Where: Beaver Stadium, State College, Pa.
TV/Radio: ABC/1410
Series history: Ohio State is 21-14, including a 38-14 victory in 2010 that was vacated by of NCAA sanctions. The Buckeyes have won three in a row and seven of the last eight. They are 19-8 against the Nittany Lions since Penn State began play as a Big Ten member in 1993.
Last game: J.K. Dobbins ran for 157 yards and Ohio State overcame three lost fumbles to beat Penn State 28-17 and clinch the Big Ten East last season. Last time Ohio State went to PSU, Dwayne Haskins rallied the Buckeyes from a 12-point fourth quarter deficit with touchdown passes to Binjimen Victor and K.J. Hill. Chase Young stopped Miles Sanders on a fourth-and-5 play to secure a 27-26 victory.
Coaches: Ohio State’s Ryan Day is 17-1, including 12–0 against Big Ten foes. Penn State’s James Franklin is 56-24 at Penn State and 80-39 overall as a head coach including three seasons at Vanderbilt.
Ohio State notes: Against Nebraska, QB Justin Fields set an Ohio State record for completion percentage (.952) for a quarterback with 11 or more pass attempts. He finished 20 of 21 vs. the Cornhuskers for 276 yards and three total TDs (two passing, one rushing)… Ohio State has won six straight Big Ten road games and since the start of the 2012 season has a 34-3 record in true road games, a .918 winning percentage second nationally to Oklahoma… Ohio State is 29-5 since 2012 against Associated Press Top 25 teams and has won 16 consecutive games over ranked Big Ten opponents… The two Pennsylvania natives on Ohio State’s roster are DB Marcus Hooker (New Castle) and WR Julian Fleming (Catawissa).
Penn State notes: RB Noah Cain suffered a season-ending injury last week… QB Sean Clifford is one of six Ohioans on the Penn State roster. The Cincinnati St. Xavier product is joined by sophomore defensive tackle Aeneas Hawkins (Cincinnati Moeller), senior defensive tackle Antonio Shelton (Westerville North), sophomore offensive lineman Juice Scruggs (list Ashtabula as his hometown but attended Cathedral Prep in Pennsylvania), junior offensive lineman Mike Miranda (Munroe Falls) and junior long snapper Chris Stoll (Columbus DeSales)… Miranda is listed as the starting left guard while he and Scruggs are the second and third centers on the depth chart… Shelton starts at defensive tackle and Stoll is the No. 1 long snapper.
Quoted: Franklin playing Ohio State close multiple times in his tenure: “I look at the whole spectrum of it. I look at scores that Ohio State puts up against people and I look at some of the scores before we got here and I look at how our games have gone and we’ve found a way to beat them — when very few people have — and we have played them to the wire and sometimes those games to the wire, they’re probably the most painful on everybody — the coaching staff, the players, the fans — but I wouldn’t trade that, obviously. We’ve had opportunity to win some of those games right down to the wire and, and in one year we were able to step up and get it done and other years they were able to, so we’re going to continue to build on that.”
Next game: The Buckeyes are scheduled to play host to Rutgers a 7:30 p.m. next Saturday. Penn State returns home to play host to Maryland.
Prediction: Ohio State 38, Penn State 17
About the Author
