Favorite Stat of the Game: Eleven straight games Ohio State’s defense has held its opponent to under 300 yards of total offense. Two of those games were without Chase Young. Close to half of those games didn’t have the starting defenders play the majority of the second half of said games. Think about that. This defense has stayed that hot and at that high of a high level with players coming and going, with not playing the first team all the way through almost every game, and yet they’re the best. They were a liability last year. This year they saved the season when the offense got turnover prone. Rushmen. Best in America. Silver Bullets.
The Brooklyn Dagger Award: Chris Olave’s catch for 28 yards and the final score in the fourth quarter broke Penn State’s back. The defense never let them even sort of recover. Olave is proving to be this team’s Devin Smith. He’s the big play receiver that seems to catch almost everything that comes near him. That circus catch happened right in front of me in the south endzone and all I could say was; “How did he catch that?” High fiving fans and my fellow ushers and I just kept repeating that phrase. The guy does this though every week. Olave finished with a pair of catches for 44 yards and that crucial touchdown.
Dwayne Haskins (Player of the Game) Award: Chase Young. Chase proved he is not only the best player in America, he’s the leader of the best defense and best team in the country too. He talks the talk to his team and walks the walk. In the biggest game of the year to date, one which an opposing offense would be most prepared for him, he dominated. Nine tackles, four tackles for a loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles, and I don’t know how many uncalled holds against him. PSU couldn’t stop him legally, and he was still so strong and fast and nearly getting there when held, that the holding penalties weren’t called. He’s been unstoppable.
Defensive Player of the Game: There was another defensive player who came up nearly as big as Chase Young and that was Pete Werner. A guy who many of us, myself included, wondered why he was starting last year has shown us why this year, and I’m happy to eat crow. Werner had ten tackles, but his biggest contribution came in an area severely lacking for Buckeye linebackers in recent years and that was in pass coverage on an outstanding tight end. Werner had the tough job of covering Pat Freiermuth, one of the best tight ends in America. Freiermuth finished the game with six catches for 40 yards, but Werner broke up two passes intended for Freiermuth and the PSU tight end who has drawn comparisons to Rob Gronkowski and is known for big plays, had his biggest play be just an 11-yard gain. Pete Werner is an underrated strength of this defense right now.
Ryan Shazier-Devin Smith Award: Zach Harrison. Harrison’s stats weren’t eye-popping (four tackles) but to my eye he was in more in this one than ever and especially in pass rushing situations usually the opposite end of Chase Young. Harrison as a true freshman seemed only a step or so behind Young in meeting at the quarterback. With the news of Jonathan Cooper redshirting and returning next season, along with the recruiting a coaching of Larry Johnson Sr. the Rushmen of the future are very promising and Zach Harrison’s future is now for the Buckeyes.
Dane Sanzenbacher Award: This one might be changed to the Hill-Sanzenbacher Award after this year. K.J. Hill is a lion killer. He was J.T.’s number one target in The Comeback (2017), he had the go ahead score last year at their place when McLaurin blocked three guys, and he gave Ohio State their third and ultimately decisive touchdown on his Senior Day. He currently stands at 186 career receptions as a Buckeye only five short of tying David Boston’s 191 receptions and six shy of owning that record. We don’t deserve Captain K.J.
Taylor Decker Award: This goes to Chase Young as well. He could have been cold after getting screwed over by the NCAA’s frog fart rules. But he didn’t miss a beat. The Wisconsin game would be tough to top, Young at least equaled it, and topped it in that his contribution and leadership was needed in a much tighter game. In two games against top 15 teams Chase Young had 15 tackles, seven sacks, nine tackles for a loss, and four forced fumbles. Heisman frontrunner.
Fedora Award: It’s interesting we’re talking about how ugly this game was when Ryan Day led this team to an 11-point win. The last three for Urban were decided by a combined five points. The last two being one-point victories. There has also been a recent history of blown leads that looked like it was about to bite the Buckeyes until the smiling assassin Ryan Day stared it down and the Buckeyes got the victory. His most important test is Saturday, but so far Ryan Day isn’t just walking the walk, he’s strutting.
Sweater Vest Award: Usually a special teams shout out, this time I’m going with another team aspect that that Jim Tressel took pride in and that was fifth-year seniors. Justin Hilliard was one of the seniors honored on Senior Day, even though we’re all hopeful he gets a medical redshirt and a sixth year (and C.J. Saunders gets one too) if this was Hilliard’s last game in the Shoe the five-star recruit from Cincinnati made it a memorable one. Penn State was threatening and in Buckeye territory after Fields to Olave made the score 28-17 when Levis threw a quick pass over the middle and it hit Hilliard in the chest. To his credit, Hilliard made a pick that many a defender would have dropped, ending the last legitimate threat the Nittany Lions would make. Hilliard has shown up in big moments this season, killing an early drive by Wisconsin and killing this late one by Penn State. Hats off to a guy who has fought through a lot of adversity.
