Penn State's explosive offense bottled up in 28-17 loss at Ohio State
COLUMBUS, Ohio - James Franklin knew the arithmetic Penn State would need to get a win at Ohio Stadium.
Facing the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes, in their building, with a berth in the Big Ten championship game and a fast track to the College Football Playoff all on the line, the Nittany Lions would need to be at their best in all three phases of the game.
Only one facet delivered on that aspiration.
Forced to rely upon a defensive effort that surrendered plenty of yards and big plays to the Buckeyes, the Nittany Lion offense was unable to find or maintain any momentum. Without it, or the explosive-play identity that has helped shape the program’s success to this point in the season, Penn State found itself on the losing side of a 28-17 decision Saturday afternoon.
“You look at them statistically, they were one or two or three in the country in almost every offensive and defensive category. You got to give them credit. They've done a really good job. They're well-coached, they're talented,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said. “But we got a pretty good team as well. We just didn't play well enough today to win. We just did not have enough explosive plays. Did not have enough explosive plays.”
The reasons were multiple.
Led by starter Sean Clifford until a third-quarter leg injury forced him out, the Nittany Lions completed just 10 of 17 passes for 71 yards and were plagued by missed opportunities in the passing game. They also found themselves in a 21-0 hole, one that might have been larger were it not for the defense’s timely playmaking, upon Clifford’s injury exit.
Be it dropped passes, missed targets, sacks taken deep in the Nittany Lions’ territory, or stalled drives on the two possessions that moved into the Buckeyes’ side of the field in the first half, Penn State was able to produce just one explosive play in the span. Completing an 18-yarder from Clifford to Justin Shorter to finish the first quarter, the possession stalled three plays later and ended with a Blake Gillikin punt.
Heading into the locker room at the half, the Nittany Lions produced just four first downs, 11 yards on 10 carries, and only 53 yards passing on 8-of-15 passing.
“For us, obviously early on we couldn't get things going offensively especially with the running game which made us a little one-dimensional,” Franklin said. “Sean has not been healthy, really the last couple weeks, and it takes an aspect out of our offense. And then we were able to get Will involved, obviously, it opened up another aspect of our offense and we were able to battle back there.”
With redshirt freshman quarterback Will Levis closing the game out, the Nittany Lions managed to push back on that narrative, albeit briefly.
Sparked by a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in which Levis took over from the Buckeye 43-yard line, the Nittany Lions quickly found themselves back in the game. Three times on the possession, Penn State produced explosive plays with carries of 13, 10, and 18 yards to eventually get into the end zone.
That turnaround was also spurred on by an Ohio State fumble from J.K. Dobbins on the Buckeyes’ first play on the ensuing possession from Penn State’s score, returning the ball to the Nittany Lions at the 12. Just two plays later, Penn State was back in the end zone, turning a 21-0 deficit into a 21-14 ballgame in a matter of half a minute.
“I think we just settled into the offense a little bit more. A little bit more consistent. It's hard to say, but throughout the O-line, I felt like the consistency was probably a little bit better throughout those periods of time in the game when we were able to run the ball,” guard Mike Miranda said. “That's probably why when we can play consistent, play together and we execute, we know our offense can compete with anyone in the country. But there were just way too many errors and we didn't execute like we should.”
Given yet another opportunity to make a splash, Penn State’s newfound offensive mojo would dissipate as quickly as it’d arrived. Taking the ball back on a second Ohio State fumble on its side of the field, Penn State quickly moved itself to the 11 for a first down and a chance to even the game. An incomplete second-down slant to Journey Brown showed it wasn’t meant to be, though, the redshirt sophomore running back unable to handle Levis’ on-target pass with a clear path to the end zone. Instead, taking a false start, then a sack, the Nittany Lions were forced to take a 42-yard field goal.
They wouldn’t find themselves as close to the end zone the rest of the way.
“Of course, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times,” said Brown, owning his drop in postgame interviews. “Of course, Ohio State is a great defense, great team, and they gave us some challenges. Their athletes, they're on scholarship too and they're trying to win the game as well. But it's 50-50 on both ways. We didn't make plays and they made plays. That's just how it happened.”
With the Buckeyes posting 15 explosive plays, defined as a run of 10-or-more yards or a pass play of 15-or-more yards, the hosts owned a clear advantage in a category that Penn State has overwhelmingly found itself on the better side. And in a game where K.J. Hamler's status was in question in the lead-in, Penn State's most consistently explosive receiving target was mitigated throughout, limited to just three receptions for 45 yards with a long of 22 yards.
Giving Ohio State credit for the effort, a “heavyweight fight” Franklin predicted leading into the game, the head coach boiled down the loss to his team’s inability to make plays offensively or on special teams with the same frequency of the Buckeyes.
“From a field position standpoint, we did a pretty good job a couple of times offensively. We were able to pin them deep inside their own 10-yard line and we let them go on a 90-yard drive,” he said. “And then when we needed to swing field position a few times, we didn't do that. We lost the field position battle. We won the turnover battle, which was obviously significant, it allowed us to get back in the game. We really had won the penalty battle until late in the game.
“We played disciplined football, but we weren't able to be explosive enough. They had explosive plays and we did not. So that's really the gist of it.”
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