Translating the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Last Year’s Ohio State Game: Offense Edition

Translating the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Last Year’s Ohio State Game: Offense Edition

Last season, then-ranked No. 2 Ohio State beat No. 13 Penn State 44-31 at Beaver Stadium on the weekend of Halloween.

The Nittany Lions held their own for the first 51:09 of the contest, but a TreVeyon Henderson 41-yard touchdown run with 8:51 left in the fourth quarter became the beginning of the end for the blue and white.

Nearly a full calendar year later, the two teams will battle at Ohio Stadium in a battle of two top-10 teams.

Here’s a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from last year’s contest and what it might mean for the 2023 version.

The Good: Sharing the Ball

It was a unique stat line for Sean Clifford during last year’s battle. The sixth-year signal-caller went 32-for-47 passing for 371 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.

Clifford settled in following the first couple of drives of the ballgame due to his ability to spread the wealth on his 32 completions.

Parker Washington led the way with 11 receptions, 179 yards and a score, while KeAndre Lambert-Smith added two receptions, 58 yards and a score of his own. Those two, who were consistently the top targets for Clifford in his final collegiate season, were two of the ten different pass catchers on the chilly autumn Saturday.

The top three tight ends, Brenton Strange, Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren, combined for seven receptions and 74 yards, while Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen caught passes in the loss.

Clifford’s distribution of the ball allowed for more movement downfield, including a couple of explosive plays like Washington’s 58-yard touchdown in the second quarter, as it kept Jim Knowles’ defense guessing on who the now-Green Bay Packer would target.

What it Means for This Year

Every year, one player emerges as the safety blanket, comfort spot and top target of whoever is under center. For Penn State, first-year starter Drew Allar has consistently made Lambert-Smith his top option through the air.

Lambert-Smith is responsible for 31 receptions, 402 yards and three touchdowns. The rest of Marques Hagans’ receiver room has combined for 40 receptions, 436 yards and two touchdowns.

Against UMass, only two receivers, the aforementioned Lambert-Smith and Harrison Wallace III, hauled in passes. The rest of the Medina, Ohio native’s completions found their way into the hands of tight ends or running backs.

The former five-star’s reliance on the tight ends, which resulted in six catchers and three touchdowns in the rout of the Minutemen, has paid off. Johnson and Warren have 16 catches apiece with a combined seven touchdowns, not to mention Khalil Dinkins’ lone catch this season that went for a touchdown against Iowa.

Allar has yet to turn the ball over this season while completing 118-of-181 passes for 1254 yards and 12 touchdowns through the air and rushing 34 times for 79 yards and three touchdowns.

To keep that going against a talented Ohio State defense that ranked third in the country, allowing just 9.67 points per game, Allar has to keep the Buckeyes on their toes just as his predecessor did a season ago.

The Bad: The Offensive Line

Football games are won or lost in the trenches.

For that reason, it’s not hard to see why Penn State lost the 2022 edition of the Big Ten East matchup.

Despite settling into a rhythm that saw success in the middle portion of the game, Clifford was under duress when it mattered most. As the Nittany Lions looked to set an early tone, Clifford threw two interceptions, one of which came on a ball that was tipped by J.T. Tuimoloau at the line of scrimmage.

In the second half, Clifford was sacked on three separate occasions, one resulting in a fumble that was forced and recovered by Tuimoloau. The star edge rusher continued his monster day as he found the ball in his hands on a pick-six that was made right in the trenches.

As the blue and white struggled in the passing game, inconsistent run blocking also hurt Mike Yurcich’s offense. While neither Allen nor Singleton recorded a negative run, the scarlet and gray front caused problems, especially for the latter of the two.

The Buckeyes held Singleton to 45 yards on 14 carries, which marked his third fewest yards per carry of the season at 3.2 behind Michigan and Purdue. Allen found success on the ground with 76 yards on 12 attempts for 6.3 yards per carry and a touchdown.

While the offensive line stalled throughout the game, the biggest gut punch was when left tackle Olu Fashanu went down with an injury. The offensive line depth struggled mightily to fill the void left by the first-round talent.

What it Means for This Year

The good news for Phil Trautwein’s unit is that Fashanu is healthy and is back to his old ways. The 6-foot-6, 317-pound left tackle has allowed just one pressure all season while still not allowing a sack in his collegiate career.

The bad news for the unit is that Tuimoloau is still on the Ohio State defensive line. The junior defensive end has three sacks this season, all of which have come over the last two games against Maryland and Purdue.

Out of Washington, Tuimoloau isn’t alone on the front seven as Jack Sawyer, who has two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, and Tyleik Williams, who has six tackles for loss and one sack, are just some of the others who have helped sack opposing quarterbacks 10 times and have kept opponents to 109.2 rushing yard per game.

Allar has been kept relatively clean thus far being sacked just four times, but question marks still exist as the Nittany Lions get set to face arguably their toughest defense yet.

Starting left guard J.B. Nelson was out this past week after exiting Penn State’s prior game with an injury. Vega Ioane started in his spot this past week, and Nelson’s availability is unknown. Whoever is in that spot has to be ready to protect Allar and open holes for Allen and Singleton.

The Ugly: The Fourth Quarter

With 9:26 left in the fourth quarter, Allen found paydirt on a one-yard touchdown run out of the “T-Formation” to give Penn State a 21-16 lead over Ohio State.

That play was the cherry on top of a 13-play, 75-yard drive that took nearly six minutes of game time, but over the final nine minutes, the Buckeyes would score 28 points, to the Nittany Lions 10 to pull ahead in a big way.

The scarlet and gray found explosive plays, such as Henderson’s 41-yard score, while the blue and white committed costly turnovers, including Clifford’s fumble that set up a 24-yard touchdown and a pick-six, to erase a chance for the Nittany Lions to come back.

What it Means for This Year

Although the problems came in the fourth quarter for Penn State, it’s the first and second quarters that will make a difference this year against a Ryan Day-led team that has shown some of that same late-game dominance this season.

In their last two games, the Buckeyes have played the script perfectly. Leading Maryland by just three heading into the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes put up 17 unanswered to win by 20, and against Purdue, 21 of the Buckeyes’ 41 points came in the first half.

The Nittany Lions have followed a similar recipe this season, with slow starts plaguing them. Against UMass, the blue and white held just a 7-0 lead after the first quarter, which came on a punt return touchdown by Daequan Hardy, and against Iowa, the Nittany Lions had a 10-0 halftime lead.

On the road is where these slow starts have drawn more attention, with Penn State scoring just 26 combined first-half points against Illinois and Northwestern. Against the Fighting Illini, the Nittany Lions led 16-7 heading into halftime, while they went into the break tied 10-10 against the Wildcats.

Getting off to a quick start and silencing what will be a hostile environment at “The Shoe” is important for building momentum and a lead that can withstand the late-game presence of the Buckeyes.

Justin Ciavolella is a third-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu or justinciavolella@gmail.com.