Julian Sayin, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate made the nation's No. 5 passing defense look like a junior varsity squad on Saturday.
Penn State entered with a secondary known as a strength of a talented but downtrodden football team, but Sayin torched the Nittany Lions, throwing more touchdown passes than incompletions. He went 20-of-23 for 316 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, an incredible 87% completion rate and 13.7 yards per pass attempt.
Tate and Smith were there to help Sayin along the way with some spectacular catches, as Tate finished with five receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown, and Smith collected five receptions for 123 yards and two touchdowns. Through eight games, Ohio State has had the best quarterback and the two best receivers in college football.
Defensively, it was another dominant outing for the Buckeyes, who allowed just 200 yards of offense from Penn State. Linebacker Arvell Reese had another Butkus Award-caliber performance with 12 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack, while defensive end Kenyatta Jackson Jr. had one of the most productive performances of his career with four tackles and two sacks, leading the way for a defense that remains the best in the country with the nation’s best linebacker tandem.
Some good perimeter plays and play calls from Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki combined with an untimely CJ Donaldson fumble to keep the Nittany Lions close at halftime in a 17-14 ballgame, but Ohio State otherwise controlled the contest from the jump. The Buckeyes outscored PSU 21-0 in the second half.
Eleven Warriors' Andy Anders and Dan Hope discuss a performance with a lot of superlatives for Ohio State on After Carmen, our postgame show from Ohio Stadium.