Archie Award: J.K. Dobbins. Yes, Dobbins had a fumble. But he more than made up for it with 36 carries for 157 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Dobbins had his most carries in a game on what was likely his last home game as a Buckeye and in doing so carried the team to an 11-0 record and got one step closer to history. He passed Eddie George on Ohio State’s all-time leading rushers list. He trails now only a pair of G.O.A.T.s in Archie Griffin and Ezekiel Elliott. Dobbins is a little less than 100 yards away from becoming only the second Buckeye ever along with Archie to rush for 4,000 yards. J.K. Dobbins main goal isn’t individual records though, he wants to win the big one, he wants to bring a title to Ohio and he’s a big reason why the Buckeyes are in position to do just that moving forward.
Horned Rimmed Glasses Award: Urban Meyer was the first one to use the term Buckeye Nation and it’s stuck. Buckeye Nation was huge today. My first year working at the Horseshoe was 2016 and in a 24-17 win over Northwestern I got frustrated by the crowd not getting loud on Northwestern third downs. Too many people just sat on their hands, and it aggravated me. And from what I remember on social media, a lot of people didn’t like it, and said so, and that changed with The Game that year. Buckeye nation caused four false starts in the second half against PSU. I hope everyone in Ohio Stadium realized that they helped their team win the game. How firm thy friendship.
Urban Meyer Coaching Moments of the Game: The bad was bad, four fumbles and three of them lost is a difficult stat to have and still win at all, let alone by 11. Most teams can’t do that and win November, so that must change. The good was good. I loved Ryan Day’s aggressiveness on fourth down. On the Buckeyes second touchdown drive, Ohio State went for it twice on fourth down and got them both, including a fourth and goal touchdown. Well done, coach.
Glass Half Empty: The offense showed a penchant for turning the ball over at nearly the worst time of the year. That can’t happen again, and while I previously gave the coaches a tough time for that they can’t carry the ball, so it’s a team effort to fix that flaw and fast. The defense bailed the offense out, but if you depend on them to do that too many times, you play with fire and when you play with fire you get burned. I can’t shake the vibes of 1969. I keep trying to tell myself that because I was a 90’s kid and was certain we would win ’03 and got blindsided, that I’m always nervous about The Game. That ever since 2011, when The Game is up there, I just want to record it and watch it after the fact. That every year after a year we’ve won, I think that they are due. That every year I see thru a lens of history that see’s the glass half empty. This one’s narrative is just too much. We’re on fire, among the best of the best, and the best we’ve ever been. They’re trying to capture their former glory. Things have been one-sided for a long time. That’s unusual in this rivalry. Still, I’ll be the first to eat crow should the Buckeyes make history with an eighth win in as many years.
Glass Half Full: My fellow usher Mike said to me during the drive that Olave’s circus catch daggered PSU, that if we held on to win, this may be the best thing that happened to the Buckeyes. It may be a wakeup call that they need after steam rolling everyone on virtual cruise control and it also may be a win they can point to when things get tough and remind themselves that they’ve won tough before. Like it was in 2014, this victory over PSU that started looking like a blowout and got tight late could be a springboard to glory. The Buckeyes are right where they want to be. This one wouldn’t have been close if it hadn’t been for our mistakes, proving what has been true about the Buckeyes in this century and especially since Urban Meyer’s first year as head coach; the only people who can stop the Buckeyes, are the Buckeyes.
2014 Moment: I’m flipping these two awards like I have earlier in this year. Pick a Chase Young sack. For me though, it had to be the defensive stand after the second Buckeye fumble of the second half that lead to PSU’s field goal and final score of the game. It was a defensive stand worthy of Joey Bosa and the Buckeyes in double overtime in Happy Valley in 2014. After a fumble, Penn State drove to the Ohio State 11-yard line. Then Baron Browning got a tackle for a loss on first down to the 12-yard line. Will Levis threw an incompletion on second down. On third down Ohio Stadium shook and so did the PSU offensive line. Making it third and 16 from the Buckeye 17 when Jashon Cornell and Chase Young got a sack for a loss of seven yards. Facing a 4th and 23 from the Buckeye 24-yard line, PSU had to settle for a field goal and didn’t threaten again. Stand tall, Silver Bullets.
2002 Moment: K.J. Hill’s touchdown catch. It was a pretty pass from Justin Fields to the corner of the endzone to K.J. Hill that would have made Craig Krenzel and Michael Jenkins proud. And Hill is in the attitude and clutch mold of Michael Jenkins in making big plays in big games and letting his walking do his talking.
1968 Moment: Giving up 17 unanswered and then hanging on anyway. Overcoming big deficits have been the history of this not-rivalry game the past three seasons and for a few seconds I was scared it would for a fourth year, but thanks to gritty defense and an offense that didn’t get shaken by its mistakes that didn’t happen. Some food for thought, Penn State scored fewer points on the Buckeyes than Rutgers did. Ohio State is 21-14 all-time against Penn State and 13-6 at home. Now, it’s time for war.
