Sunday, October 17, 1999
PENN STATE 23, OHIO STATE 10
Buckeyes' offense, bowl hopes sputter
BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Ohio State guard Ben Gilbert described the Buckeyes' beating Saturday as “lackluster.” Not even close. Lackluster implies there was some luster on their season to begin with.
Instead, Ohio State's 23-10 loss Saturday at No.2 Penn State could be best described as typical, at least in this atypical season — a season in which the Buckeyes' bowl hopes are spiraling toward oblivion in a hurry.
The offense stonewalled, with bad blocking blamed as the main culprit, leading to quarterback Steve Bellisari's inaccurate throws and the lack of anything resembling a rushing attack. Senior tailback Michael Wiley, all-Big Ten last season, had just 18 yards on 10 carries, and the Buckeyes mustered a measly 143 yards of total offense.
The defense, while emerging to make big plays and five times hold Penn State from scoring a touchdown, was torched yet again by missed tackles on the opponent's running back, this time Nittany Lion sophomore Eric McCoo and his 211 yards.
“If you can't block and you can't tackle in this league, you're not going
to beat good football teams,” OSU coach John Cooper said.
Amazingly, Ohio State (4-3, 1-2 Big Ten) had a chance to win, trailing only 13-10 at halftime despite being dominated by a Penn State squad (7-0, 3-0) that didn't resemble the nation's second-ranked team when it came time to punch the ball in the endzone.
“We're very disappointed in ourselves inside the 15,” McCoo said. “To get where we want to be — at the national championship — we need to take care of business.”
The Buckeyes' only touchdown coming late in the second quarter when linebacker Na'il Diggs leveled Penn State quarterback Kevin Thompson in the end zone and forced a fumble. OSU's Gary Berry recovered at the goal line for the Bucks' lone highlight of the day. It was also their first defensive score of the season, one of their trademarks last year.
“I knew we needed a score,” Diggs said. “We were having offensive problems and not moving the ball the way we should. I just made the play.”
But then came the third quar ter. A suffocating Penn State defense turned up the force even more, stifling the Buckeyes into just one yard in the third quarter.
Bellisari spent the day scrambling away from a quick Penn State pass rush, which sacked him eight times — 21/2 by superstar linebacker LaVar Arrington, once hurdling tailback Jonathan Wells to get Bellisari. The Lions' three defensive studs — Arrington, Courtney Brown and Brandon Short — played up to their hype, and Penn State had 14 tackles for loss for a minus-71 yards.
The Bucks' offensive line compounded its problems by missing assignments and failing to communicate calls at the line when the crowd was loud.
“It's not surprising; it's disappointing,” Gilbert said. “A missed assignment shouldn't happen, especially the seniors. If you have a missed assignment this late in the season, it's disappointing.”
“It's really disappointing the way we blocked,” Cooper said. “If you can't establish the running game, you're handicapped.”
Whether he had the blocking or not, Bellisari (7-of-21 for 78 yards, one interception) missed on too many throws. And there was no running game that Bellisari (20 carries for a net of 38 yards, 97 total) didn't provide on scrambles that resembled a high school offense.
But Cooper defended Bellisari. “It wasn't a matter of Stevie not being accurate,” Cooper said. “It was a matter of protection.”
McCoo, who had just 310 yards entering the game, displayed speed, power (53 yards on a run up the gut), agility (24 yards on a sweep) and elusiveness, slipping off the multitude of missed tackles. The OSU coaching staff has been stressing missed tackles for weeks, but the Buckeyes show no signs of correcting the problem.
The defense played better when it had to, with two blocked field goals — courtesy of Jason Ott and Nate Clements — and three key stops in the red zone preventing a blowout. And it still played better than the Buckeyes' offense.
“Sometimes we were just shutting ourselves down,” receiver Reggie Germany said. “It was a struggle to have enough time. That would sum up the day.”
Ohio State now finds itself in a precarious position, needing a win next week at Minnesota just to keep its scant bowl hopes alive.
“I don't care about a bowl,” Clements said. “I just want to win.”
Ohio St. ....... 3 7 0 0—10
Penn St. ....... 10 3 7 3—23
First Quarter
PSU—Cerimele 6 pass from Thompson (Forney kick), 13:25.
OSU—FG Stultz 47, 7:25.
PSU—FG Forney 38, 3:03.
Second Quarter
PSU—FG Forney 39, 6:47.
OSU—Berry recovered fumble in end zone (Stultz kick), 2:52.
Third Quarter
PSU—Casey 5 run (Forney kick), 10:54.
Fourth Quarter
PSU—FG Forney 28, 13:27.
A—97,007.
OSU PSU
First downs ....... 11 21
Rushes-yards ....... 34-65 50-246
Passing ....... 78 176
Comp-Att-Int ....... 7-22-1 17-25-1
Return Yards ....... 3 26
Punts-Avg. ....... 7-44.9 4-39.0
Fumbles-Lost ....... 2-1 1-1
Penalties-Yards ....... 5-30 10-85
Time of Possession ....... 25:57 34:03
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Ohio St., Bellisari 20-38, Wiley 10-18, Wells 2-5, Westbrooks 2-4. Penn St., McCoo 22-211, Mitchell 11-33, Fields 2-11, Senneca 1-10, Harris 4-5, Cerimele 1-(minus 2), Thompson 2-(minus 8), Casey 7-(minus 14).
PASSING—Ohio St., Bellisari 7-21-1-78, Moherman 0-1-0-0. Penn St., Casey 11-15-0-109, Thompson 6-10-1-67.
RECEIVING—Ohio St., Germany 3-45, Houser 2-30, Rambo 1-5, Wells 1-(minus 2). Penn St., Drummond 4-59, McCoo 4-47, Cerimele 2-26, Crenshaw 2-16, Gilmore 2-8, Fields 1-13, Johnson 1-12, Harris 1-(minus 5).
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