The Ohio State Buckeyes are currently losing to the Penn State Nittany Lions by one point at halftime and it appears that some of the criticism towards Ohio State and its weak schedule is going to get louder, at least through one half of football.
Going into halftime, the Buckeyes couldn’t find success in clock management and squandered away yet another red-zone visit making the score 14-13. Heading into this contest, Ohio State was a 15.5-point favorite and it is looking like it might just be happy to get out of Happy Valley with a win.
There are many things that we could discuss during this halftime reaction, but I will do my best to limit it to just three.
Halftime mismanagement
Just strange decisions in that half in terms of risk tolerance. Went conservative on 4th and 6 from the PSU 36 when it made way more sense to go for it and then takes a risk at the end of the half where the juice probably wasn't worth the squeeze.
— Marc Givler (@MarcGivler) October 29, 2022
Literally, as I type this, my fearless leader and editor dropped the following text, “Needed to at least score the field goal there. Kind of surprised, they went for something with six seconds to go.” Per usual the boss man is right, Ohio State could have taken the lead and snagged some momentum, and failed.
Getting torched through the air
123 of Penn State's 225 yards has come on just three plays. Jim Knowles has said he bakes 5 big plays into his defense. Penn State's got two left…
— Tony Gerdeman (@TonyGerdeman) October 29, 2022
This passing defense is miserable to watch and Sean Clifford looks like Broadway Joe Namath, well — after the first two picks he threw. Jim Knowles needs to show that he was worth his contract and shut down an offense that is better than Toledo.
Are the Buckeyes overrated?
This is why I had Ohio State at No. 5 in my 131 rankings. I gotta see it in a meaningful situation first.
Penn State played Michigan close in the first half and then had its doors blown off so there's still plenty of time for the Buckeyes.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) October 29, 2022
My Twitter timeline and text messages are flooded right now with people mentioning how overrated Ohio State is as they struggle through their first real test. Right now I have no rebuttal, but this team needs to turn it around sooner than later.
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