Urban Meyer: Victory vs. Penn State was 'one of the most impressive wins in the Ryan Day era'
One of the biggest games of the season lived up to the billing Saturday as Penn State Ohio State battled it out in Happy Valley. Ultimately, Ryan Day and the Buckeyes came away with the win, and Urban Meyer put the magnitude of the victory in perspective.
Penn State had an opportunity to tie the game in the fourth quarter, getting to the Ohio State 3-yard line. The Nittany Lions couldn't break through the Buckeyes' defensive front on three straight plays, though, and Drew Allar's fourth-down pass sailed out of bounds. That meant Ohio State took over at its own 1-yard line and proceeded to drain the clock from there.
Before the game, Meyer pointed out the tall task Ohio State faced, going into Happy Valley against a tough Penn State team. Afterward, he said the Buckeyes lived up to the billing and put together one of their top performances during Day's tenure.
"All week – really, for a month – you've heard, 'You can't do this, you can't do this.' That's one of the most impressive wins in [the] Ryan Day era," Meyer said. "To come in this kind of environment. And I can promise you, you get questioned about your toughness, your offensive line gets questioned. All you've got to do is show a 59-yard drive, 11 straight runs against a Penn State team in this stadium to close out a game – that's called a 4-minute drill – to perfection.
"Their toughness was there, their offensive line, to me, won this football game. The offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage for 60 minutes."
The Ohio State defense went to work against Penn State, holding the Nittany Lions to 270 yards, including 146 passing yards from Allar. On offense, Will Howard shook off an early pick-six and a fumble out of the end zone to have a solid day. He completed 16 of 24 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns while also adding 24 rushing yards – including the game-winning scramble for a first down with a minute to go.
Afterward, Ryan Day had every reason to smile. He was grinning ear to ear while summing up the victory with FOX's Jenny Taft.
"Just the toughness overall," Day said of the defense. "Just to stand in there and get the stand like that, it just shows the grit and the toughness of this team. There's a smile right here on my face. I'm really proud of this team and the physicality.
"And then, to get the ball on the 1-yard line and then, finish the game the way we did on offense just shows the physicality of this team, the toughness of this team to go get this win. It feels really good. We're gonna have some fun in Columbus tonight."
