Ohio State Gets Their Style Points in Dominant Win over Penn State, 63-14
By Jack Crosby
Oct 26, 2013; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Ezekiel Elliott (15) breaks a tackle attempted by Penn State Nittany Lions cornerback Jordan Lucas (9) at Ohio Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports
It’s certainly no well-kept secret that no matter what the Ohio State Buckeyes do this season, they’re going to need help to even have a chance of playing for the national championship. They need help from teams in front of them in the rankings–and even some behind them–and they need to help themselves in some cases.
To help themselves, the Buckeyes need dominant wins over worthy conference opponents to gain the style points from the human elements of the BCS system. This was something they weren’t able to do earlier this year in games against Wisconsin and Northwestern, but tonight was a different story.
The Buckeyes thoroughly dominated a tough Penn State Nittany Lions team at home tonight by a final score of 63-14, to gain some of those style points.
This one was never really close. Ohio State led 42-7 by halftime and never really looked back. Braxton Miller looked the part of the preseason Heisman candidate, finishing the game 18 for 24 with 252 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 68 on the ground on 11 carries with two more scores, giving him a total of five touchdowns accounted for.
Running back Carlos Hyde continued his recent tear through the Big Ten, rushing for 147 yards on 16 carries and finding the end zone twice in this one.
In all, the Buckeyes totaled a mind-blowing 686 yards of total offense on the Penn State defense. It was, by far, their most dominant performance of the year and definitely opened up some eyes.
Just how many, though, will remain to be seen until the votes come out.
Ohio State improves to 8-0 on the season and they’ll take their now 20-game winning streak on the road next weekend to face the Purdue Boilermakers.
Penn State drops to 4-3 and will welcome in the Illinois Fighting Illini into Happy Valley next Saturday.