UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Though Ohio State escaped Happy Valley with a 27-26 win over Penn State on Saturday night, it didn’t escape the game without another defensive lineman suffering an injury.
During the Buckeyes’ second-to-last defensive series in Saturday’s game, Ohio State defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones limped off the field after Penn State left tackle Ryan Bates fell on his ankle.
“I was rushing, and I was like bending, and I kind of like fell,” Jones said. “I don’t remember if someone fell on my leg to make me fall, or I just fell and someone fell on it. But my toes were down, somebody landed on it, I felt something.”
Jones decided to fight through the pain and ultimately returned to the game for Ohio State’s final defensive series, and was on the field when Chase Young buried Penn State running back Miles Sanders for the game-sealing 2-yard tackle for loss on 4th-and-5. That doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that he’ll be back on the field when the Buckeyes play Indiana next weekend.
Jones was in a walking boot, limping significantly and holding a bag of ice when he met with reporters after Saturday’s game, and said that while he hopes to be on the field against the Hoosiers next Saturday, he hadn’t yet received an official diagnosis on his injury.
“Right now, I’m in a boot. It hurts. Hard to walk. I don’t know what happened,” Jones said. “But, hopefully I’ll find out tomorrow.”
While Jones’ injury on Saturday was very much legitimate, he was booed as he walked off the field by Penn State fans, who apparently thought he was faking an injury in order to slow the Nittany Lions offense down. Jones said, however, that he wasn’t bothered by that – only by the fact that he was no longer healthy.
“I don’t care about being booed, but being hurt’s terrible,” Jones said.
Should Jones miss any games due to his injury, Ohio State would be without two of its star defensive linemen, since Nick Bosa is out until at least November after undergoing core muscle surgery earlier this month. Ohio State defensive tackle Robert Landers also missed the Tulane game with an undisclosed injury, but was back on the field for the Buckeyes on Saturday, though he did not start.
Jones wasn’t the only starter on Ohio State’s defense to suffer an injury on Saturday night. Starting cornerback Damon Arnette also left the game in the fourth quarter after appearing to take a shot to his head, and did not return. No specific update on Arnette’s injury was provided after Saturday’s game.
Damon Arnette walks off the field with two members of Ohio State's medical staff after suffering an injury on Saturday night.
Penalties plague Buckeyes
While Ohio State coach Urban Meyer had plenty to be excited about after the Buckeyes’ thrilling comeback win on Saturday, one statistic that he was evidently not thrilled about was the number of penalties that Ohio State had committed in Saturday’s game.
In total, Ohio State was penalized 10 times on Saturday night, which cost them a total of 105 yards – including several penalties that hurt the Buckeyes on the scoreboard or were otherwise notable.
Perhaps most notably, Ohio State lost three points in the third quarter when Luke Farrell was penalized for grabbing a Penn State defender’s facemask on a 33-yard field goal by Sean Nuernberger. That forced Nuernberger to kick another field goal, this time from 48 yards, and he wasn’t able to convert the longer attempt.
“The penalties were, that’s awful,” Meyer said. “We had a facemask on a field goal … we had an excellent punt return (by K.J. Hill) and we had it called back and just some silly penalties from some young players. We gotta get that fixed. Because usually you don’t win a game like that when you do that.”
Penalties that Meyer might have considered “silly” included unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, wide receiver Binjimen Victor and right tackle Isaiah Prince, when they got into a fracas with Penn State defensive end Shareef Miller – who said on College GameDay that Haskins would “fold” if he got hit in Saturday night’s game – following a second-quarter interception by Nittany Lions safety Garrett Taylor.
Ohio State safety Isaiah Pryor was ejected during the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game for a targeting penalty – though that could certainly be considered a questionable penalty, as it appeared that the contact between Pryor’s shoulder and Penn State wide receiver K.J. Hamler’s head was unintentional, though it did knock Hamler out of the game. Pryor will be suspended for the first half of next Saturday's game against Indiana since his penalty occurred in the second half.
Additionally, Ohio State was penalized for delay of game on its 2-point conversion attempt after its final touchdown – a flag that didn’t end up costing them, but certainly could have if Penn State had been able to drive down the field for a game-winning field goal.
Chrisman showcases his skills
Drue Chrisman didn’t get his wish on Saturday night.
Asked whether he wanted to have more opportunities to punt while meeting with the media on Wednesday, Chrisman said, “I hope I don’t punt at all,” as that would have meant that Ohio State’s offense was scoring a lot of points instead.
But after punting the ball just 13 total times in Ohio State’s first four games of the season against Oregon State, Rutgers, TCU and Tulane, Chrisman was called on to punt nine times against Penn State.
Seven of those punts came in the first half, as Ohio State punted on all but one of its first eight offensive possessions (with the other possession ending in the aforementioned interception). Chrisman was also called on to punt at the end of Ohio State’s third and fourth possessions of the second half.
But while Ohio State’s offense faced more resistance on Saturday night than it did in any of its first four games, Chrisman took advantage of his opportunity to showcase his skills, averaging 47.9 yards per punt, with three punts of 50 or more yards (with a long of 58) and three punts inside the 20-yard line.
Ohio State constantly preaches the importance of winning the field-position battle to winning football games, and Chrisman’s punts played a crucial role in keeping the Nittany Lions from breaking the game wide open as the Buckeyes failed to put together successful offensive drives. If the Buckeyes’ famed bottle-flipper hadn’t consistently flipped the field with his kicks in Saturday’s game, Ohio State might not have been able to pull out the victory that it ultimately did.
