B1G Supremacy On The Line Saturday In Columbus

Now it gets real.

There's an old saying about November is when you separate the contenders from the pretenders, but this B1G battle is happening a week early, with the winner getting a big leg up in the race to the East Division title and a berth in the College Football Playoff. 

Second-ranked Penn State, fresh off of a 42-14 demolition of Michigan, comes in to Columbus to take on No. 6 Ohio State, which had the week off. This is the first time both teams have been ranked in the top 10 since 2008, when No. 3 Penn State topped No. 10 OSU 13-6 in Columbus. The game kicks off at 3:30 in Ohio Stadium, where the Buckeyes have lost just once in Big Ten play under Urban Meyer.

Penn State RB Saquon Barkley has the attention of Ohio State's defense (Sports Illustrated)

The Nittany Lions upended No. 2 OSU last year in Happy Valley, blocking a punt and a field goal, the latter being returned for the game-winning score in a 24-21 victory. That really got things going for Penn State, which won out and ended up winning the Big Ten and going right down to the wire against USC in the Rose Bowl before falling 52-49.

"I don't think there's any doubt when you find a way as an organization to beat the No. 2 team in the country, I don't care where you're at in your program's development, things like that, those wins have a big impact from a lot of different perspectives," Penn State coach James Franklin said.

Meyer remembers last year's game very well, and while he stopped short of saying that it is a driving force in OSU practices this week, it can be used to good effect at times.
 

"Sure. Revenge is a motivator, hell yeah it is. I'm not saying this will be it," he said. "But there's times where we've used it and looked silly using it. There's other times it's worked. It's about execution of a game plan more than anything else."

Both teams enter the game with impressive stats, Heisman candidates and admiration from the other side. 

Penn State leads the country in scoring defense (9.6 points per game) and pass defense (94.02 opposing passer rating, nine interceptions), while the Buckeyes are first in scoring offense (47.3) and fourth in passing (171.3 rating).

All eyes will be on Nittany Lions running back Saquon Barkley, the Heisman leader at the turn, and though he has never scored a touchdown in two games against the Buckeyes, he has averaged over eight yards per carry. Barkley has 12 touchdowns for the season, in nearly every fashion imaginable -- rushing, receiving and returning. He will be first, second and third in any game-planning the Buckeyes do.

"He's the best all-purpose guy we've faced in probably, maybe my career," Meyer said. "He's obviously a great running back. But they do a good job using him and creating matchup issues. You have different ways to bottle up great running backs, but this guy, it's hard. The fact they motion him out and create matchup nightmares, that's what makes this guy -- he's as good an all-purpose running back we've seen. And that's 30 years." 

OSU quarterback J.T. Barrett has rebounded from a slow start, and now ranks fourth in the country in passer rating. His decision making has been off the charts, tossing just one interception to 21 touchdowns.

Franklin knows that his pass defense, led by shutdown corner Grant Haley and safety Marcus Allen, will be tested by OSU's passing attack.

Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett is one of the top dual threats in the nation

"J.T. Barrett has been playing at Ohio State for … I think this is his 16th year maybe going on 17,” Franklin joked. "He's one of the most successful quarterbacks in school history, if not the most. He's one of the most successful quarterbacks in Big Ten history and nationally. I mean you got to just completely respect everything that that guy's been able to do in his career and everything I know about him and have heard about him, he's a class act. So that's going to be a challenge for us because he can beat you with his legs, he can beat you with his arm, he can beat you with his mind."

Both defenses love to pin back their ears and make plays in the opposing backfield. Penn State is fourth in the country in sacks, Ohio State is fifth in tackles for loss. Buckeyes sophomore Nick Bosa has been a real force, recording 10 tackles for loss and four sacks despite averaging just 34 snaps per contest.

Penn State has been humming offensively for much of the season, but the Buckeyes have just started to find their footing in the last month. Some will say OSU's improvement is tied to playing some of the sad sacks of the conference, and there is some truth to that. But as much as the execution has improved, so has the philosophy. No longer are the coaches attempting to fit square pegs into round holes, and the results have been proven on the field.

"We all know Kevin Wilson is a really, really good offensive coach and been successful wherever he's been and I think early in the season they were still trying to kind of find their offensive identity," Franklin said. "And they found it now and they're putting up big time points and yards on everybody and you knew it was just a matter of time because Kevin's such a good coach and they got so many good players."

The Buckeyes are coming off of a bye week, which has typically been a good thing for Meyer coached squads. Meyer teams are 21-1 following an off week, and that includes three victories over top-10 teams.

Penn State had a bye before last year's contest and won the game, so there do appear to be obvious benefits.

"There's no doubt about it," Franklin said. "You just have more time for everything. More time to recover, more time to get healthy, more time to watch film and plan. It's valuable. I think it's probably the most valuable thing we have on this earth is time and a bye week creates that."    

There are plenty of statistics that can lead fans to think one team has an edge over the other -- the home team has won 10 of the last 17 meetings, the higher ranked team is 19-3 since Penn State joined the conference in 1993. 

But numbers and stats won't determine the winner on Saturday. 

Confidence and execution and lack of fear will. Is someone willing to take a risk, to throw caution to the wind, to stamp themselves in history? 

"I know some people call it a process, some people call it whatever, and it's all true," Meyer said. "I call it a culture within a program. And culture is driven by leaders. If you have very strong leaders on the field and very strong leaders in the coaching rooms, you tend to have great performances against great teams."