Ohio State football: 3 keys to beating Penn State
By Ryan Stano
The most important thing that Ohio State needs to do to win this game is to contain Sean Clifford in the pocket. Last week against Indiana, he had 119 yards and a touchdown on just 17 carries. That’s good enough for 7 yards per carry. That was the main way Penn State moved the ball.
Ohio State had issues keeping the Nebraska quarterbacks in read-option scenarios last week. Adrian Martinez ran 13 times for 85 yards and a touchdown, while Luke McCaffery added 9 carries for 80 yards. That’s 6.5 and 8.9 yards a carry respectively.
The quarterbacks combined for 165 of Nebraska’s 210 yards on the ground, or 78.5% of their rushing yards. Ohio State has to be able to keep Clifford from hurting them on the ground. It was the only way the Buckeye defense looked overmatched a week ago.
If the Buckeyes force Clifford to beat them with his arm, I’m not sure that can be done. While Clifford did throw for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns last week, he also threw two interceptions. Meanwhile, the Buckeye secondary only allowed 160 yards on 16 completions.
Penn State will be without their top two running backs in this game. They will be down to third-string back Keyvone Lee. He shouldn’t cause too many issues for Ohio State, so the focal point should be Clifford in the running game.
The next key has to deal with the Buckeye offense, particularly the run game.