Penn State Head Coach James Franklin: "We Went Into This Knowing We Had to Limit No. 18 (Marvin Harrison Jr.) and We Had a Hard Time Doing That."

Following No. 3 Ohio State's 20-12 win over No. 7 Penn State in Ohio Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin spoke the media about the top-10 matchup.

Despite falling to the Buckeyes for the ninth time in 10 games and dropping to 1-12 versus top-5 teams, Franklin was gracious in defeat (while still plugging his team for hanging in there on the road).

I want to give Ohio State a ton of credit. I'm not sure, we'll watch the tape... I'm not sure we didn't just watch two of the best teams in college football. Obviously, specifically, on the defensive side of the ball.

Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr, after cooking Penn State for 10 catches and 185 yards in last year's OSU win, was spectacular against the Nittany Lions once more with 11 grabs for 162 yards and an 18-yard touchdown catch giving the Buckeyes a decisive 20-6 lead with just over four minutes remaining in regulation. Franklin, as you'd expect, complemented Harrison's clutch performance.

We went into this knowing we needed to have an awareness and limit the impact of 18 (Marvin Harrison Jr.) and we had a hard time doing that. The guy is a heck of a player and you gotta give him a lot of credit.– James Franklin

On the other side of the ball, Ohio State's defense handcuffed Penn State quarterback Drew Allar and the rest of the Nittany Lions offense. Allar completed just 18-of-42 throws (43%) for 191 yards and a touchdown. The Sillver Bullets forced nine straight Allar incompletions during a section of the fourth quarter that saw Ohio State seize control of the game.

The Buckeyes also limited Penn State to 1.9 yards per carry including a sack-adjusted average of 3.9 per attempt.

With Penn State's offense unable to consistently run or throw, the Buckeyes held the Nittany Lions to 1-of-16 on third down conversion attempts with their lone chain-mover occurring with about a minute left and PSU in full desperation mode while Ohio State's defense was in a pseudo-prevent look.

To me the story of the game came down to third down. We weren't able to stay on the field on third down on offense which was the biggest difference in the game.– James Franklin

Amid Penn State's third down woes, the Nittany Lions failed to move the chains on six different 3rd-and-short tries (1-4 yards). Allar completed just 4-of-12 third down throws for a mere 12 yards and the one late first down. Penn State averaged 1.3 yards per carry on five third down rushes.

Pressed on his poor record against Ohio State and if it's a referendum on Franklin overall, the head coach tried to keep the focus on today's game.

What I'll talk about is today. we lost to a really good football team on the road. we had our chances, we battled, we weren't able to capitalize. big picture things - i'll be happy to talk about that at some point but right now I want to talk about that we lost to a really good football team on the road.– James Franklin

Asked how he would evaluate Allar's performance agains the Buckeyes, after his tough performance, Franklin offered the following.

all year long we've called the game and managed the game to put him in the best situation to be successful. we weren't able to do that today for a number of reasons. – James Franklin

A huge sequence in the Penn State's loss occurred the PSU defense strip-sacked Kyle McCord and ran it back for a touchdown but a defensive holding call on the Nittany Lions wiped out the score. Retaining possession, Ohio State scored a touchdown five plays later to take a 10-3 lead midway through the second quarter.

they called defensive holding. obviously that's a huge play in the game. huge momentum play.. that was obviously significant but for me to sit up here and talk about how that called looked, I couldn't tell you. I can just tell you what they told us.– James Franklin

Now 6-1 on the season, Penn State gets back it against Indiana next week. Bigger chores loom after that in the form of a trip to Maryland on Nov. 4 before returning home to face Michigan on November 11.