. I don’t know if I could have taken another off season of psu hype.

  9. James Mills, I liked your comment, but I must say that the O Line has very much improved giving J T more time to hook up with his receivers. I believe we would have beaten Oklahoma had we played then last week or next week or even later on. They were a little to inexperienced at the beginning of the year and greatly improved thanks to the coaching staff along with the strength coach! Oklahoma is a very good team, but not quite as good as the Buckeyes are NOW! Even last year, the O L was not very good and J T had to run for his life far too often. I do agree that he is a little weak on the long bombs, but if not hurried he is very accurate. He’s also a really good runner for short yard gains with some longer ones on occasion. Now, the Buckeyes put this P S game behind themselves and get ready for a good Iowa team at their place! There can be no let down! Go Bucks!!

    1. I agree that the offensive line has played well this season. They have even played great since that debacle against OU when they played awful.I don’t agree on Oklahoma. They play is a cheese puff conference. OU has a good offense but,their defense is literal roadkill. I don’t even need to bother looking at the stats to know they’re one of the lousiest defensive football teams among the Power 5 conferences. The JT Barrett and offensive line that just beat up on Penn State would have shredded that garbage defense of OU just as easily as he did Nebraska or Maryland. No doubt in my mind.

      A tale of 2 defenses. Replace the junk level Buckeye defense that faced OU in week 2 with the one from this past Saturday? The Buckeyes win that game 50 or 60 to 14 or 17 points, and that’s WITH a KO return for a TD.

      Iowa is way too tough a program to take lightly. Coach Meyer will have his hands and eyes full watching for signs of complacency this week. If he can keep them dialed in the Buckeyes should win convincingly. If he allows the euphoria of beating PSU to linger beyond yesterday, Iowa has the program to derail the Buckeyes.

  10. This is the game I have been waiting to see from JT Barrett since 2014. I was hopeful against Clemson. Disappointed. I was super hopeful and even anticipating a great game against Oklahoma. Fizzled again. Everyone and their mother knew what was going to happen against the junk following the debacle against the Sooners. JT Barrett was going to light them up, and he did. But 2 weeks ago was impressive. Sure it was only against Nebraska, but more than the score is was the leadership and confident passing that made me sit up and say, WOW, that was impressive.

    I’ve always believed that he was the best quarterback to operate Coach Meyers offense, even without a good passing arm. His passing against Nebraska was eye opening. Now if that same quarterback would just show up against a good defense. PSU’s defense isn’t Alabama or Georgia, or Clemson, but, they are a good defense.

    That quarterback who shredded Nebraska showed up big time yesterday. Hell, he showed up and burned the joint down with passing we haven’t seen at Ohio State since……..ever.. ODD that the only gaff he had was in the one area nobody expected it to come from. A misread in the zone option game where he fumbled. Those mistakes are extraordinarily rare from him. It would have been brutal from his strongest trait cost him the biggest game rather than bad passing. He was having none of that. He came back on the field and literally executed the most brilliant passing attack I’ve ever witnessed from an Ohio State quarterback. It may have been even better than Young against USC and Watson against Alabama. Now? JT has to do it 5 more times to get to the place he returned for his 5th year senior season for. A shot to write his name not only in Ohio State history, but NCAA history.

  11. I owe Zone 6 a partial apology. They hadn’t gotten open against teams with a defensive backfield pulse and the drops were killing drives. I was cautiously optimistic though that there wasn’t 1 go-to receiver and a bunch of scrubs. They’re harder to defend when they get their act together as they clearly did yesterday.
    Fix those drops and this unit could be terrifying for any DC to face.

    1. LOL….I love ya Andrew…………You know me, I’m probably the furthest person in the world from a JT Barrett apologist. I had to go back and look at the stats. We all knew that JT would be successful against weak teams coming out of that OU game. True to form. The next 4 opponents saw JT complete 72 – 104. That’s 69%, even with the drops.

