Ohio State Buckeyes: 5 things to know about Penn State game, series

Here are five things to know about the Penn State matchup and series:

1. The Nittany Lions are 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten.

Penn State opened the season by rallying to win 35-31 at Purdue. They looked mortal that night but were impressive in the coming weeks when they blew out Ohio, Auburn and Central Michigan.

After an uninspiring 17-7 win over Northwestern, the Nittany Lions failed their first big test at Michigan, where they were stomped 41-17.

Coach James Franklin’s team bounced back with 45-17 win at home over Minnesota last weekend.

2. This won’t be a “White Out” game.

That was last week, and Franklin praised the fans — decked out in white throughout the stadium for the 14th time — for living up to their reputation as a disruptive force against the Golden Gophers.

“They had five false start penalties, which I’m going to give credit to our fans for that,” Franklin said. “We’re going to need that again next Saturday. So don’t allow anybody to get our tickets. Let’s dominate that stadium next week again with our fans, make it a real challenging environment.”

Ohio State and Penn State last kicked off before 5:30 p.m. in Happy Valley in 2009, a 24-7 Ohio State victory that began at 3:30. The 2007 and ‘05 games were also night games so the last time Ohio State played at Penn State in early afternoon was 2001.

In Jim Tressel’s first season as coach of the Buckeyes, Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions rallied from an 18-point deficit to win 29-27 and move Paterno past Bear Bryant to No. 1 in all-time major college coaching victories with 324.

Credit: Carolyn Kaster

Credit: Carolyn Kaster

3. The Nittany Lions are a little bit of a mystery.

In the preseason, computers liked the Nittany Lions better than voters. They were ranked 13th in the advanced metric SP+ preseason projections but only 29th by Associated Press pollsters.

The latter looked smarter Oct. 15 when Penn State went to Michigan and was completely outclassed, giving up over 400 yards rushing and totaling only 268 yards themselves.

Penn State stands in the middle of the road in most traditional statistics, including 63rd in total offense and 69th in total defense, though their 19.2 points per game allowed ranks 23rd while the offense is 55th with 31.5 points per game.

The Nittany Lions are sixth nationally in opposing passer efficiency but 84th in yards allowed through the air and 55th in rushing defense.

They are 13th in the AP poll this week and 14th in SP+, including having the No. 39 offense and ninth-ranked defense in the latter.

4. Senior quarterback Sean Clifford is one of six Ohio natives on the PSU roster.

The sixth-year collegian from Cincinnati St. Xavier is coming off one of his best games. He completed 23 of 31 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns while passing Trace McScorley for most completions in PSU history with 722.

“I’m proud of Sean,” Franklin said. “He’s a battler. He’s resilient, and he’s tough. He played well. If you look around the country, there are a lot of programs that would be super excited and happy about Sean Clifford being the quarterback and what he was able to do tonight against one of the better defenses in the country.”

On the season, he is completing 59 percent of his passes (10th in the Big Ten and 90th nationally) and his passer efficiency rating is 137.4 (ninth, 65th).

Other Ohioans suiting up for the Blue and White are Kaden Saunders (Westerville South), Drew Allar (Medina), Juice Scruggs (Ashtabula, Ohio/Cathedral Prep, Penn.), Liam Clifford (Cincinnati St. Xavier) and Christ Stoll (Columbus DeSales).

5. Ohio State leads the series 23-14.

The Buckeyes have won five in a row in a series that has been contested annually since the Nitany Lions joined the Big Ten in 1993.

Ohio State is 8-4 at Beaver Stadium, and the last three games played there in front of fans have been about as tight as possible.

The Buckeyes pulled out a double-overtime 31-24 win in 2014, lost 24-21 on a late blocked field goal return for a touchdown in 2016 and erased a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter to come out on top 27-26 in 2018.

In 2020, the Buckeyes beat the Nittany Lions 38-25 in a mostly empty stadium in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SATURDAY’S GAME

Ohio State at Penn State, Noon, Fox, 1410