Ohio State Football: Buckeyes best Penn State to take charge of Big Ten

Defensive doubts no longer

Coming into the game, both Penn State and Ohio State had questions about whether their defenses could reciprocate the level of play of their offense.

In Week 1, Penn State gave up 38 points to Appalachian State. Additionally, just last week, the Nittany Lions gave up 24 points to Illinois. On the opposite sideline, Ohio State gave up 31 points to Oregon State in Week 1, and 28 to TCU in Week 3.

While these aren’t extremely high scores, when you are in the hunt for a College Football Playoff spot, every point matters. Additionally, when you compare the defenses of these teams to teams like Alabama and Georgia, there is a recognizable difference. In order to prevent the SEC from getting two teams in the playoff, other teams throughout the country need to win games with as big of a margin as possible.

Both the Buckeyes’ and the Nittany Lions’ defenses showed that they were able to play tough against the best offenses in the country. By the end of the first half, each team had forced a turnover and the score was surprisingly only 13-7.

By the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was 14-13 and each team had only 12 first downs. Before the game, Penn State and Ohio State had 26 combined punts on the season (13 each). This game ended with 17 punts. The defenses on both sidelines stepped up big under the spotlight.