Ohio State returns to the field this week following their second bye week of the season. The last time the Buckeyes took the field was two weeks ago in Madison, where they blanked Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin
Badgers 34-0.
The shutout was the second of the season for the Ohio State defense, which is allowing just 5.9 points per game this season, the best mark in the country. The victory was the 11th straight win for the Buckeyes, the longest current active winning streak in the country.
The first of five opponents in November for Ohio State will be Penn State, who the Buckeyes hold an eight-game winning streak against. Ryan Day’s team should be rested and ready to go on Saturday. Under Day, the Buckeyes are 21-4 in games where they have had at least a week to prepare for their opponent.
Ohio State will be looking to extend a 22-game winning streak they have when it comes to games following in-season bye weeks, with the last loss coming back in 2005 when they were beaten by the Nittany Lions 17-10 in State College.
A pause is coming in the series between the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions
Saturday’s game will be the last in a stretch that has seen the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions play in 33 consecutive seasons. The next time Ohio State and Penn State are scheduled to meet in the regular season will be in the 2028 season in State College.
The Buckeyes hold a 25-14 edge in the all-time series. Even though Ohio State holds an eight-game winning streak in the series, Penn State routinely pushes the Buckeyes to the limit, as evidenced by the margin of victory in those eight games being just 6.75 points.
Sayin is slaying it for Ohio State’s offense
Julian Sayin enters this week’s game coming off the best performance of his career, throwing for a career-high 393 yards and tying his career-high with four touchdown passes in the win over Wisconsin. The redshirt freshman quarterback was surgical throwing the football against the Badgers, completing 36 of his 42 pass attempts.
Sayin is the first Ohio State quarterback with two games completing at least 85 percent of his passes, throwing for at least 300 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Not only is Sayin the most accurate passer in the country, he has established himself as one of the favorites to be a Heisman Trophy finalist next month.
What was most impressive about Sayin’s performance against Wisconsin was how he spread the football around, finding 10 different receivers in the game. The receiving star of the game was Carnell Tate, who caught six passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Tate now has 34 catches this season for 587 yards, and six scores.
Along with Tate, Jeremiah Smith was also impressive, hauling in a team-high nine passes for 97 yards. Despite not finding the end zone, Smith still has 22 receiving touchdowns in his Ohio State career, which ranks 10th in school history. With his next receiving score, Smith will tie Garrett Wilson’s on the school’s career-list, and will put him one behind Emeka Egbuka and Brian Robiskie.
The part of the offense that most likely was worked on the most during the bye week was the rushing attack. Freshman running back Bo Jackson currently leads the team with 433 yards rushing, but he hasn’t been quite as effective lately as he was earlier in the season because he has been playing through an ankle injury.
C.J. Donaldson Jr. has been great in short-yardage situations, rushing for six touchdowns, he just doesn’t have the ability to make explosive plays quite like Jackson.
The wildcard the rest of the season could be freshman Isaiah West, who rushed for a career-high 55 yards against Wisconsin on just nine carries. While West isn’t going to take over Jackson’s role in the backfield, he could see his usage increase the rest of the season, especially if he continues to run hard like he did against the Badgers.
With five games left in the regular season, along with what hopefully is another deep run into the College Football Playoff, the more effective rushers the Buckeyes have at their disposal, the better.
The main reason the Ohio State offense has been able to look so fluid this year is because of the work of the offensive line. The big uglies up front have kept Julian Sayin clean through the first seven games, only allowing three sacks, which ranks third in the country.
Along with protecting Sayin, the line also has limited opponents when it comes to stopping Buckeyes behind the line of scrimmage, with the 19 tackles for loss they have given up being the lowest mark in FBS.
The defensive domination is historic
To say Ohio State’s defense has been dominant this year might be an understatement. The Buckeyes have allowed just 41 points through their first seven games of the season, which is the lowest total by an FBS team since Florida State allowed 38 points through their first seven games back in 1993.
Matt Patricia’s crew is giving up just 5.9 points per game and 216.9 yards per contest so far this season.
