Ryan Day finally pulls the right strings as Ohio State completes comeback against Penn State

The Ohio State Buckeyes avoided a disaster in their top-five matchup against Penn State, coming back from an early 10-0 deficit to win 20-13. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day had won only two of his eight contests against top-five-rated teams entering this game, often struggling with time management, an inconsistent identity, and one side of the ball being ill-prepared. 

Finally, all of those issues did not plague the Buckeyes. Despite an early pick-six thrown by senior quarterback Will Howard, the Buckeyes were the more poised, focused, and aggressive team throughout the afternoon. While Penn State did enough to give themselves the chance to tie the game on their final drive, the Buckeyes held tight with a goal line stand.

It was a tremendous breathe of fresh air for the Buckeyes after having their hearts broken against Oregon earlier this year.

While mistakes were made, including the aforementioned interception where Howard overlooked a defender in perfect position, and later, a punched out fumble that turned a Howard rushing score into a touchback for Penn State, the Buckeyes never lost composure. They were a Jeremiah Smith-lost deep ball away from a blowout and encompassing offensive performance.

Despite starting an offensive line group that had a first-time left tackle and former center playing guard, the Buckeyes had one of their best trench games yet. This team had every excuse available to it, and they took zero of those excuses in a must-win game.

Instead, the offense was efficient and explosive. The Buckeyes converted 6-of-13 third downs and their lone fourth down attempt. they totaled 358 yards and ran for 176 total. They had only two penalties, down from seven against Oregon. Losing the turnover battle was their only mistake.

The defense was much better, even though Penn State had star QB Drew Allar under center. The Nittany Lions were a mess throughout, and had the ball in scoring position only three times. Ohio State held strong on their final drive despite the Nittany Lions having the ball on the one-yard line on third down. 

Star safety Caleb Downs helped shut breakout playmaker Tyler Warren down to one of his least productive games of the season. The rushing duo of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen did nothing on 22 carries. Backup QB Beau Pribula was neutralized on his one pass attempt and lone carry.

This was the type of performance that can propel Ohio State into a rematch with Oregon for the Big Ten title game. Now, with only Indiana left as a challenge before The Game, the Buckeyes can build after a concerning two games against the Ducks and Nebraska Cornhuskers.

This team might have finally learned its lessons after painful losses over the last few years.