Three players trotted into the end zone with no one around them on Saturday night.
Only one of them scored a touchdown.
Penn State’s 33-24 loss to Ohio State in the Big … uh, Horseshoe was a game defined by big plays. The Buckeyes made enough of them — including a 57-yard scoop and score by defensive tackle Jerron Cage — to hold off a game bunch of Nittany Lions, who went toe-to-toe with the hosts in many ways but made more mistakes than big plays of their own.
Jesse Luketa’s jaunt into the end zone came after he picked up a harmless incomplete pass, and John Lovett’s romp was only after he had run more than a yard out-of-bounds before catching the pass. Neither counted, of course, and it was that kind of evening for the Nittany Lions, an evening of missed opportunities and almosts. Penn State forced a turnover on the first possession, the perfect start for a team looking to pull off a big upset on the road … and then gave the ball back on the very…next…play. Down three early in the final quarter, the Nittany Lions were gifted a turnover on downs when C.J. Stroud missed a wide-open Chris Olave … then gave the ball back four plays later on an ill-advised throw by Sean Clifford that was intercepted by Cameron Brown.
