Cooper blows up Nittany Lions
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Defensive end Jonathon Cooper amassed a career-high five tackles and served as a disruptive presence in the backfield for Ohio State in its 38-25 win at Penn State on Saturday night.
It was a strong enough effort that it left observers to consider whether it was perhaps the best game in his five seasons with the Buckeyes.
Judging for himself, Cooper wasn’t sure when asked during a conference call with reporters after the game. He pointed to other games against Michigan, noting he often played well against the Buckeyes’ bitter rival.
In last season’s win over the Wolverines, he finished with three tackles and a sack. It was an inspiring effort. Eligible to play in only one more game if he hoped to preserve his redshirt and return for a fifth season this fall, Cooper chose to play in the rivalry game.
But as he considered his latest performance a little bit more, he thought it belonged in the same company.
“This one feels up there for sure,” Cooper said.
The high-stakes for the matchup and the environment at Beaver Stadium helped pushed him along and elevated his performance.
“Being Penn State, the way our coaches had us prepare and get ready took my game to the level it was supposed to be,” he added.
While recording a half-sack, Cooper also applied pressure in some cases that was left off the final stat sheet.
When Penn State faced a secondand-9 on the final play of the third quarter, Cooper burst out of his stance along the line of scrimmage and shoved all-conference tight end Pat Freiermuth into quarterback Sean Clifford.
Clifford sought to backpedal outside the pocket, but it was too late. He was crunched on the opposite side by defensive end Javontae Jean-baptiste.
Groin injury sidelines Haubeil
Ohio State kicker Blake Haubeil left the game because of a groin injury after missing a 20-yard field goal attempt wide right early in the second quarter.
Haubeil had felt some groin pain in pregame warm-ups and OSU coaches decided that backup Dominic Dimaccio would handle kickoffs, easing Haubeil’s workload.
But Haubeil did not improve, and after his miss Dimaccio took over all of the placekicking duties. Dimaccio made three extra points and a 22-yard field goal but missed a 23-yard field goal attempt.
“We hopefully can get Blake healthy again and get that back in order, because that was not good,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said. “We left points on the field there. Those are heartbreakers.”
Clock ‘mismanagement’ irks Day
With a 21-3 lead in late in the second quarte, all Ohio State wanted to do was run out the clock before halftime.
Somehow, it cost the Buckeyes three points.
With the ball at the Ohio State 36yard line and two seconds left in the second quarter, Justin Fields took the fourth-down snap from center Josh Myers and hesitated before dropping to a knee. He pitched the ball toward a game official and the Buckeyes jogged to their locker room.
But they were called back because replay officials ruled that Fields hadn’t fully run out the clock. Penn State took possession and Jordan Stout kicked a 50-yard field goal to cut Ohio State’s lead to 21-6.
“Yeah, probably the most bizarre thing I’ve ever experienced,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. He said he didn’t want to go into detail what happened but called the situation “completely mismanaged.”
Day said if more than two seconds had remained on the clock, he probably would have punted or had Fields run around longer before taking a knee.
“There was only two seconds, so I don’t know how that’s even physically possible. But we’ll move on and deal with it tomorrow.” jkaufman@dispatch.com @joeyrkaufman brabinowitz@dispatch.com @brdispatch