A top-three win on the road means that many of the investments made by Ohio State's coaching staff are yielding dividends.
For the first time in this year's collection of stock reports, there are six holdings identified as on the rise for the Buckeyes, though the offensive line gets a double-dip because its effort was that good given extremely adverse circumstances in a 20-13 win at No. 3 Penn State.
When a program gets a turning-point win as big as Ohio State got this past weekend, there's little left to criticize. One tries to remain fair and balanced as a reporter, but the fair and balanced thing is to recognize the Buckeyes for all the strides made and all the toughness shown in a four-quarter war won before a record Beaver Stadium crowd of 111,030.
All of Ohio State's goals still remain to be achieved, but they are only possible – at least the objective of winning a Big Ten possible – because of the team's effort against the Nittany Lions.
Stock Up
The Slobs
A 2.1 yard-per-carry rushing effort and Swiss cheese-type pass protection against Nebraska had an unnamed Stock Up/Down writer calling for Ohio State to lean heavier on its passing game going into Happy Valley. Boy was that guy wrong.
The Buckeyes patched up an offensive line that lost its star left tackle for the season and his replacement one game later then came out and pounded Penn State for 5.2 yards per carry if sacks are removed. Getting the ball back at its own 1-yard line with 5:13 to play and a one-score lead, Ohio State leaned on the unit to run the ball 10 straight times and kill each of those 313 seconds remaining on the clock. Despite the hostile environment, no flags were thrown on OSU's offensive line. Justin Frye and company, take another bow.
Donovan Jackson and Carson Hinzman
The offensive line stepped up so nice that it had to be mentioned twice. Drilling down on specifics here, Jackson and Hinzman both started at positions they had not played yet at the collegiate level, with the former bumping out to left tackle and the latter taking Jackson's place at left guard.
While elite Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter won a few reps against Jackson, who still only allowed four pressures with two sacks per Pro Football Focus, Jackson in turn pile drove Carter 10 yards in a given direction on a couple of running plays. Both he and Hinzman – last year's starting center who was benched before the Cotton Bowl and faded from the right guard competition in part due to illness in preseason camp – were forces of nature on the ground on the left side. They joined center Seth McLaughlin and right tackle Josh Fryar as Offensive Players of the Game for Ohio State.
An Inch of Grass
Twice, Penn State drove the football down to Ohio State's 3-yard line. Both times it came away with zero points. Davison Igbinosun made an interception sure to make the end-of-season highlight reel for the Buckeyes just before halftime to preserve a 14-10 lead and the defense held the Nittany Lions to 2 yards on four plays to get the ball back to the offense up 20-13 for the above-mentioned game-sealing drive.
"It shows you that there's a grit, there's a toughness, there's a, 'Never give up, give me an inch, I'm going to defend it' type of mentality," Day said after the game of his defense's goal-line stands. "You've got to give Jim (Knowles) and the entire staff credit on defense for the preparation going into this game."
WHAT AN UNREAL INTERCEPTION
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 2, 2024
How did Davison Igbinosun even catch this for @OhioStateFB?! pic.twitter.com/YlvorsDzSE
BIA
Penn State's wide receivers are not very good, this is known. That being acknowledged, Ohio State's cornerbacks held those wideouts to three catches for 49 yards on Saturday. For a unit criticized as much as any coming off of the Buckeyes' 32-31 loss at Oregon, namely Denzel Burke after he allowed eight receptions for 179 yards and two touchdowns in that game, they played more to their Best in America moniker and standard.
Jayden Fielding
As much as Ohio State's offensive line had to hold its mettle on the road, college kickers go through every bit as big of a pressure cooker in hostile environments. Fielding has had unreliable moments this season – see his three kickoffs out of bounds against Marshall – but he proved dependable at Penn State, going 2-for-2 on his field goals with a 46-yarder and a 39-yarder.
Big Game Day
This is arguably the biggest game Ryan Day has won since the College Football Playoff semifinals against Clemson following the 2020 season. The Rose Bowl win over Utah following 2021 was nice, but a top-five win on the road with his program's back against a wall and future goals at stake held much more importance. Day's career record against top-five opponents improved to 3-6 and he's now winning against top-10 foes at 9-8.
Stock Down
Will Howard's Ball Security
Howard's been good for one gaffe in several Ohio State games this year, but against Penn State, he made two: a pick-six that directly led to seven points for the Nittany Lions and a fumble out of the end zone that probably removed seven points for the Buckeyes. He responded well, however, with no second-half turnovers and two key third-down conversions with his legs on OSU's contest-clinching possession.
Nitpicks
Outside the obvious with Howard's turnovers, there's not a lot of nits to pick when a top-three win is earned. The Buckeyes allowed Penn State quarterback Drew Allar to scramble a little bit in the first half, but rush lane discipline and pass rush improved in equal measure as the game went on. Ohio State failed to connect on its two deepest pass attempts, one was on the quarterback (Howard) and one was on the receiver (Jeremiah Smith). Not much else negative to say here.
Texas A&M
The most major of three top-25 upsets over the weekend, the then-No. 10 Aggies were dismantled 44-20 by three-loss South Carolina, putting a dampener on their playoff chances as they dropped to 15th in the AP Poll.
Iowa State
Texas Tech marched down the field in the final minutes and scored a touchdown with 20 seconds to play to hand the then-No. 11 Cyclones their first Big 12 loss of the season and dropping them to No. 17.
Kansas State
Howard's former squad held a 19-10 lead in the fourth quarter only to fall to a three-win Houston squad 24-19. The Wildcats dropped from 17th to 22nd in the AP Poll.
