Ohio State football survives scare from Penn State

The Ohio State football team came into the game against Penn State looking unstoppable. While they did beat the Nittany Lions, some questions arose as to just how good this Buckeye team is on the offensive side of the ball.

Ohio State struggled to run the ball for large stretches of this game. The offensive line failed to get any push up front, especially on inside runs. TreVeyon Henderson couldn’t find any holes to run through. He did break a couple of runs later in the game, but the run blocking was concerning.

The Buckeyes won the game 33-24 in large part because the defense made a few big plays. They forced three turnovers, including Jerron Cage’s fumble return for a touchdown.  Haskell Garrett had a fumble recovery and Cam Brown added a pick as well. Despite the defense getting gashed at times, those turnovers were massive.

C.J. Stroud wasn’t too bad in this one. He stayed turnover-free and threw for over 300 yards and a touchdown. He’s certainly played better, but made enough plays in this one to win. That’s really all that matters. The Buckeyes just need to keep winning to get a chance at the CFP.

Even though this is a win, this changes how I feel about this team a little bit. The offense is no longer the unstoppable force that I thought they were. They have some real problems that they have to fix up front  before they play Michigan State or Michigan. Both of those teams are better than Penn State.

A win is a win, but this was underwhelming for me. We learned that better competition can stop this offense. Now we gotta see how Ryan Day adjusts.