Ohio State stymies Penn State, keeps College Football Playoff hopes alive

Ohio State survived its biggest challenge of the season, closing October with a sixth consecutive win to move to 7-1 on the season. C.J. Stroud threw for 305 yards and Noah Ruggles connected on four field goals to give the Buckeyes the victory. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Ohio State's offense struggled to get rolling in the first half and the Buckeyes had to play from behind. Penn State struck first on a five yard pass from Sean Clifford to Brenton Strange to cap a 13-play, 89-yard drive.
• The Buckeyes responded with a 35-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 7-3.
• C.J. Stroud found Chris Olave for a 38-yard score to give the Buckeyes with their first lead with 3:48 left in the half.
• Ohio State's defense responded to the poor opening showing with a number of great series. Their best play came from Jerron Cage, who picked up a Sean Clifford sack-fumble and ran it back 55 yards for a touchdown. It put the Buckeyes ahead 17-7.
• The Silver Bullets kept Penn State off the board until the final play of the first half when they kicked a field goal at the gun.
• On the first drive of the second half, Penn State drove down the field and scored on a Jahan Dotson speed rush to the left pylon from just two yards out. That score tied the game at 17-17.
• Ohio State picked up 58 yards on a long pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the next drive, but they committed a false start on fourth and goal from inside the one yard line and were forced to settle for a field goal. Ohio State led 20-17 with 6:42 left in the third quarter.
• After TreVeyon Henderson ripped off a run of nearly 70 yards, the Buckeyes' freshman running back finally punched in his first TD of the game to give OSU a 27-17 lead with 3:35 to play in the third quarter.
• Penn State answered on the ensuing drive, capping an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a 1-yard run from Keyvone Lee. The Buckeyes took a 27-24 lead into the fourth.
• Ohio State drove all the way down the field to open the fourth, but couldn't cash in on a touchdown pass on fourth and three from the Penn State 13 yard line. But a few plays later, Cam Brown intercepted Sean Clifford to give Ohio State great field position.
• Noah Ruggles added a 25-yard field goal to make it 30-24 midway through the fourth quarter. Then with just under three minutes to play, Ruggles added another short field goal to extend the lead to 33-24.

BOX SCORE NUMBERS

• C.J. Stroud finished the game 22-of-34 for 305 yards, but just one touchdown and no interceptions.
• TreVeyon Henderson closed the night with 28 carries and 152 yards. 68 yards came on one carry and 22 came on a late one. The rest of his production was as difficult as he's had to deal with all season.
• The defense racked up four sacks and eight tackles for loss, frustrating the Nittany Lions ground game all night. PSU managed just 33 rushing yards in the game.
• 102,951 fans provided an insanely loud environment at Ohio Stadium in the "Scarlet Out".