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Ohio State 44, Penn State 31: What Twitter Had to Say

Saturday was a wild ride on Penn State Twitter

By Marty Leap
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Ohio State v Penn State Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

After a strong second quarter, the Nittany Lions took the lead and all the momentum into the locker room against Ohio State on Saturday afternoon. At this point Nittany Nation was believing that their beloved Lions could upset the no. 2 Buckeyes. Unfortunately, things went awry in the second half as the Buckeyes survived a hostile Beaver Stadium.

The game created an up and down, wild, and fun day on Penn State Twitter. Things started hairy though, with Nittany Lion fans calling for Sean Clifford to be benched after he threw interceptions on each of their first two possessions. While the first interception was a fluky play, the second was a terrible play by Clifford as he stared down Kaytron Allen and made a poor throw, all while failing to see a pair of wide open receivers for easy first downs.

With Penn State trailing 10-0 the offense started to wake up. Chunk plays started to come from the wide receivers, led by Parker Washington who had one of the best games of his career. It started with a 58-yard touchdown catch and run, cutting the OSU lead to 10-7.

On Penn State’s next possession, it was a 43-yard gain to tight end Theo Johnson. This was followed by a 23-yard touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith. Just like that, the Nittany Lions led 14-10.

The biggest star of the first half for Penn State was their defense. They held the high powered Buckeye offense to just 13 points while they went 1/7 on third downs in the opening half. Twice Ohio State started a drive in Nittany Lion territory due to Clifford’s interceptions, and the drives netted a total of 7 points. Manny Diaz’s bunch was flying around and making plays.

The biggest play of the half for Penn State’s defense came on the final play of the half. With the Buckeyes inside the Penn State 5-yard line and :06 seconds remaining in the half, they rushed to line looking to get off one last play before a field goal attempt. Johnny Dixon would step up on a corner blitz, sacking CJ Stroud and stripping him off the ball to end the half with Penn State leading 14-13.

The third quarter was a defensive battle. Ohio State scored the lone points of the quarter with a field goal, taking a 16-14 lead into the fourth quarter. A fourth quarter that had both fanbases feeling plenty of stress and anxiety as it began.

A wild sequence occurred in the 4th quarter where Jake Pinegar had two field goal attempts, both of which he missed, negated due to penalties. After Penn State covered on 4th and 1, they appeared to score two plays later.

The play was reviewed and it was determined that Mitchell Tinsley fumbled the ball at the 1-yard line. Then on 4th and goal from inside the 1, Kaytron Allen went into grown ass man mode to score the go ahead touchdown with 9:26 remaining in the game.

Unfortunately, things would start to go south for Penn State after this.

Ohio State needed just three plays to score and retake the lead on their next drive. Sean Clifford then lost a fumble on the second play of Penn State’s ensuring drive, which led to a one play scoring drive for the Buckeyes.

Jake Pinegar was able to hit a late field goal to pull Penn State within 6 at 30-24.

Unfortunately, this would be it for Penn State and feeling like they had a chance to win the game. After another OSU touchdown drive and a Clifford pick-6, they writing was on the wall in a 44-31 Nittany Lions loss.

While Saturday’s loss against the Buckeyes was a tough pill to swallow, the Nittany Lions are still in a good spot at 6-2. They will be favored, potentially by double digits, in each of their four remaining games. A 10-2 season with a trip to a New Year’s Six Bowl appears very doable for the Nittany Lions, and that is something anyone would have signed up for coming off a two year stretch that saw Penn State go 11-11.

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