      The game before the bye and coming out of the bye. Probably our 2 toughest opponents to date since OU he was 60 – 72. That’s a BLISTERING 83% completion stat. Even more frightening for coming opponents is that he torched one of the highest rated defenses in the Country by completing “84.6%” of his passes……………..even with the drops.

      Overall since OU he’s torching opponents at 75% completion pace, even with the drops. Against Nebraska and PSU JT finally proved that he can stretch defenses vertically, efficiently. More than the drops it’s stretching defenses combined with opponents coordinators knowing the potent ground attack with the 3 headed beast of JT, JK and Mike that should be making DC’s sleep uneasy knowing the storm that’s headed their way.

      Can JT continue at that pace? Who knows! We do know that coming out of the Maryland game it’s like a switch was thrown. That quarterback who assaulted Nebraska looked NOTHING like the quarterback from the first 6 games. JT looked like a seasoned pro the way he chewed up the Nebraska secondary. His performance against the best opponent/secondary on the entire schedule is the stuff young kids dream about when they’re in Pop Warner, HS or the sandlots. Surgical? Nope. He was Attila the Hun for 3 quarters, and Attila the Hun at the height of his conquests in the 4th quarter. Opponents DC’s should be terrified already if JT keeps that same level of attacking and confidence.

      Even more than the drops, the coming Buckeye opponents had better hope that Coach Meyer CAN’T fix the KO special teams. If those get fixed, even Alabama had better sit up and start taking notes or they’ll eventually get mauled by the new JT Barrett quarterback for the National Title.

  12. Kickoffs that go out of bounds end up on the 35 yard line. Right now… I think I would be fine with that. Just kick the shit out of it, and if it doesn’t reach the end zone, it sure as hell better go into the corner and out of bounds.

    1. A couple comments:

      Point 6 (JT Barrett)- at the end of the paragraph you write that Urban Meyer has tried to tell people about JT, but that “we” didn’t always listen. Got a frog in your pocket, Tony? There actually are people who have believed in JT consistently, and I’m proud to be one of them. Don’t lump everyone into the same gaggle of wafflers, JT has been fantastic for the team and some folks have had his back the entire way.

      Point 9- Special teams should be banned- Wrong, not banned -just played and coached properly. At this point I’m not even interested in excellent special teams play, just the smallest competence would be good enough. Meyer’s comments about “personnel changes” sound like a dodge to me- unless he raids the rugby team for replacements. It is highly likely that this unit’s woes are due to a) scheme and b) coaching. Meyer needs to walk away and let the coaches coach, this smells like a micromanagement issue to me. The players aren’t going to change, so something else MUST. Plenty of teams with talent inferior to that of OSU, manage to handle special teams just fine. These problems WILL haunt OSU if not fixed- correctly this time, that is.

    2. Look, a team that reloads has to have some personnel deficiency somewhere. For us it’s on kick-off coverage. Meyer eluded to personnel changes on the coverage team. I think that means less third-tier players and more first and second tier players. That and a bit of focus in practice and we’ll be fine.

      With that in mind, I take it case by case. I don’t think we need to give every return man with every team the same respect.

      1. MrBuckeye- I think your comment is dangerously naïve. It is hard to imagine the special teams don’t “focus” during practice, given our head coach’s alleged emphasis on them every time he gets the chance to woof about it. The reality is that that special teams and bizarre offensive play selection (once again, JK Dobbins was tearing it up so they elected to ignore him in second quarter) kept us from actually leading at the half; in fact, it nearly killed us. These are coaching issues, not personnel issues. It would ne nice if the appropriate coaches could “fix themselves” rather than scapegoating players. They have the chance to do it; however, some pretty big egos would need to be checked at the door. We”ll see…

    3. The opposing team has an alternative to taking the ball at the 35: back you up 5 yards and make you re-kick.

      If it becomes obvious that you’re kicking OOB intentionally, that you’re afraid to kick in bounds, they’ll choose the penalty to force you to put the ball into play.

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