Ohio State Football: Week 5 unit grades for Penn State game

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STATE COLLEGE, PA – SEPTEMBER 29: J.K. Dobbins #2 of the Ohio State Buckeyes rushes against C.J. Thorpe #69 of the Penn State Nittany Lions on September 29, 2018 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Third Quarter

Offense

The opening drive was everything that Buckeye fans could have asked for coming out of halftime.

JK Dobbins finally was able to get going on the ground and the offensive line looked completely different.

The Buckeyes marched down the field for a 13 play, 75 touchdown that took 4 minutes and 38 seconds to complete.

It was night and day for the offensive line and I suspect that this was a focus for the coaching staff at half time.

After that drive there wasn’t much to be seen on the offensive end, they had a drive going the next time out after the TD but it stalled in Penn State territory.

Overall, the coaching staff did a great job getting this offense ready to go in the second half and they need to be commended for it.

Grade: B-

Defense

Penn State didn’t get any points in the 3rd quarter of this game and that should be seen as a success for an Ohio State defense that had been pretty successful throughout this game.

The linebackers need to be heavily praised as the unit of Pete Warner, Malik Harrison, and Tuff Borland did a fantastic job of keeping McSorely in check in the run game. The coaching staff had a good scheme coming into this game using a spy basically on every play against McSorely. It worked, especially in this quarter.

I talked about the field position game, and the defense has a lot to do with that along with the special teams as getting 3 and outs on defense after a good punt helps the offense immensely giving them good field position.

It especially helped a struggling offense get back into a rhythm.

Defense wins games down the stretch in close contest and the Ohio State defense showed up in the third quarter.

Grade: A

Special Teams

I had a hard time believing that the special teams could continue playing this well in the second half. For about the first time in a prediction about this game, I was right.

Err sort of, Drue Chrisman continued to pound punts into Penn State territory. Thanks to a rare face mask by an offensive lineman on a field goal, Sean Nuremburger was forced to back up 15 yards after he made the first kick. Of course he missed the ensuing 48 yard field goal leaving 3 points off the board.

In a game this close, we couldn’t afford mistakes like that costing us points.

Grade: C

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