COLUMBUS, Ohio – After big defeats like Penn State’s 63-14 loss to Ohio State here Saturday night, coaches often will not show the game film to their players.
We’ll give you that same courtesy.
You have my permission to close out of this story. Now. And forget this ever happened.
But not if you’re Bill Belton. Then, Bill, congrats on a nice game against Ohio State and its seventh-best defense against the rush. Your 98 yards on 22 carries were a season-high against the Buckeyes and way more than the 32 Penn State had against OSU in 2012.
Or if you’re Allen Robinson, who covered about 165% of the field to turn a quick dump from Tyler Ferguson into a never-ever-say-die 65-yard touchdown catch-and-run. That made a dozen catches for 173 yards — your fifth game with 125 yards or more. Wow.
Or if you’re Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien: “We have great kids in that locker room. They’ll learn from it. They’ll put it behind them and we’ll remember some things … and we’ll get ready to play Illinois.” We know who … er, what things … you mean.
Everybody else?
Go ahead, stop reading. But only after you note the irony of the final score. On Oct. 29, 1994, No. 1 ranked Penn State defeated Ohio No. 21 Ohio State in Beaver Stadium on Homecoming Day, also by the score of 63-14. The circumstances between then and now couldn’t be more different.
Now, take this story, print it out and then burn it.
You won’t have to read about how the 63 points Ohio State scored are the most Penn State has surrendered since a 64-5 loss to the Duquesne Athletic Club in 1899. Or that Penn State allowed 40-plus points in three straight games for the first time since ’99 – 1899. (A streak that included Penn State’s worst loss ever, a 106-0 thrashing engineered by Lehigh on Nov. 11, 1889. (That Lehigh squad, BTW, ran the Flying Wedge.)
Or that OSU’s 686 yards of total offense – 408 rushing, 278 passing — were the most against the Nittany Lions. Ever. (Boston College and Doug Flutie had 656 yards in a 52-17 PSU win at BC.)
Or that Penn State’s leader on offense, freshman quarterback Christian Hackenberg, left the game in the second with an injured right shoulder. Or that Penn State’s leader on defense, senior linebacker Glenn Carson, left the game in the second half with an injured left arm.
So yeah, right, Penn State got pounded right and left.
And, to show you how Ohio State coach Urban Meyer added insult to injury, the Buckeyes scored with three seconds to go in the second half to take a 42-7 halftime lead before a crowd of 105,889, fourth-largest in Horseshoe history.
“When you’re down 42-7, that’s not a great feeling,” O’Brien said. “But my point is that no one on this team quit.”
They could have. Before Ohio State’s band even sunk Michigan’s ship in its halftime show, Penn State’s ship had long since sailed. As it was, Ohio State had already assured itself an 8-0 record (4-0 in the Big Ten) and a 20-game winning streak, and Penn State relegated to 4-3 and 1-2 records. After 30 minutes, Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller already had 204 yards and two TDs passing and 68 yards and two TDs running. Meanwhile, Hackenberg had nine completions, 95 yards, two interceptions, three sacks and a TD pass.
It was, essentially, the first true road test for Hackenberg. The opener against Syracuse in MetLife was a 50/50 crowd and Indiana was played against a defense barely ranked in the Top 100 before a mid-raining day crowd of 42,000. Saturday night, playing hurt after the first quarter, he completed 12 of 23 passes for 112 yards, with the two picks and a 12-yard TD pass to Brandon Felder. Ferguson was 7 of 11 for 125 yards, and running back Zach Zwinak ran 11 times for 35 yards, with a fumble – his seventh lost fumble in the past 11 games.
For Ohio State, Miller was 18 of 24 for 252 yards, with three touchdown passes, and he ran for the 68 yards on 11 carries. Carlos Hyde has 16 carries for 147 yards, and TD runs of 2 and 39 yards. Backup Kenny Guiton QB had two touchdown runs (on three carries).
