Parker Washington’s Career Day Not Enough As No. 2 Ohio State Survives In The Stripe Out
Penn State failed to come away with the upset in a Stripe Out atmosphere as it fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes 44-31.
After the Nittany Lions deferred to open the contest, C.J Stroud led the Buckeyes down the field with precision but the drive would stall late leading to a 38-yard Noah Ruggles field goal for the first points of the game.
Sean Clifford’s attempt to respond did not go as planned as he threw a pass that was deflected up in front and intercepted by Zach Harrison giving the Buckeyes great field position where they promptly missed a field goal on that drive.
The struggles continued for Clifford on the very next drive with JT Tuimoloau jumping the route of Kaytron Allen to intercept the redshirt-senior’s pass.
From there, the Buckeyes moved quickly with a three play drive that ended on a Miyan Williams four-yard touchdown run to make it 10-0 Ohio State.
The scoring in the second quarter started out with Parker Washington who spun away from multiple tacklers and ran 58 yards to the house for the first Penn State points of the contest.
Penn State kept that momentum up its very next drive as Clifford found KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a 23-yard touchdown to put the Nittany Lions up 14-10 with less than seven minutes to go in the half.
The Buckeyes tried stealing some of that momentum back after a few Penn State penalties gave them good field position and that was propelled into a 37-yard field goal from Ruggles to cut the deficit.
Ohio State threatened to take the lead just before the end of the half but instead of kicking a field goal with six seconds left, Stroud was hit in the backfield and had the ball knocked free to bring the half to a close with Penn State up 14-13.
The entire third quarter proved to be a defensive bloodbath with no points for either side until 40 second left with a 40-yard field goal from Ruggles to re-ive the Buckeyes the lead.
Washington helped get the Nittany Lions on the outskirts of the red zone before the drive nearly stalled.
Clifford found Tyler Warren on fourth down to keep the drive alive and Allen finished the job from there to give Penn State a 21-16 lead with 9:26 left in the fourth quarter.
Not even a minute later, TreVeyon Henderson finds a hole and runs 41 yards to go the distance on the third play of the drive giving the Buckeyes the two point lead.
That would be extended quickly after Tuimoloau forced a fumble which was recovered by the Buckeyes and on the first play of the drive, Stroud found Cade Stover for the 24-yard touchdown to give the Buckeyes a 30-21 lead.
Penn State rebounded to work a drive which stalls at the Ohio State 34-yard line where Jake Pinegar nails the field goal to cut the Buckeyes lead to six with just under six minutes to play.
The Buckeyes got the ball back and drove seamlessly down the field with the big play coming off a Emeka Egbuka 42-yard catch before Henderson ran in for a touchdown from seven yards out.
Any chances of a late comeback came to an end after Tuimoloau intercepted Clifford’s pass on the first play of the drive and took it to the house for six.
Despite a late Clifford to Allen touchdown connection, the Buckeyes survived the first half scare and cruised late to remain undefeated on the season while the Nittany Lions fall to 6-2 and look for answers.
Logan Bourandas is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.
