THE PERTINENT INFO
When: Saturday, September 29, 2018
Where: Beaver Stadium, State College, PA
TV: 7:30 // ABC
Announcers: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Maria Taylor
This is the thirteenth time Ohio State has traveled to State College to play Penn State in football. The Buckeyes have won four of the last five games played at Beaver Stadium and hold a 19–14 advantage in the all-time series.
James Franklin's team defeated Illinois (63-24) last week and enters this contest with a 4–0 record.
Below, you will find some interesting facts about the teams, key offensive player stats, coach information, and team stats.
THE LAST TIME...
- Ohio State played Penn State, the Buckeyes won a 39-38 thriller in Columbus .
- The Buckeyes played the Nittany Lions in State College, Ohio State lost 21-24.
- Ohio State defeated a Top 10 PSU squad in Beaver Stadium was 1976 (12-7).
- These schools faced each other with undefeated records was 1998.
- The Buckeyes played on the 29th of September was 2012, No. 14 Ohio State defeated No. 20 Michigan State 17-16 in Spartan Stadium.
- Ohio State was ranked in the top 5 on September 29th was 1984, the third ranked Bucks defeated Minnesota (30-7) in the Metrodome.
- The Buckeyes lost on 9/29 was...never. Ohio State is 13–0 and has outscored its opponents 844-309 on this date..
- Penn State defeated Ohio State in consecutive games played in State College was between 1997 and 2001. The Nittany Lions won three straight home games against the Buckeyes in 1997, 1999 and 2001.
ON THE HORIZON
- The 2018 Buckeyes can be the first in the program's history to start a season by scoring 40 or more points in its first five games.
- J.K. Dobbins is 274 yards away from 2,000 career rushing yards.
- The Buckeyes have an all-time winning percentage of .725 and are .04 percentage points from taking the all-time lead.
Penn State University
GET TO KNOW PENN STATE
- Pennsylvania State University is located in State College, PA.
- The university was established in 1855.
- Farmers High School of Pennsylvania was the school's original name.
- The first recorded game in PSU history was played on November 12, 1881. Penn State went to Bucknell and won 9-0.
- Penn State is 55–25 (.688) since 2012.
- Since joining the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions are 128–77 (.624) against conference opponents.
TODAY'S TRIVIA QUESTIONS:
- Ohio State will play for a record 42nd time when ESPN's GameDay is on site. Can you name the only other school that has played in 42 contests with GameDay on site?
- How many times has Ohio State started a season by scoring 40 or more points in its first four games? Hint, not a trick question as zero is not the answer.
- The Buckeyes have been the road team 15 times for an ESPN GameDay contest, what is Ohio State's record in those 15 games?
Answers at the bottom of today's article.
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| OFFENSIVE LEADERS | ||||
| DWAYNE HASKINS | 1,194 YDS // 16 TD // 1 INT | PASSING | TRACE McSORLEY | 764 YDS // 8 TD // 2 INT |
| J.K. DOBBINS | 323 YDS // 5.8 YPC // 2 TD | RUSHING | MILES SANDERS | 495 YDS // 7.0 YPC // 5 TD |
| PARRIS CAMPBELL | 299 YDS // 5 TD | RECEIVING | KJ HAMLER | 171 YDS // 3 TD |
| DEFENSIVE LEADERS | ||||
| JAHSEN WINT | 15 | TACKLES | JUWAN JOHNSON | 24 |
| NICK BOSA | 4.0 | SACKS | YETUR GROSS-MATOS | 1.5 |
| DRE'MONT JONES AND 3 OTHERS | 1 | INTERCEPTIONS | AMANI ORUWARIYE | 2 |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| DEMARIO McCALL | 10.7 YPR | PUNT RETURNER | DeANDRE THOMPKINS | 19.9 |
| DEMARIO McCALL | 26.0 YPR | KICKOFF RETURN | KJ HAMLER | 31.5 |
| DRUE CHRISMAN | 42.4 | PUNTING | BLAKE GILLIKIN | 43.6 |
| 3 | EDGE | 6 | ||
THE COACHES
Urban Meyer
- 74–8 (.902) at Ohio State
- 177–31 (.852) overall
Meyer was born in Toledo and grew up in Ashtabula. He attended Cincinnati where he played football. He started his coaching career as a defensive backs coach at St. Xavier in 1985. Meyer then took a GA position with Ohio State between 1986 and 1987. His next stops were Illinois State (1988-89), Colorado State (1990-95) and Notre Dame (1996-2000).
Bowling Green (2001-02) was his first stop as a head coach. He then had stints in Utah (2003-04) and Florida (2005-10) before coming back to the great state of Ohio.
James Franklin
- 40–17 (.702) at Penn State (5th year)
- 64–32 (.667) overall as a college coach (8th year)
James Franklin played quarterback for East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania for four seasons. He left the school with seven school records and a degree in Psychology in 1995.
