Ohio State football beats Penn State thanks to the defense

The Ohio State football team had their first true test on Saturday against Penn State. It was the first time that they had played a currently-ranked team. It was on the road in a hostile environment, and the Buckeyes were able to pull out a 44-31 win.

That score doesn’t give nearly enough credit to how good the defense was in this game. The Buckeyes forced four turnovers and scored six of their own points. They gave the Buckeyes a short field twice in the first half. The offense’s sputtering is why this game was close in the first place.

J.T. Tuimoloau had a game for the ages. He had two sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, two interceptions including one for a touchdown, a pass deflection that resulted in a pick, and six tackles. Tell me if that sounds like a good game to you?

Tuimoloau was truly a forced to be reckoned with and it was needed. The Buckeyes struggled to move the ball in the first half and only scored 13 points. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that they finally started to get rolling. Marvin Harrison Jr. was the only consistent player on the offense.

Harrison Jr. finished with 10 catches for 185 yards. He made some clutch catches and seemed to catch it every time it was thrown even near him. Cade Stover caught the only touchdown pass that C.J. Stroud threw, and it was late in the game. Stover bounced off three defenders on his way to the endzone.

This game was a wake-up call for Ryan Day and his playcalling in the first half. He almost let this game slip away because he went away from what was working, which was throwing the ball over the middle of the field. Instead, he tried doing wide receiver screens that weren’t working.

The Ohio State football team won, and that’s all that matters. They don’t face any other team nearly as good the rest of the way before their showdown with TTUN. That game will decide who makes the Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff.

Ohio State needs to work on some things between now and then though. They still have time to do that against the likes of Maryland, Northwestern, and Indiana. We found out that the defense is legit good though, and that’s a big step for this Buckeye team.