Terry Smith knew his team was in a tough spot, but still had plenty of high praise for Ohio State.
Following the Buckeyes' dominant 38-14 win over Penn State Saturday afternoon, Nittany Lions interim head coach Terry Smith had nothing but positive things to say about Ryan Day's squad, especially for a pair of OSU wide receivers.
Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate made it look easy, the same way Julian Sayin did throughout much of the game. Smith finished with six catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns, while Tate had five receptions for 124 yards and a score. The duo found a way to make plays in every area of the field, showcasing their speed, route-running, and catching ability every step of the way.
With receivers such as Cris Carter, Joey Galloway, Terry Glenn, David Boston, Santonio Holmes, Ted Ginn Jr., Michael Thomas, Terry McLaurin, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Emeka Egbuka, among others, who have donned the scarlet and gray, Smith labeled Smith and Tate as not only the two best in the country, but the two best wideouts in Buckeye history.
“Credit to those guys. They're the two best guys in the country. Just watching these guys live — and I don't mean this disrespectfully to the past Ohio State receivers, but these two are better than all of them, and those guys are all good. They put it on film, and they were outstanding today. We could not cover them.”– Terry Smith
While the final result never really seemed to be in doubt, Penn State kept things close in the first half, especially just before halftime. After a C.J. Donaldson fumble, the Nittany Lions scored a touchdown to cut the lead to 17-14 heading into halftime.
But Ohio State dominated throughout the second half, outscoring Penn State in the final two quarters, 21-0. The offense was not only able to move the ball easily, but the Silver Bullets held the Nittany Lions to 60 yards in the second half. There was a stretch from the 12:14 mark of the third quarter to the 9:43 mark of the fourth quarter that the Nittany Lions ran 17 plays for one (1!) total yard.
“A game of two halves. In the first half, we came out and fought valiantly. We got the critical takeaway late in the second quarter, and the offense converted. We scored two touchdowns in the red zone against a team that's No. 1 in the country in that area. We came out in the second half, and the third quarter set the tone for them. They got 14 points, and we just never could respond.”– Terry Smith
On the opening drive of the game, Penn State was nearly able to get to midfield four plays. But on 4th-and-3 at OSU's 42-yard line, the Nittany Lions decided to punt rather than go for it in a game where they were nearly three-touchdown underdogs and needed to pull out all of their tricks to pull off an upset.
The decision was questioned by some, but Smith believes that it was the right call, even in hindsight.
“Another key point of emphasis. We know what their offense is, and we felt like let's give them a long field. They had 90 yards to go. Unfortunately for us, they went 90 yards. Hindsight's 20/20, but we wanted to make sure that we won the field position battle. In the first half, we did win the field position battle, and we were in the game. In the second half, we didn't, and we did not win the game.”– Terry Smith
