No. 2 Ohio State (7-0) will travel to State College, Pennsylvania on Saturday for a top 25 matchup against No. 13 Penn State (6-1). Credit: Gabe Haferman | For The Lantern
Two Big Ten East foes meet on the gridiron Saturday.
No. 2 Ohio State (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) will venture to State College, Pennsylvania, and play the No. 13 Nittany Lions, returning to the home state of third-year wide receiver Julian Fleming. A five-star who ranked among the top recruits in the 2020 cycle, Fleming said he’s excited to play at a place he considered during his recruitment.
“I got a couple of friends on the team,” Fleming said. “It’s definitely going to be fun to go in there and play against some of my friends and some people that I’ve known for a long time.”
Penn State (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten) has one player the Buckeyes are keeping their eyes on.
Nittany Lions redshirt junior cornerback Joey Porter Jr. is tied for the most pass break-ups in the Big Ten with 11, including five in the previous four games. The former Third Team All-Big Ten recipient caught the eye of third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud.
“He’s a really good player,” Stroud said. “The best DB in college football other than the guys we have on my team.”
Stroud overcame an empty first half last Saturday against Iowa and threw four touchdowns in the second, finishing with 286 passing yards. He’ll face a Nittany Lions secondary that ranks ninth in the Big Ten and allows an average of 232.9 passing yards per game.
Penn State also boasts the Big Ten’s top turnover margin, averaging at least one more takeaway than its opponents each game. Stroud said Ohio State must play favorably against a Nittany Lion defense with “good length.”
“We got to do our part on making sure that we just run clean and push routes and try to read body language,” Stroud said. “I got to be on time with the throws as well, because they do take advantage of the quarterback not being on time.”
Redshirt senior quarterback Sean Clifford and Penn State got back into the win column last week during their traditional “White Out” game against Minnesota, earning a 45-17 win.
The Nittany Lions boast a high-scoring offense behind an average of 33.4 points per game, which ranks fourth-best in the Big Ten. Wide receivers senior Mitchell Tinsley and sophomore Parker Washington combine for nine receiving touchdowns and over 300 receiving yards apiece, and head coach Ryan Day said he expects a test offensively Saturday.
“The combination of quarterback and wide receiver will be the biggest challenge so far,” Day said. “They’re a good collection of talent. Running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and the quarterback.”
Ohio State’s offense was mostly one-dimensional last time out against Iowa, amassing 360 total yards while rushing for a season low of 66. Running backs third-year Miyan Williams and second-year TreVeyon Henderson each received at least 10 carries against the Hawkeyes.
Iowa forced the first strip-sack of Stroud’s career last Saturday as senior defensive end Joe Evans broke through the Buckeye offensive line. Second-year offensive lineman Donovan Jackson said Ohio State “didn’t execute” well enough against the Hawkeyes.
“I feel like the run game is a point of emphasis every week. We don’t just turn it off week after week,” Jackson said. “It’s another week, another way to run the ball in an effective way, so we’re just trying to get back to what we did before.”
Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles guided the Buckeyes to one of their best performances this season, forcing six turnovers for the first time since 2000, led by two interceptions from graduate safety Tanner McCalister.
Buckeye linebackers have shown improvement from a season ago under the new defensive scheme, and fourth-year Tommy Eichenberg snagged the first pick-six of his career while third-year Cody Simon tied his career-high two tackles for loss.
Simon said he’s adjusted to Knowles’ defense that features two linebackers consistently on the field, and he’s fourth among Buckeye tackles with 26 this season.
“I just had to get that right in my mind to just be ready at any point,” Simon said. “I appreciate my coaches for allowing me to be out there because it’s a tough task, but they trusted me and I felt like I can get the job done for what they need me to do, and I think it worked out.”
Ohio State and Penn State won’t meet under the lights for the first time since 2009, but FOX Big Noon Kickoff hosts for the first time on the Nittany Lions’ campus.
“We know whether it’s night game, afternoon game, noon game, it’s going to be a challenge,” Day said. “Really good coaches, really good players, veteran quarterback, new scheme this year on defense, play good on special teams, so we got to play our A-game.”
Ohio State kicks off at Penn State Saturday at noon on FOX.