Up front, Caden Curry will be looking to continue his tremendous season by making life miserable for Ethan Grunkemeyer on Saturday. Curry currently sits atop the Big Ten with seven sacks this season.
Curry and Kayden McDonald have been quite a combo this year, with the defensive tackle adding six tackles for loss, three sacks, and two forced fumbles. Defensive end Kenyatta Jackson Jr. has his eyes on a strong close to the regular season after recording 2.5 sacks through the first seven games.
While Curry, McDonald, and Jackson do the dirty work on the defensive line, all eyes will be on linebackers Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles, who NFL scouts are salivating over. Reese leads the Buckeyes with 42 tackles and is on Curry’s heels with 5.5 sacks. Styles has added 39 tackles and last game against Wisconsin he hauled in his first career interception.
To compliment Reese and Styles, Payton Pierce has played solid football when his number has been called, recording 25 tackles this year.
As the season goes on, safety Caleb Downs looks like he is getting stronger. After recording a season-high nine tackles against Illinois, Downs had six solo tackles versus Wisconsin, pushing his season total to 34 stops, which is tied with Curry for third on the Buckeyes.
Downs leads a secondary that is allowing just 131.3 yards per game, ranking third in the country.
The secondary should have defensive back Lorenzo Styles Jr. back on the field this week, after Styles missed the previous two games because of injury. Styles was available to play against Wisconsin, but the coaching staff decided it was better to let his injury heal, allowing Devin Sanchez some more time on the field, while Jermaine Mathews Jr. stepped in at nickel back for Styles.
A mess in State College
Penn State enters this game in the middle of a lost season. The Nittany Lions entered the season ranked second in the country after making it to the College Football Playoff semifinals last season, losing to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. After opening up the season 3-0, Penn State lost to Oregon in double overtime under the lights at home.
Following the loss to the Ducks, things spiraled out of control for the Nittany Lions. Not only was Penn State shocked in Pasadena by UCLA, the Nittany Lions fell at home to Northwestern, resulting in the firing of head coach James Franklin.
Associate head coach Terry Smith, who had been an assistant in State College since 2014, was elevated to interim head coach. In Smith’s first game in charge, Penn State lost by a point for the second game in a row, losing 25-24 at Iowa two weeks ago.
The four losses suffered by the Nittany Lions this season have come by a combined 13 points.
Penn State’s offense has lost their leader
Entering the season, Drew Allar was being talked about as a possible first round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. Over the previous two seasons, Allar had thrown 49 touchdown passes and just 10 interceptions.
Unfortunately for Penn State, Allar was injured in the Northwestern game, resulting in the quarterback being ruled out for the rest of the season.
Stepping in for Allar is Lewis Center native Ethan Grunkemeyer, who threw for 198 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions, while also rushing for a score against Iowa. Prior to his first career start, the redshirt freshman had attempted just 13 passes during his time in State College.
As if taking on the Hawkeyes at night at Kinnick Stadium wasn’t tough enough, now Grunkemeyer will not only have to deal with the crowd in Columbus on Saturday, he will also be tasked with trying to solve the best defense in the country.
With a new starter at quarterback, Kaytron Allen did all he could to shoulder more of the load against Iowa. The running back rushed for 145 yards and two touchdowns, marking his first game where he ran for at least 100 yards and rushed for multiple touchdowns.
Allen is the active FBS lead with 3,489 career rushing yards, and his 33 rushing touchdowns rank fourth. The senior and Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski are the only FBS players to rush for at least one touchdown in each of their team’s games this season.
Joining Allen in the Penn State backfield is Nicholas Singleton, with the duo being the first pair of Power 4 teammates with at least 3,000 career rushing yards at the same time since Sony Michel and Nick Chubb at Georgia in 2017.
So far this season, Singleton has rushed for 274 yards and six scores. Penn State is 10-1 when both Allen and Singleton each rush for a touchdown in the same game.
The receiving corps of the Nittany Lions are led by Trebor Pena and Luke Reynolds, who each have caught at least 20 passes this year. Pena, a transfer from Syracuse, has a team-high 23 receptions this year, while Reynolds has added 21 grabs.
