The Penn State Nittany Lions head to Colombus, Ohio on Saturday night to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in a matchup of Big Ten East foes. Ohio State (6-0 (2-0)) comes in ranked as the top team in the nation, while Penn State (5-1 (2-0)) comes in unranked but on a five-game winning streak.
Ohio State hasn't played the most difficult schedule yet, but they still had a close call a couple of weeks ago against Indiana when they squeeked by with a seven-point victory. The Buckeyes rebounded, though, and beat up on Maryland last weekend.
Penn State played the same Indiana team that Ohio State struggled with last week and handled them easily by a score of 29-7. The Nittany Lions lone loss this season came against Temple in the season opening game, but since then, they have dominated all of their opponents.
Ohio State comes in with Cardale Jones still as their starting quarterback, but Urban Meyer has been using more of a two quarterback system with J.T. Barrett coming in when the Buckeyes enter the red zone. Barrett only threw two passes a week ago, but he also ran the ball 12 times for 62 yards and three touchdowns.
Jones hasn't been great this season as he has seven touchdowns and five interceptions, but he has been good enough with the help of top wide receiver Michael Thomas and running back Ezekial Elliot.
Thomas leads the Buckeyes in every receiving category while Elliot has also been great in the first six games. Elliot has 835 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns already while averaging 6.9 yards per carry.
Penn State is led by a very good defense, which ranks as the tenth best in the entire nation in total defense and 11th in scoring defense. The Nittany Lions lead the nation in sacks with 25, and they are also top ten in turnover margin, so the Buckeyes will have their work cut out for them tonight.
On offense, Penn State is led by one of the top NFL prospects in quarterback Christian Hackenberg. Hackenberg has not been great so far this year, but NFL scouts still love him because he can really throw the ball. So far this season, the 6 foot-4 junior has completed just 53 percent of his passes for just over 1000 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Hackenberg did rush for two touchdowns in last week,s win over Indiana though.
Last week, Penn State played without their top two running backs Saquon Barkley and Akeel Lynch, but Barkley has a good shot of returning this week, and that would be a huge help for the Nittany Lions. So far this season, the freshman leads the team in rushing yards (373) yards per attempt (8.9) and rushing touchdowns (3).
There are four undefeated teams left in the Big Ten East, and this is a matchup between two of them (the other two, Michigan and Michigan State, also play today), so it goes without saying that this is a huge game. Ohio State looks to continue their run to defend their national title while Penn State looks to make a statement and continue their winning streak.
The game kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern time, and to watch the live broadcast, go here. For the Ohio State radio broadcast, go here, and for the Penn State radio broadcast, go here.
