Football: No. 3 Penn State Defeats No. 10 Ohio State – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
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COLUMBUS, Ohio No. 3 Penn State snapped an 0-7 winless streak in Ohio Stadium as a Big Ten school with a 13-6 win over No. 10 Ohio State in front of an Ohio Stadium record crowd of 105,711 fans, most of whom were wearing scarlet as part of a “Scarlet Fever” promotion.
The game, the second-lowest scoring game in this 24-game rivalry after a 7-6 Penn State win in 1956, was not about the speedy and skilled position players that lead both teams’ offenses. For Ohio State, Chris “Beanie” Wells had 55 yards rushing; Terrelle Pryor just six yards rushing but he did throw for a career-high 226 yards. For Penn State, Evan Royster had 77 yards rushing; Daryll Clark had 160 total yards before leaving in the third quarter with an injury, and Derrick Williams gained just 60 all-purpose yards.
Quite simply, this game was about two marvelous defensive squads punishing the opposing team’s offense. The Buckeyes came into the game averaging 211 rushing yards in games Wells plays in, but managed just 61 rushing yards and 287 total yards. Penn State came in averaging 482.1 yards and 45.4 points per game but gained just 281 total yards and scored its touchdown after a drive of only 38 yards.
“That was a hard-fought football game,” Jim Tressel, Ohio State head football coach, said. “I was proud of the way our kids played. It was the slimmest of margins and I tip my cap to Penn State. They played extremely hard and didn’t make mistakes. They came away with a hard-fought win.”
The game turned on a fourth-quarter turnover, the first of the game. Trailing 6-3, Penn State scored on a 1-yard run by backup quarterback Pat Devlin with 6:25 to play. The play capped a 38-yard drive that was set up after Terrelle Pryor fumbled on third-down as Mark Rubin punched the ball out the freshman’s grasp. Star linebacker Navorro Bowman recovered the ball at the Ohio State 38 and Devlin led them on seven plays to the deciding score.
Ohio State had two chances after the touchdown but it punted after its first chance. Penn State then used more than three minutes before Kevin Kelly connected on a 35-yard field goal to up the lead to 13-6.
With less than a minute to play, Pryor moved Ohio State just across midfield on the Buckeyes’ last possession, but his deep throw with 27 seconds remaining on the clock was picked off Lydell Sargeant.
The first half ended in a 3-all tie as the two teams traded field goals in the last 93 seconds. Kelly kicked a 31-yard field goal with 1:33 to play in the first half and Ohio State’s Aaron Pettrey countered with a 41-yarder with seven seconds to play. A 49-yard pass from Clark to Graham Zug set up Kelly’s kick. A 33-yard pass from Pryor to Brian Robiskie set the Buckeyes’ up for their score.
Ohio State took the lead, at 6-3, after Pettrey connected on a 36-yard field goal with just over three minutes to play in the third quarter.
Penn State’s Jeremy Boone averaged 43.5 yards per punt and dropped three inside the Ohio State 20. Ohio State’s A.J. Trapasso averaged 38.5 yards per punt, including 52- and 59-yard efforts, plus dropped three inside the Penn State 20.
Defensively, Rubin and Navorro led Penn State with 11 and 10 tackles, respectively. Ohio State’s James Laurinaitis had 12 tackles and Anderson Russell hade nine.
The Buckeyes move to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten while the Nittany Lions improve to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in conference action.