Joining Pena as transfers in this group are Kyron Hudson from USC and Devonte Ross from Troy. The 255 receiving yards and three touchdowns from Ross lead the team. Hudson and tight end Khalil Dinkins join Ross as the other Penn State receivers with at least two touchdown catches this year.
At least Grunkemeyer will have an experienced offensive line in front of him on Saturday. The five starters who opened up the season on the offensive line for the Nittany Lions combined for over 100 starts entering 2025. Last season left guard Vega Ioane and right guard Anthony Donkoh didn’t allow a sack.
Ioane missed the last game against Iowa due to injury, while Donkoh had missed the previous two contests. Aside those two injuries, left tackle Drew Shelton, center Nick Dawkins, and right tackle Nolan Rucci have started every game this season.
A familiar face is coordinating Penn State’s defense
To say the Jim Knowles experience in State College has been a disappointment so far might be an understatement. Then again, Ohio State fans know all about the frustrations that came come with Knowles as the defensive coordinator.
Even though Knowles put together an outstanding defensive game plan in the playoff to slow down Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, and Notre Dame, Buckeye Nation had to go through some peaks and valleys with Knowles for a few years to get to that point.
The best players on the Penn State defense will line up on the defensive line. Both defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton and defensive tackle Zane Durant are both on watch lists for the Bednarik and Lombardi awards. Dennis-Sutton has done a little bit of everything this year, registering 5.5 tackles for loss, forced two fumbles, and is credited with two of the four blocked kicks by the Nittany Lions. Durant has added two sacks and an interception.
Along with Durant, Alonzo Ford Jr. also has an interception, giving Penn State their first pair of defensive tackles with an interception since 1990. Defensive end Zuriah Fisher rounds out the starters on the front-four for the Nittany Lions.
The linebacker unit took a hit earlier in the season when starter Tony Rojas was injured in the Oregon game. Prior to his season-ending injury, Rojas had 25 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks this year. Stepping in to Rojas’ spot is senior Dominic DeLuca, who is currently third on the team with 39 tackles.
At the other linebacker spot the team’s leading tackler, Amare Campbell. The junior had 51 tackles and 5.5 tackles for loss, pushing his career totals to 141 stops and 18 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
The veteran leader of the Nittany Lion defense is safety Zakee Wheatley. The redshirt senior is two tackles away from 200 tackles for his career, and he has had a hand in 11 turnovers during his time at Penn State. Joining Wheatley at safety is King Mack, who earlier this year had a career-high seven tackles against UCLA.
Cornerbacks Audavion Collins and A.J. Harris will have their hands full trying to slow down Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate, and the rest of Ohio State’s receivers. The two could be in for a tough day since they haven’t had any luck making impact plays this year.
Collins and Harris have yet to grab an interception, along with combining to breakup three passes this season. Zion Tracy has also seen considerable time this year on the field lining up at the nickel back position.
Prediction
Despite the recent history of tight games between these programs, signs are pointing towards Saturday’s contest being a blowout. Penn State fired James Franklin, quarterback Drew Allar is injured, as is linebacker Tony Rojas.
The Nittany Lions enter this week on a four-game losing streak, which could grow to six games since they play Ohio State this week, followed by Indiana next week. After entering the season ranked second in the country, Penn State will be lucky to get to the six wins needed for bowl eligibility.
The Buckeyes come in with a ton of confidence after Julian Sayin’s brilliant performance against Wisconsin. The defense is playing at a level not seen in college football in decades with Matt Patricia putting together game plans that have only allowed one opponent to score more than 10 points this season. The Nittany Lions will have to work hard to reach double figures with a redshirt freshman quarterback starting.
If there is one area that has been disappointing this year for Ohio State, it’s undoubtedly with the running game. Luckily it hasn’t hurt the Buckeyes since they have been so efficient passing the football. The bye week should have allowed Bo Jackson to get healthy after he has been dealing with a gimpy ankle, Isaiah West to take on a little more responsibility, and maybe restore some confidence in James Peoples.
If Ohio State can start effectively running the football on a consistent basis, the rest of college football is in even more trouble than they already are.
