Care: Offensive Line

Nothing offensive to say about them today. They were running on fumes and exceeded any and all expectations. DJ and Hinzman were shockingly great and Hinzman earned his way back onto the field on the biggest possible stage.

Credit has to be given to Frye, even though many here will refuse to do so. He earned recognition today. His line appears to in a good spot, somehow, after a major reshuffling and losing its best blocker.

Don't Care: Allar/PSU offense Hype

This is not meant to be a slam piece on Allar because I think he played courageously after coming back from his injury and making a number of huge plays with his legs. His receivers did him no favors either.

However, the fact he was a "dark horse Heisman candidate" and was receiving incredible praise from his play this season is crazy to me. He was a legitimately bad QB last year and while he's improved this season he is a product of an easy schedule and that's about it. We didn't play a good QB yesterday, or a good receiving corp. Our defense looked good but it's because Penn State's offense is actually just okay and has no threats outside of Warren.

We had a good plan for this game but Penn State's offense likely looks like ass against any of the top teams in the country. Their close games earlier this season should have highlighted this for everyone, but they are not a Top 5 team in the country, especially on offense.

Care: Credit where credit is due

Day and Chip called a game that highlighted our strengths and protected our weaknesses, all while keeping Penn State completely off balance for most of the afternoon. It was masterful to watch, except for one or two series.

Cant fault them the 10-0 hole we were in after what felt like half a second, but they recovered and should have had at least 7 more points on the board (Howard fumble touch back).

They earned this win as much as anyone and hopefully a lot of the Day chatter quiets down for at least a week.

Don't Care: Our tackling/angles

There is something that's plaguing the defense this season and it reared its head again against PSU: many of our defensive players take poor angles that result in huge gains that could have been minimized, and when tackling we're almost always going up high and trying to force the ball out instead of getting the ballcarrier onto the ground.

Sonny Styles had a number of plays yesterday when attacking a runner in which he put himself in a terrible position and never made the play, this happened on a big Allar run that resulted in at least 15 yards.

As for tackling the biggest play I remember is the Warren catch and run that got PSU down near or goal line. There was good downfield blocking on Burke by a WR but we had two guys near Warren and he got 7-10 extra yards because we didn't just shove him out of bounds. This was a problem with Burke against Oregon as well. Our team is coached to try to force turnovers but they give up massive yardage while attempting to dislodge the ball instead of just bringing a guy down or forcing him out.

Care: Defensive line rotation

I am looking forward to the snap counts for this game because it appeared our rotation on the line began early and often and I think that played a huge role in how our game ended, especially the goal line stand. I specifically remember seeing JT on the screen during the goal line stand and he wasn't even standing with his hands on his hips or appeared to be out of breath.

Day preached it in media appearances all week and clearly the message was hammered home inside the Woody as well. It worked gangbusters and guys like Macdonald, Kanu, and Jackson were making plays throughout the game.

Well done defensive coaches. Hopefully this is a lesson learned and we see that depth used throughout the rest of the year.

Oh, and we still don't have a punt forced in the 4th quarter of a big game...because we had the incredible goal line stand instead. Love it.

Don't Care: National narratives

Another week upcoming of national narratives about how good teams are, etc. It still doesn't matter because the Buckeyes control their destiny and are still in position to make the CCG and playoffs. Hopefully the attitude and identity they exhibited against PSU is going to help them gel and move forward as a team.

UGA looked like ass and escaped a bad Florida team. Clemson and A&M both lost to unranked teams. Oregon looks like the best team in the country by a mile. And Miami needs to lose a game because Cam Ward terrifies me vs our defense.

But I don't care and we need to not listen to pundits. We need to be us and evolve after this game because it was a huge win.