As the season winds down, we will analyze top players as they enter the portal and make new commitments. Alabama star wide receiver Jameson Williams will forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft, he announced on Thursday.
Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Passing Yards. Rushing Yards. Receiving Yards. End of 4th Quarter. Ohio Stadium. Columbus, OH. Line: OSU New Orleans. New York. San Antonio. San Diego. Tampa Bay. Washington DC. By Scott Dochterman. The Big Ten rearranged its football schedule to accommodate six location switches and in the process balanced and dispersed its marquee matchups throughout the season. The conference announced the changes Wednesday. Most schedules changed considerably, especially for Penn State and Ohio State.
The Nittany Lions' game against Michigan was bumped back a week to Oct. Penn State-Michigan State will return to the regular-season finale; the original schedule featured the Spartans finishing at Maryland and the Nittany Lions traveling to Rutgers.
The Buckeyes' crossover game with Wisconsin Sept. Two potentially important West Division games also shifted. Iowa at Minnesota moved from Sept. The switches were made to avoid Illinois-Penn State matchups in three consecutive seasons, and the Fighting Illini haven't played at Bloomington since Indiana and Illinois were previously protected rivals from to The original Big Ten schedule front-loaded seven of its nine rematches that generated at least four million viewers in into September and October.
The only two games producing those ratings originally slated for November were rivalries Michigan-Ohio State and Wisconsin-Minnesota, both of which are final-weekend staples anyway. The league loses seven crossover games that garnered at least 4. Of those four crossovers, only Ohio State-Wisconsin originally was scheduled for later than Oct. In addition, the Big Ten avoided a situation similar to Oct. Penn State's struggles on offense were at least partially because it was not able to find as much balance as its foe.
Quarterback Sean Clifford finished his day with yards passing and a score while completing 35 of 52 attempts, but the team rushed for 33 yards on 29 carries in the losing effort against a stout defensive front for the Buckeyes. During its six-game winning streak, Ohio State's explosive offense has helped propel it into the conversation as one of the most fun -- and arguably one of the best -- teams in college football.
But Saturday it was the defense that stood tall. The Buckeyes held Penn State and its ground attack, which was averaging nearly yards rushing per game, to 33 yards on 29 total carries for the game. Through the air, Clifford had a huge stat line with yards passing but he tossed an interception and the team gave up two fumbles including one from Clifford which was returned for a score.
Clifford was under duress throughout the game and it hampered his decision-making throughout to the benefit of Ohio State. OSU finished with four sacks and eight tackles for loss. Penn State learned firsthand that you can, in fact, bottle up freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson.
It also learned that you can only do so for so long. Henderson had only 20 yards rushing on his first 14 carries of the game but turned his final 14 carries into yards and a score, breaking open Ohio State's ground attack late when it was needed.
He's scored at least once in all eight games this season and leads the Big Ten in touchdowns. Penn State looked listless against Iowa earlier this month, especially after losing Clifford, and then again last week against Illinois in a nine-overtime!
So it would've been acceptable -- heck, even expected -- if it had not looked crisp on the road against a red-hot Ohio State team. Instead, Clifford came out dealing through the air to record the second-most passing yards in a Big Ten game of his career.
The defense largely held up well, especially early, against an Ohio State team that was averaging The schedule doesn't loosen up from here in the no-days-off Big Ten, but Saturday was at least an encouraging showing that could help the Nittany Lions build confidence moving forward into the final month of the season.
Aaaaand end scene! GoBucks pic. Ohio State settles for a field goal attempt on 4th and 1 to make it a two-possession game and it drops. It's Ohio State with left in the fourth quarter. Sure footed GoBucks pic.
He got hands GoBucks pic. A yard touchdown to tie it up is coming back because of an illegal touching penalty from Penn State. Goes without saying, but a huge drive upcoming for the Penn State offense.
Trailing with just over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
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