Livescore
No. 4 Ohio State downed No. 3 Penn State 20-13 to regain its spot near the top of the Big Ten standings and take a commanding lead in the race for a 12-team College Football Playoff. Despite playing behind a depleted offensive line, the Buckeyes ran the ball to do it.
They took over at their own 1-yard line with 5:13 left to play in the fourth quarter after stoning Penn State’s offense on fourth-and-goal and proceeded to grind the clock behind the legs of running back Quinshon Judkins, TreVeyon Henderson and Will Howard. Despite the fact that Penn State still had all three timeouts, it never touched the ball again.
The Buckeyes had seven runs of at least five yards on the final drive to keep ahead of the chains, and more importantly, the clock. Judkins had 32 yards of his own.
Penn State’s defense, which was so good all day, couldn’t get that final stop. Not that the blame should fall on that side of the ball at all. The Nittany Lions were totally ineffective on the offensive side of the ball. Failing to score when they had first-and-goal at Ohio State’s 3-yard line in a situation that could have tied the game was egregious, but it wasn’t surprising in the context of the rest of the game.
Penn State kicked a field goal on its first drive of the day, but the rest of its possessions in the first half ended in, respectively: punt, punt, punt and an interception thrown on Ohio State’s 3-yard line with less than 15 seconds to play in the second quarter.
The Nittany Lions offense had the ball on Ohio State’s 3-yard line twice, and both possessions ended in a turnover. Six of Penn State’s eight offensive drives ended in either a punt or a turnover.
- Penn State coach James Franklin is now 0-11 when leading a ranked team against AP Top-5 opponents, the worst record for a head coach in such games since 2000.
- Ohio State has now won eight games in a row against Penn State, the longest streak in the series.
- Penn State is now 0-7 against Ohio State and Michigan since 2021 and 35-5 against all other opponents.
CBS Sports was with you throughout the game with updates, analysis and highlights. Read on below for more takeaways from Ohio State vs. Penn State
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