Penn State’s veteran players feel like they shouldn’t still be chasing their first win over Ohio State.
The Nittany Lions have consistently played Ohio State close for the past seven years, never losing to the Buckeyes by more than 13 points. But they haven’t been able to turn any of those close games into wins, suffering seven straight losses to Ohio State – the longest such streak on either side in series history – since their 24-21 win over the Buckeyes in 2016.
Penn State had a 21-16 lead over Ohio State with nine minutes to play two years ago but ended up suffering a 44-31 loss as the Buckeyes scored 28 fourth-quarter points in Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions trailed by only four points entering the fourth quarter last year before suffering a 20-12 loss in Ohio Stadium.
“We just let it slip away. I feel like that was a game we definitely could have won,” junior defensive end Abdul Carter said of last year’s loss. “But that was last year, we’re onto this year, we got another opportunity this week, and we're going to take advantage of it.”
Junior left tackle Drew Shelton believes the Nittany Lions were plenty capable of winning those games but made small mistakes that ultimately added up to continuing the losing streak.
“I think in years past, we've been close. It's a play here, it's a play there. It's like 10 guys doing it right, one guy doing it wrong. And that's how planes crash,” Shelton said this week. “So just really being on the same page, execution, trust in the game plan, I think that's what it's going to take on Saturday to go 1-0.”
The “1-0” mindset is what Penn State coach James Franklin preaches to his team every week, so the company line out of State College is always one of treating every opponent the same. Nevertheless, several Penn State players said this week they’ll have extra motivation entering Saturday’s game against Ohio State because of the losses they’ve endured to the Buckeyes in past years.
“Definitely not being able to get the win the last two years, it definitely got a little amped up just to get that win, my first win (over Ohio State) since I’ve been here,” Carter said.
Ohio State has been the proverbial monkey on the Nittany Lions’ back for the past seven years. While Penn State has a 70-24 overall record since the start of the 2017 season, including three 11-win seasons and one 10-win season, the Nittany Lions haven’t been to the Big Ten Championship Game since 2016. Their repeated losses to the Buckeyes are a big reason why as they consistently finished behind Ohio State in the Big Ten East standings.
Even now that the Big Ten is divisionless, Saturday’s game could determine whether or not Penn State makes the conference championship game this year. If Ohio State hands Penn State its first loss of the season, the Buckeyes would hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Nittany Lions in the conference standings. The Nittany Lions don’t play Oregon or Indiana, the other two teams at the forefront of the Big Ten championship race with undefeated records.
Redshirt junior linebacker Kobe King views this week’s game as a big step toward even bigger goals for the Nittany Lions.
“We want to be 1-0,” King said. “But it would also show us what we needed to see and what we’ll need to do going forward wanting to win a Big Ten and win a national championship. We got to win this week, and that's where it starts.”
Sixth-year senior defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas can’t help but think about how special it will be for him, having already experienced five losses to the Buckeyes, if Penn State can finally beat Ohio State this year.
“It'd be an incredible feeling. I hope they rush the field,” J-Thomas said. “It'd just be a special feeling that I haven't felt yet, so we'll see when we get there.”
That said, he knows the Nittany Lions can’t allow their emotions to distract them from their preparation.
“The goal is just to stay even-keeled, not being too high, not being too low because that could be your demise,” J-Thomas said. “You get too emotional or you get too high on yourself or too low on yourself, that could be detrimental, not only for yourself, but those around you. So just staying even-keeled is the best thing for us this week.”
“I think in years past, we've been close. It's a play here, it's a play there. It's like 10 guys doing it right, one guy doing it wrong. And that's how planes crash.” – Penn State LT Drew Shelton on past losses to Ohio State
Despite their lack of success against the Buckeyes over the past seven years, the Nittany Lions have good reason to believe in themselves entering this year’s game. With a 7-0 record, they’re the third-ranked team in the AP poll and enter their game against Ohio State with a higher ranking than the Buckeyes for the first time since 2017, when they also brought a 7-0 record into the game before suffering a 39-38 loss in Ohio Stadium to a Buckeyes team that was 6-1 at the time.
Ohio State has certainly shown signs of being beatable in its last two games, suffering a 32-31 loss to Oregon before struggling to a 21-17 win over Nebraska, and Penn State has found a way to win every game it’s played so far this year. But the Nittany Lions also haven’t played any opponent that’s close to Ohio State’s caliber, with their only ranked win so far this year coming against Illinois.
The Buckeyes enter the game as a 3.5-point betting favorite even though Penn State has home-field advantage, so the Nittany Lions know a win won’t come easily.
“They're a really good football team. They're as talented of a roster as anybody in the country, and they're that way every single year,” Franklin said. “We have to play really well. We have to play really clean. We're going to need a great environment.”
Franklin believes his team is ready for the challenge, though, and his veterans believe they can be victorious on Saturday if they continue to do the same things that have allowed them to be successful all season.
“Guys just understand what we have to do and why we have to do it,” King said. “So I think guys are not really thinking about the past or what happened in the past (against Ohio State), but definitely learning from the mistakes made in the past and definitely growing from there and learning from there. The guys got a chip on their shoulder just like any other week, and I don't think we have to do anything different from week one through last week.”
Having only experienced losses against Ohio State, Penn State’s seniors enter Saturday’s game with the same hunger Ohio State’s seniors should have to beat Michigan later this month. While Ohio State may not consider Penn State to be a true rival, the Buckeyes have been the Nittany Lions’ most high-profile annual opponent since Penn State joined the Big Ten, so their outgoing players don’t want to leave State College without ending the losing streak.
“I feel like I can’t go four years without beating them,” said senior safety Jaylen Reed. “I'm really ready to make a statement and win this game.”
J-Thomas says he’s driven to win Saturday’s game not only for himself but for all of his teammates over the past five years who never experienced a win over the Buckeyes.
“Those guys have poured so much into this program, have done so much for everybody in here in one way or another, and so to come into this game, having the opportunity again of course to play a great team and to potentially win this game, it means the world because it's also for them,” J-Thomas said. “Those losses they've had in the years past, like they didn't deserve them. They put too much into this game for them to fall short like that and leave here without a win. So this is truly for them.”
If Ohio State is to go into Beaver Stadium and extend its winning streak to eight on Saturday, it will need to play with the same level of hunger and determination with its Big Ten championship hopes also on the line.
