Six Buckeyes featured on midseason All-American lists
October 20, 2016Indians remind us what a baseball town Cleveland can be: While We’re Waiting
October 21, 2016Last week the Wisconsin Badgers took the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0 B1G) to the limit in Camp Randall Stadium. The Bucks won a pulse pounding, sweaty palm inducing thriller in overtime to protect their perfect season. Their reward? Another night game in hostile Beaver Stadium against the Penn State Nittany Lions (4-2, 2-1). And before you ask, yes it’s their annual White Out game. No time for Urban Meyer’s club to rest as they prepare to enter the Lions’ den.
Ohio State leads the all-time series with Penn State 17-13 (15-7 since PSU joined the Big Ten), and currently sport a four game winning streak. The Bucks rolled the Nittanies 38-10 last year, but in 2014 it was a decidedly closer affair in the Keystone State. It took double overtime for OSU to finalize a 31-24 victory, punctuated by Joey Bosa steamrolling a blocker to plant Christian Hackenberg into the Pennsylvania soil. Penn State has not defeated Ohio State since a 20-14 conquest in 2011 which just so happened to be the author’s final home game as a student.
The stakes of this game are high in Happy Valley. While Ohio State and Michigan have been the talk of the Big Ten East, Penn State is desperate to join that conversation. PSU won two of their three non-conference games with wins over Kent State and Temple sandwiching a loss at Pittsburgh. Penn State opened the conference slate by getting thoroughly pantsed by Michigan 49-10 in the Big House. The Nittanies rebounded with wins over Minnesota, in overtime, and Maryland. They enjoyed a bye last week which means they have had plenty of time to gameplan for their Ohio neighbors. With a win, Penn State would still be in the race for the Big Ten East. Their loss to Michigan looms large, but their best path involves winning out and hoping this same Buckeye squad can better the Wolverines in November. A lot can happen over the course of a season, but Penn State is in a critical stretch of their schedule.
The Lions’ primary offensive weapon is Saquon Barkley. The sophomore tailback is a devastatingly efficient runner who leads the team with 742 all purpose yards (582 rushing, 143 receiving) along with nine total touchdowns (8 rushing). He tortured the Buckeyes last season with 194 yards on the ground. The Silver Bullets have been stout all season long though they did allow their first rushing touchdown last week against the Badgers. Barkley has “big play potential” written all over him. Trace McSorley plays quarterback for Penn State and in the first six games he has completed 103-of-177 passes for eight touchdowns and three interceptions. Junior place kicker Tyler Davis is quietly assembling a quality season as well. He is a perfect ten-for-ten on field gaols and has sent all nineteen PAT’s through the uprights as well. He booted the 40-yarder that sent the Lions to overtime against Minnesota.
This week I’d like to take a look at one of the strangest football programs I have ever come across. The Ohio State-Penn State clash in 1963 was billed as “Dad’s Day,” but the picture gives no indication that is the case. The cover features a solitary and lonesome shot of what must be the old Ohio Union. There is not a soul in sight or anything to indicate the contents of this publication will get the reader excited for intercollegiate athletics. Remarkably, the image is not even a noteworthy picture of the Union. We see a staircase, the school seal on the ground, and some imposing dome lights. This cover feels more like a still shot from a Stanley Kubrik movie than a football advertisement. Penn State won the game in question in a 10-7 upset over No. 10 Ohio State.
Ohio State’s offense saw early struggles against the Badgers last week, mustering a meager six points in the first half. They found their stride in the second half and overtime largely thanks to redshirt junior quarterback J.T. Barrett. It seems as Barrett goes so goes the team, and he has put together an impressive statline in the season’s first six games: 96-of-152 passing (63.2 percent), 1,207 yards, sixteen passing touchdowns, four interceptions, He has been equally dangerous on the ground for 434 rushing yards and six touchdowns. His total numbers – a jaw-dropping 1,641 yards and 22 touchdowns in a half dozen games. He has climbed as high as third in ESPN’s most recent Heisman Watch and should be considered a legitimate threat to take home the stiff-armed trophy in December. Buckeye Nation should sleep well at night knowing that number sixteen will be lining up behind center on Saturday.
Beaver Stadium is not kind to outsiders. Penn State is 4-0 at home this season, and a night game means the students will have had all day to hydrate and prepare their favorite “nut” puns. It bears mentioning that Urban Meyer is 17-0 in October since becoming Ohio State’s head coach, and the Buckeyes have won twenty straight true road games, the nation’s longest such streak. Barkley will prove a stern test for the Buckeyes defense, and he may even reach the endzone before the night is over. The Buckeye offense should be warmed up after their trip to Madison, and this young team has yet to find a stage that is too big for them. It might be closer than Buckeye Nation wants, but expect Ohio State to return to the Buckeye State with their seventh win of the season.
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SUoO: https://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/jerry-sandusky-little-boy-instructional-video1.jpg?w=500
State Penn: 7
I have no words . . . I mean . . . wow . . . .
They brought it upon themselves.
Sure, sure. But I mean . . . wow . . . .