With losses being as rare as they are around these parts, when Ohio State does taste defeat a couple million microscopes come out of Buckeye fan closets across the country.
Those microscopes turned up numerous reasons for Penn State's upset win including the dumpster fire that was Ohio State's special teams, a wide receiving corps that still can't consistently beat man coverage, a hat-tip worthy effort from the home team and an offensive line that got beat like a drum all night long.
Despite coming into the game with the league's best scoring and total offense thanks in large part to an offensive line allowing the skill guys to do work, Ohio State's Slobs had no answer for Penn State's defensive front.
In particular, true sophomore Isaiah Prince was repeatedly abused in pass protection by a host of Nittany Lions off the right edge and true freshman Michael Jordan appeared to be hung out to dry on more than a few occasions while also being whistled for a false start.
When the dust settled on Penn State's jailbreak at the line of scrimmage it had registered an astounding six sacks and 11 TFL headlined by defensive end Garrett Sickels who tallied nine stops, 3.5 TFL and 2.5 sacks in just two quarters of action after sitting out the first half.
Prince's struggles in pass protection as a first-year starter are not a new issue though he was never exposed at such an alarming rate as we saw tonight. Clearly lacking confidence in his ability to protect J.T. Barrett, Prince was flagged for both a hold and a false start. He could've have been flagged for a few more false starts as he often jabs his right foot a hair before the snap in obvious passing situations in what I can only assume is an effort to cheat outside and offset the quickness disadvantage most defenders have off the edge.
While he's been fairly solid as a run blocker including tonight when he teamed with Mike Weber to create the seam enabling Curtis Samuel to race 74 yards to the end zone, Prince was pushed back far too much even in run blocking versus the Nittany Lions.
One particular example came when Prince was pushed so far into the backfield he brushed against Barrett and Weber as they attempted a zone read exchange resulting in a fumble Ohio State was able to recover but the resulting six-yard loss got the possession off schedule.
Turning to the running game, the Buckeyes logged 40 rushing attempts for 168 yards, or 132 less than their per-game average coming in. Penn State's sacks cost Ohio State 38 yards but Samuel's long run sprung by Weber and Prince more than offset that and still left the line well short of meeting expectations.
Collectively, the line just didn't have an answer tonight. The six sacks surrendered are one more than they had given up in first six games of the season and stand as the second-most sacks in a single-game during the Urban Meyer era trailing only the 7.0 Virginia Tech hung on the Buckeyes in 2014.
Penn State's 11 TFL were also noteworthy, tying the Hokies ( also 2014) and Alabama (Sugar Bowl) for the most against a Buckeye squad led by Meyer.
Ohio State's offensive lines have a history of improving over the course of the season during the Urban Meyer era and it is important to remember Prince and Jordan in particular are talented but still short on experience.
The key for the Buckeyes will be for the offensive line to learn from tonight and improve as the season wears on as Ohio State looks to rebound from a tough loss.
