Penn State at Ohio State: What to know about Saturday’s top-five showdown

Where: Beaver Stadium, State College, Pa.

TV/Radio: Fox/1410

Series history: Ohio State leads 25-14 with seven consecutive wins. That includes a 23-8 mark for the Buckeyes since PSU joined the Big Ten in 1993 and a 9-6 record at Beaver Stadium.

Last meeting: Philadelphia native Marvin Harrison Jr. caught 11 passes for 162 yards and the game-winning touchdown as Ohio State prevailed 20-12 over Penn State last season at Ohio Stadium.

Coaches: Ohio State’s Ryan Day is 62-9 overall and 42-4 in the Big Ten in six seasons, all at Ohio State. James Franklin is 95-39 in 11 seasons at Penn State and 119-54 overall in 14 seasons as a head coach.

Ohio State notes: The Buckeyes have scored on all 27 of their red zone trips this season, including 25 touchdowns… Both teams are plus-two on the season in turnover margin… QB Will Howard is second in the nation in passing efficiency (183.9), third in completion percentage (74.0) and tied for 14th in TD passes (17)… Ohio State is ninth nationally in total offense (471.9 yards per game) and 11th scoring (40.3 points per game), and the Buckeyes rank second nationally in total defense (254.4 ypg.) and fourth in scoring defense (11.9 ppg.)… Ohio State is 28th nationally with 20 sacks and 25th with 53 tackles for loss… Emeka Egbuka has 167 career catches and needs two more to pass Middletown native Cris Carter for fourth place in Ohio State career list… TreVeyon Henderson has 3,194 rushing yards at Ohio State and will move into the top 10, passing Carlos Hyde, if he gains five more. He is six behind Dayton native Keith Byars… Howard (Downington) is one of two Pennsylvania natives on the Ohio State roster, joining safety Keenan Nelson Jr. (Philadelphia).

Penn State notes: Senior WR Julian Fleming is a Pennsylvania native who spent the previous four seasons at Ohio State… QB Drew Allar is one of four Nittany Lions from Ohio… Allar, whose status for the game is uncertain because of a knee injury, is Penn State’s current career leader in passing efficiency (146.2)… Penn State is 7-0 for the 20th time in program history and the third under Franklin (2017, 2019)… The Nittany Lions are 32nd in the nation in scoring offense (33.3 ppg.) and 13th in total yards (463.7 per game)… They are eighth in scoring defense (14.3 ppg.) and fourth in total yards (267.6) on defense… The Nittany Lions rank seventh in the nation in third down conversions at 50% and 26th in third down defense (32.6%).

Quoted: Franklin on his expectations for the home crowd: “Obviously we all know this is going to be a challenge. We’re going to need a tremendous environment in that stadium on Saturday. Home-field advantage is going to be something that is going to be very, very important for us. So we need this place rocking no matter what time the game is. We need a great environment. We need everybody in the stadium early. We need that place rocking. We need everybody standing and screaming on third down and critical downs and possessions. This is going to be an all-hands-on-deck game.”

Prediction: Ohio State 27, Penn State 21

Next week: Ohio State will return home to host Purdue next Saturday. Penn State will be home again against Washington.