10/25/2021 football Edit

It's Penn State-Ohio State week: Spread, TV info, storylines, more

Greg Pickel • Happy Valley Insider

Staff

Penn State is looking to end a two-game losing streak this Saturday at Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions will have to be at their very best to beat the Buckeyes in Columbus, as head coach Ryan Day's team is rolling after some general struggles and a loss to Oregon earlier this year.

It's time to preview the week ahead as the Nittany Lions prepare to hit the road.

Penn State coach James Franklin's team is looking for answers after two consecutive losses. AP photo

Time, TV, and radio info

The game will air on ABC, and the network's lead team of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Holly Rowe are expected to have the call. On the radio side of things, Steve Jones, Jack Ham, and Brian Tripp will have the call on the Penn State Sports Network.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

What's the spread?

Ohio State is a 17.5-point favorite.

Game week schedule

It's a normal media schedule for Franklin this week.

Tuesday will feature player interviews and a lengthy news conference with Franklin. On Wednesday, there will be more player calls in addition to a chance to watch practice plus another opportunity to interview Franklin and a player.

Thursday brings the Penn State Coaches Show, which Franklin typically appears on for the last half hour, and that will be it for the week until Saturday after the game.

What's up with Ohio State?

The Buckeyes are coming off an utter demolishing of Indiana, as Day's team rolled up an almost effortless 54-7 win in Bloomington to improve to 6-1 on the season.

Quarterback CJ Stroud directs the nation's No. 1 ranked offense. He's thrown for 1,965 yards while completing 67.6 percent of his passes and sporting a 22-to-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. OSU protects him well, as it has only surrendered nine sacks on the season, and it has no problem run blocking, as the Buckeyes have run for over 1,000 yards already with TreVeyon Henderson leading the way with 693 yards and 11 touchdowns while also holding an 8.8 yards per carry average. Finally, Garrett Wilson, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, and Chris Olave are the three receivers who keep things moving, and tight end Jeremy Ruckert is a playmaker, too.

Defensively, safety Ronnie Hickman has a team-high 52 tackles while defensive tackle Haskell Garrett already put 4.6 sacks on his season-long ledger. Hickman and corner Ryan Watts share the interception lead with two apiece.

Notes

---Ohio State leads the all-time series between the two schools, 21-14, and is on a four-game winning streak.

--James Franklin has never won in Columbus, and the Nittany Lions have not been victorious there since 2011.

--Sean Clifford will likely pass Matt McGloin for the fourth-most passing yards in program history mark against the Buckeyes.

--Since losing to Oregon 35-28 on Sept. 11, Ohio State has scored at least 40 points in all five games that followed and scored 50-plus in four of them and top 60 against Maryland. The Buckeyes have not surrendered more than two touchdowns in a game since then, either, after replacing Kerry Coombs with Matt Barnes as the defensive playcaller.