Buckeye Rosters

Recap

Columbus, OH — With the forecast calling for rain the entire afternoon, the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes and No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions quickly knew the afternoon would be a defensive battle. And the Silver Bullets stepped up to the challenge by limiting the Penn State attack to just 181 total yards, including just 79 yards rushing.

The two schools played scoreless football until 8:08 remained in the second quarter. Penn State kicker Travis Forney gave his team an early 3-0 lead with a 42-yard field goal. With 3:55 remaining in the half, the momentum shifted in the Buckeyes favor with what was perhaps the biggest play in Jerry Rudzinski’s career. With the ball on the PSU 13-yard line, Kevin Thompson was sacked by Rudzinski and fumbled the ball before going down. The opportunistic Rudzinski saw his opportunity and pounced on the ball for the first score of his OSU career.

After a PSU punt, the Buckeyes put together their best drive of the afternoon with 1:48 remaining in the half. It took eight plays, but OSU drove 51 yards with Joe Germaine connecting with Michael Wiley on a 20-yard touchdown play. The drive was kept alive by Dee Miller, who had 17, 19 and 11-yard receptions, with the 11-yarder on fourth down. Miller was chosen as OSU’s ABC Player of the Game after his six-catch, 108-yard day. With 12:44 remaining in the third quarter, Percy King broke through the Penn State line and blocked Pat Pidgeon’s punt attempt. The ball quickly dribbled into the endzone, where Joe Cooper dived on it for the first score of his career. Later in the quarter, Germaine tossed his first interception of the season to David Macklin. Two plays later, Mike Cerimele rushed up the middle for a 1-yard touchdown to bring the score to 21-9. OSU tacked on the final score of the game with 3:08 remaining in the quarter. Joe Montgomery put the Buckeyes on the 1-yard line with a 20-yard scamper and put the ball in the next play to bring the game to its final score, 28-9.

The Buckeyes played a brilliant game defensively. On 34 of 59 plays, the Penn State offense was limited to zero or negative yardage. Damon Moore and Na’il Diggs led the unit with seven tackles and two tackles-for-loss apiece. Altogether, the unit racked up 12 tackles-for-loss and forced 16 incompletions.

NOTES: Junior Percy King picked up his third special teams block of his career in the third quarter. King blocked a field goal against Iowa and an extra point against Michigan State last season.

Ohio State vs. Penn State has become a game that the nation stops and watches. For the third-consecutive year, Ohio State and Penn State each came into this game unbeaten and ranked in the Top 10. And since this 13-game rivalry was resumed in 1993, Ohio State has come into the game unbeaten and ranked in the Top 10 five out of the six years while Penn State has come in unbeaten and in the Top 10 four times.

Ohio State and Penn State have met 14 times with the Nittany Lions holding an 8-6 advantage in wins. This was the sixth meeting since Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993. Ohio State has now won four times since ’93 (24-6 in ’93 at Ohio Stadium; 28-25 in ’95 at Beaver Stadium; 38-7 in ’96 at Ohio Stadium and 28-9 in 1998). The Buckeyes are 4-2 vs. Penn State under John Cooper. All-time, OSU is 4-5 vs. Penn State in Columbus, 2-2 in State College and 0-1 at neutral sites (the 1980 Fiesta Bowl).