In Jim, We Trust

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COVER PHOTO: Penn State running back Nicholas Singleton gets wrapped up by a swarm of Buckeyes during the second quarter. Picture by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.

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Is Jim Knowles a diabolical genius?

After No. 3 Ohio State’s 20-12 win over previously undefeated, No. 7 Penn State on Saturday afternoon in Ohio Stadium, the Buckeyes’ second-year defensive coordinator evoked shades of Mike Myers’ “Dr. Evil” with the tip of a pinky pressed against the corner of his mouth and a fiendish laugh because he had just bamboozled everyone into thinking his creation of a defense was one thing when, in fact, it had been something completely different all along.

“First, you’re happy for the players and happy for our head coach (Ryan Day) and all the fans, that they now have confidence that they can win the game on defense,” said Knowles afterwards.

It feels like Knowles has known what he was going to do schematically and how he was going to utilize his guys for this upcoming season the second after Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett knelt the ball for the final play in the Peach Bowl because what has been seen defensively the first six games in comparison to what was seen against the Nittany Lions have been virtually Yin and Yang.

When the final whistle blew, the Buckeyes (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) had held the Nittany Lions (6-1, 3-1) to a season-low 240 total yards and 49 rushing yards. Penn State’s two-headed monster running back combo of sophomores Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen each had nine carries with Singleton leading the team with 48 yards while Allen had 26. The 12 points scored were Penn State’s lowest since a 24-10 loss nearly two years ago to Arkansas in the 2022 Outback Bowl.

The Nittany Lions came into Saturday’s contest averaging a conference-best 203 yards rushing and 44 points per game.

Knowles said he doesn’t pay attention to stats but “heard” that the Nittany Lions had a “pretty good” defense. So to him and the rest of the defensive staff that meant if Penn State’s defense made a good play against Ohio State’s offense, then OSU’s defense had to counter two-fold.

“We talked to them before the game, ‘you’re not just playing (against) Penn State’s offense, you’re playing (against) Penn State’s defense. If they make one play, we got to make two. If they make two, we got to make three.’ So it’s a sense of maturity, leadership (and) maybe a little chip on your shoulder? We’ve done a lot of work (for) everyone to have faith in us, for sure.”

In the postgame press conference, the lead-off question posed to Day was if he was “okay” with the defense winning the game.

“Yes, I’m fine with it,” he laughed.

“We started off with really stopping the run and then forcing them to throw the ball and there’s a lot of people who did a lot of great things on defense but I’ve got to give Jim Knowles a lot of credit and his staff for the adjustments they made,” said Day.

Sophomore quarterback Drew Allar was stymied all day long as the Scarlet and Gray defense swarmed him like a pack of wild dogs, sacking him a season-high four times. He had been sacked four times the previous six games. It was a season-high number of times getting to the QB for the Buckeyes after coming in with 10 total sacks. They also tied their second-most tackles-for-loss on the year with eight for a season-high 45 yards.

When asked during his postgame presser whether or not he felt their passing game and, more specifically, the wide receivers were good enough to contend with Ohio State’s secondary, Penn State head coach James Franklin answered bluntly.

“No. We did not make enough plays in the passing game (and) we weren’t able to create separation with enough time to allow those guys to separate.”

Ohio State tied their season-high with six pass breakups, two coming from super senior safety Josh Proctor and one each from safety Lathan Ransom, defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau and cornerbacks Jordan Hancock and true freshman Jermaine Matthews, Jr.

However, Franklin felt the key stat was on third down.

“To me, really the story of the game came down to third down. We weren’t able to stay on the field on third down on offense, which was the biggest difference in the game, in my opinion.”

OSU suffocated Penn State all day on third down, allowing them to only convert one out of 16 attempts and limited them to one trip in the red zone, both of which finally occurred on Penn State’s only touchdown drive which started with 2:41 remaining in the game.

Knowles said his guys buying into his scheme and the staff’s ability to make adjustments were a big reason for their success.

“We had to get the stops, we had to get them (Penn State’s offense) off schedule and we make little adjustments in the scheme, they pick up on it, and that’s a big deal because winning those downs in a game like that is huge and that only comes with preparation and with guys that are knowledgeable about the scheme.”

Linebackers Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers led the Buckeyes with eight tackles and six, respectively. Eichenberg had one-half of a TFL.

Sophomore safety Sonny Styles finished with four tackles and three-yard sack.

Tuimoloau also finished with a sack as well as sophomore defensive ends Caden Curry and Kenyatta Jackson, Jr.

Sophomore cornerback Davison Igbinosun tied Hancock for the team lead for tackles by a defensive back with five each and Igbinosun had one tackle for a two-yard loss.

Ohio State’s next game is at Wisconsin (5-2, 3-1) in a 7 p.m. game airing on NBC.