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is where Franklin started as a WR coach in 1995. He went on to serve as an assistant at the following schools: East Stroudsburg, Roskilde Kings, James Madison, Washington State, Idaho State, Maryland and Kansas State. Franklin was also an intern for the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings.
Before his stay at Penn State, Franklin was the head coach at Vanderbilt where he led the Commodores to consecutive bowl games for the first time in program history. He is currently under contract with PSU through the 2022 season.
CLIFF CLAVEN'S LITTLE KNOWN FACTS CORNER
- Dwayne Haskins is the first quarterback in Big Ten history to throw for five touchdowns in two of the first four games of a season.
- Ohio State (55.4) and Penn State (55.5) are ranked first and second in scoring offense.
- Haskins is on pace to break Joe Germaine's single season record of 3,330 passing yards.
- The Buckeyes have won nine straight games.
- Through four games, nine different Ohio State players have a receiving touchdown.
- Ohio State has two players from Pennsylvania a on its roster: Marcus Hooker, Jake Metzer
- Tate Martell owns the Ohio State single-game completion percentage record. His 10-10 performance against Rutgers is a program best.
- Haskins is listed third and fourth on the single-game percentage list (.875/Tulane and .869/Rutgers).
- Since 2007, the Buckeyes have defeated 13 ranked teams on the road. Six of those teams were ranked in the top 15.
- Haskins leads the Big Ten in passing yards (1,194), passing touchdowns (16), completion percentage (.757), points responsible for per game (25.5) and total offense (305.5).
- Penn State has played in 28 games when both teams are ranked in the Top 10. The Nittany Lions are 13–15 (.464) in those games.
- Ohio State has not allowed an opponent to score in the fourth quarter this season.
- Last week, Parris Campbell eclipsed 1,000 career receiving yards.
- The Buckeyes are ranked second nationally in number of 1,000-yard rushers (69).
- 17 true freshman have played for Ohio State this season.
- Sean Nuernberger has made 206 consecutive extra points. He has never missed as a Buckeye.
- 2013 was the last time an Ohio State TE had over 100 yards receiving. Jeff Heuerman had 116 receiving yards in the 56-0 rout of Purdue.
- Following the win against Tulane, Urban Meyer is 41–3 in Ohio Stadium.
- Nick Bosa had a sack against TCU which extended his streak to six-straight games with a sack.
- Since 2012, the Buckeyes are 23–2 in the month of September.
- Ohio State has scored 432 touchdowns since 2012. That is the most in the Big Ten and 107 more than second place Wisconsin (325).
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| OFFENSE | ||||
| 54.5 | 2nd | POINTS FOR | 55.5 | 1st |
| 233.3 | 27th | RUSHING OFFENSE | 275.0 | 10th |
| 365.8 | 6th | PASSING OFFENSE | 239.5 | 62nd |
| 599.0 | 3rd | TOTAL OFFENSE | 514.5 | 16th |
| .588 | 3rd | 3rd DOWNS | .490 | 17th |
| .864 | 62nd | RED ZONE | 1.00 | 1st |
| DEFENSE | ||||
| 17.0 | 23rd | POINTS ALLOWED | 19.5 | 35th |
| 142.0 | 59th | RUSH DEFENSE | 172.5 | 82nd |
| 181.3 | 39th | PASS DEFENSE | 173.3 | 29th |
| 110.7 | 30th | PASS EFFICIENCY DEFENSE | 109.9 | 29th |
| 323.3 | 25th | TOTAL DEFENSE | 345.8 | 45th |
| .362 | 58th | 3rd DOWNS | .339 | 42nd |
| .833 | 64th | RED ZONE | .727 | 25th |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| 7.8 | 77th | PUNT RETURN | 18.8 | 18th |
| 21.3 | 63rd | KICKOFF RETURN | 29.9 | 9th |
| 42.4 | 13th | NET PUNTING | 40.1 | 39th |
| MISCELLANEOUS | ||||
| +1.3 | 12th | TURNOVER MARGIN | +0.3 | 52nd |
| 8.0 | 104th | PENALTIES | 5.8 | 46th |
| 8 | EDGE | 10 | ||
TODAY'S TRIVIA ANSWERS
Ohio State will play for a record 42nd time when ESPN's GameDay is on site. Can you name the only other school that has played in 42 contests with GameDay on site?
Answer: Alabama.
How many times has Ohio State started a season by scoring 40 or more points in its first four games? Hint, not a trick question as zero is not the answer.
Answer: Four, the seasons are: 2018, 2016, 2013 and 1917. Ohio State went on to win the Big Ten in 2016, 2013 (B1G East) and 1917.
The Buckeyes have been the road team 15 times for an ESPN GameDay contest, what is Ohio State's record in those 15 games?
Answer: 11–4.
