A lot of people are trashing PSU for their 4 & 5 play call because it didn’t work.  Black Shoe Diaries diagnoses the plan PSU had and why it could have worked, numerically as an RPO that really puts the onus on McSorley to make the right call.

 Our coaches and our players knew what was coming though. We outcoached them. 

Let’s give this to Penn State’s coaches: they had had a plan. This was a standard zone read, and the Nittany Lions had good enough numbers to run it. There were eight blue jerseys near the heart of the formation, matched against seven white ones in the defensive box:

In blocking terms, Ohio State had a fine defensive box, with seven defenders against six Penn State blockers. But a give-or-keep option read on the play should neutralize one un-blocked defender, leveling the numbers and giving PSU an edge at the point of attack. The offense just goes where the read defender (a defensive end, here) doesn’t. 

This play is also a pre-snap run-pass option, with a bubble screen to the slot receiver available if the offense has a numbers edge to the perimeter. While Penn State has a three-on-three situation much like Ohio State had at the snap on one of its big screens, you can’t fault McSorley for not taking it, given the favorable box. Ohio State has extremely fast defensive backs, and it’s quite possible that slot man Mac Hippenhammer would not have been able to outrun safety Jordan Fuller to the line to gain.

No matter whose assignments were what, Penn State’s blocking never materialized. A play that often works collapsed before it had a chance.

It looks like Penn State’s offensive linemen got confused when two Ohio State linebackers — No. 20 Pete Werner and No. 39 Malik Harrison — shifted before the snap. Both of them went right, toward the weak side of the formation, where the play called for McSorley to read a defensive end. If the DE crashed toward running back Miles Sanders, the play called for McSorley to keep the ball and run to his left, where he’d have open grass.

The shift ruined that plan. Just after the snap, Harrison was standing where McSorley would have gone if he had kept the ball. An apparent blocking miscommunication by Penn State’s left guard and tackle also enabled the Buckeyes to pour into the backfield. The “keep” option was completely removed from the table. McSorley would have been flattened if he had run left: 

Of course, Harrison vacating the center of the formation should have left room elsewhere. But Ohio State linemen Chase Young (No. 2) and Jashon Cornell (No. 9) worked together to wreck the right side of Penn State’s offensive line, which had struggled all night. There was no lane for Sanders to the middle, either. That left the play’s three options all in bad states: 

The bubble screen to receiver Hippenhammer (No. 12) wasn’t clearly there, though Penn State could have tried it despite the eight-on-seven inside. 
McSorley’s keep option disintegrated immediately. 
The give to Sanders fell apart at pretty much the same time. 

And that’s how Penn State turned in a dud.