Ohio State win, Iowa State loss headline college football Week 10 winners and losers
Published 3 November 2024
A key sequence in the fourth quarter sums up the state of play whenever No. 3 Penn State meets No. 4 Ohio State: close, but not quite.
The Nittany Lions came up short against the Buckeyes for the eighth time in a row in this series, losing 20-13 after failing to score on four plays right on the goal line with roughly five minutes left. For all of the obvious improvements the offense has made under new coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, sketchy play calling in this key spot likely dooms the Nittany Lions’ chances of playing for the Big Ten championship.
All isn’t lost. For weeks, Penn State has been seen as one of the safest bets to land in the College Football Playoff, albeit with an at-large bid. That remains highly probable given the team’s single loss and smooth schedule the rest of November.
But this was a game the program had to have and one that the Nittany Lions easily could’ve had, though that doesn’t lessen the sting of another loss to Ohio State.
Needing a win in one of college football’s most hostile road environments to stay on track for a rematch with Oregon in early December, the Buckeyes rebounded from some early errors by quarterback Will Howard to deliver one of the best wins of the regular season in the Bowl Subdivision.
That defensive stand in the fourth quarter comes one week after pulling off another key red-zone stop in a narrow win against Nebraska. In hindsight, that 21-17 victory seems influenced by the Cornhuskers’ place between the road trips to No. 1 Oregon and State College.
What happened after forcing a Drew Allar incompletion might be even more impressive. Backed up on their own end zone, the Buckeyes ran out the clock by rushing for 59 yards in 10 plays to seal the win. That’s a statement drive for both teams.
When both sides of the ball are working in concert — something that was missing against the Ducks — you can see why Ohio State might be the best team in the Big Ten and a favorite for the national championship.
And as the Buckeyes get set to rise in the US LBM Coaches Poll, the Nittany Lions are left in a state of embarrassment. Not because they lost; that’s nothing new for Penn State or coach James Franklin. It’s how this happened with the game on the line: with a failed series of plays on offense and a give-up sequence on defense.