VS. 
Penn State Nittany Lions 17 vs. Ohio State 37
Six years ago Saturday, a new tradition began — victory bourbon. The genesis for came the week before when Penn State came back to beat Northwestern in the final minute. When asked about the game, Joe Paterno offered that “This was a great football game. I’m going to go home, get into trouble with a good stiff bourbon, then watch Ohio State tapes.” Following that, I’ve toasted to every Penn State victory with a good stiff bourbon. I was hoping that the anniversary could be celebrated, but alas the Nittany Lions, specifically the defense, couldn’t oblige. They must have been looking ahead to Purdue.
This loss belongs to the defense more than anyone else. When was the last time you could say that about Penn State? 2003 maybe? It is so unusual for Tom Bradley to have a team so unprepared.
The defensive line showed its youth, finally. One lousy sack and run all over all night long.
Granted, Ohio State is good, really good. Not in a scare you to death kind of way, just in a “get the job done efficiently and go home” way. They owned the line of scrimmage on offense.
MLB Dan Connor may have had 18 tackles, but he was falling backwards to make every one of them.
The secondary is officially very overrated. CB Justin King has been exposed. He’ll be lucky to even get honorable mention in conference honors.
On the other side of the ball, Penn State wasn’t bad. They had a great drive to start the game and were not intimidated or beaten back. They just couldn’t get it done.
Anthony Morelli was solid until his blizzards fourth quarter interception. The last interception was the I worst I had seen since a #14 in black and gold played against Dallas.
The offensive line was decent; they have been a pleasant surprise this season.
As I expected, the Buckeyes were completely unfazed by the crowd.
My “outlandish prediction” Run Up the Score!’s Sunday Morning Genius post was “fewer than ten combined punts.” Shows what I know.
A.J. Wallace had the second kickoff return TD for Penn State since I started following the team. The other, by Larry Johnson in 2000, also came in a loss.
In 2005, fans were beligerant to Ohio State. Not as much this time, the Lot 11 atmosphere was not bad at all either.
I helped jump an Ohio State fan’s car. No good deed goes unpunished. Why do people always come to me looking for jumper cables anyway? That’s the second time this month.
Speaking of Lot 11, I still think I’m idling as I wait to get out of it.
