Three keys to the Ohio State football team beating Penn State
By Ryan Stano
3. The Ohio State football team must keep the quarterback from beating them on the ground
It's unclear who will be starting for the Nittany Lions right now. Drew Allar was hurt and had to miss the second half of Penn State's game against Wisconsin last weekend. Beau Pribula came in and actually played pretty well. He gave them an added dimension of being able to use his legs to hurt the defense.
Ohio State has had issues with running quarterbacks. Pribula can certainly move a bit and he would give the Buckeyes some trouble if he ends up being the starting quarterback. Allar can move, but it's not his primary source of gaining yards. He prefers to stay in the pocket.
Ohio State got carved up by Dillon Gabriel a few weeks ago. He did most of his damage with his arm, but he can move too. No matter who the quarterback is, the Buckeyes have to make sure that they don't escape the pocket and hurt them with his legs.
The secondary played much better against Nebraska. There were clear issues that needed to be fixed after that loss to the Ducks. The pass rush was actually a bit better too. They sacked Dylan Raiola three times in this game, which is three more times than they sacked Gabriel.
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Ohio State won this game with defense a year ago. They might have to do it again on Saturday afternoon if the offensive line isn't able to play better.