If the Notre Dame game wasn’t evidence enough, this is a championship level defense.
Missing arguably our best player (Denzel Burke), we held Penn State to 12 points (should have been 6 - penalty aided last drive notwithstanding).
Penn State went 1/16! on 3rd down. They had 6 yards in the 2nd half before that final drive.
Drew Allar and the Penn State offense had a pitiful second half. Here's their drive chart.
Is the Nittany Lions' offense that bad?
Or is the Ohio State defense better than ever? pic.twitter.com/idZ6fhFWUK
— Pate State Dropout (@PateST_Dropout) October 21, 2023
This was a Penn State offense that hasn’t scored below 30 all season long. They put up 400 yards of offense and 31 points against an Iowa defense that is ranked top 25 nationally. They came in with the #1 rushing offense in the Big Ten.
Listen I have never liked Ohio State. However
Ohio State went on the road and beat Notre Dame in South Bend.
Penn St came in averaging 44 ppg and theyve held them to 6.
If you think theyre mid or not good or whatever else, thats on you, and you clearly dont know
— Chris Marler (@VernFunquist) October 21, 2023
Massive credit goes to the coaching staff. Larry Johnson has this D Line dominating the line of scrimmage and collapsing the pocket on every single play. JT Tuimoloau has become a straight up superstar.
We legitimately go four deep at LB - Cody Simon has been excellent when he's come in the past few games.
Tim Walton’s group didn’t miss a beat with Burke out. Davison Igbinosun and true freshman Jermaine Mathews have been awesome. Jordan Hancock is playing out of his mind (shades of Shaun Wade in 2019). Perry Eliano is getting career seasons out of Josh Proctor and Lathan Ransom.
And Jim Knowles has gotten so much better from last year - he is ratcheting up the aggression at the perfect moments.
This is a defense that can carry our offense until we get our 2nd and 3rd best players back (Emeka Egbuka and TreVeyon Henderson).
The Silver Bullets are back, baby!
