Ohio State remains a cut above chasing Penn State

Chasing an elusive nemesis can be frustrating, tiresome and monotonous. It can cause obsessive days and sleepless nights. Penn State has been trying to catch Ohio State for most of the last 20 years without much success.

After the Buckeyes dismantled them 38- 25 Saturday night at Beaver Stadium, the Nittany Lions have dropped 14 of the last 18 meetings. It hasn’t exactly been a rivalry.

At the risk of aging myself, Penn State has been playing the part of Wile E. Coyote trying to catch the Road Runner or Elmer Fudd trying to nab Bugs Bunny.

And the gap appears to be widening.

Ohio State outgained the Lions 526- 325 Saturday. Justin Fields was magnificent, completing 28- of- 34 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns and displaying ample proof why he’ll be taken in the first two picks in the NFL draft next year.

Wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson also played superbly.

For Penn State, the most disconcerting thing from its fourth straight loss in the series was that the Buckeyes linemen dominated on both sides of the football.

The Penn State offensive and defensive lines were expected to be the team’s strengths, the reasons why the Lions were confident they could supplant Ohio State as Big Ten champion.

Well, the Buckeyes rushed for 208 yards; Penn State for 44. Fields often had time in the pocket to go through his progressions; Lions quarterback Sean Clifford frequently was running for his life and was sacked five times.

“We really struggled being able to run the ball pretty much the entire game,” Penn State coach James Franklin said, “and not being able to protect Sean. He’s getting hit way too much and he has a lot of people in his face way too much.

“There are a lot of things that go into it, but we did not win the line of scrimmage tonight.”

Penn State had other issues Saturday, like a terrible delay of game penalty and a personnel mix- up on an Ohio State touchdown in the second quarter. Maybe it stems from having four new assistant coaches on the staff, including offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca.

But the most significant issue was the talent disparity. From 2016- 20, the Buckeyes have finished in the top five in the recruiting rankings four times. The Lions’ only finish in the top 10 was fifth in 2018.

Ohio State simply has better players. Penn State has enough talent to win 10 or 11 games in a normal season or beat the Buckeyes every now and then. But there’s no present evidence that the Lions can win in recruiting or on the field on a consistent basis.

Ohio State remains the measuring stick in the Big Ten, just like Alabama in the Southeastern Conference and Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference. That doesn’t mean you can’t beat them, only that you must be almost perfect to do so. And Penn State wasn’t anywhere near perfect this time.

Would the presence of Micah Parsons, Journey Brown and Noah Cain have made a difference in the outcome Saturday? Probably not. Parsons and Brown played very well for Penn State last year at Ohio Stadium, and the Buckeyes still won 28- 17.

Clifford isn’t as talented as Fields ( only Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence is), but he was productive, with the help of wide receiver Jahan Dotson, when he had time to throw Saturday. Because Penn State couldn’t run the ball effectively, Ohio State’s defenders in general and tackle Tommy Toigai in particular charged at Clifford with success.

“I thought the amount of times Sean got hit and got pressured in the pocket, I thought his toughness was on display,” Franklin said. “It’s something that he’s done for a couple of years now and I was impressed with that. But obviously we’ve all got to get better. All of us.”

The chase continues, as maddening as it is.