Penn State was looking for their first Big Ten road win over a top-5 ranked opponent for the first time since 1994. They didn't get it done, falling to Ohio State 28-17, but they made it interesting. Lamont Wade, the defensive back, was involved in three turnovers and this game is something to build on this season and next.
"Everybody in there is totally invested and had a lot of confidence that we could come here and win," Penn State head coach James Franklin said. "We've got a strong locker room. We've got a bunch of really good guys. We've got a pretty good team, as well. We just didn't play well enough today to win. We just did not have enough explosive plays."
"It was exciting, but we didn't get the job done and that's the biggest thing," Penn State freshman quarterback Will Levis said, after coming in for an injured Sean Clifford and nearly leading a comeback. "It doesn't matter if I threw for five picks and we won. If we won, I'm happy and if we lose, I'm not, but obviously did a couple of good things here and there, but I also made mistakes that I have to learn from and we had opportunities that we didn't take advantage of and I didn't take advantage of, personally."
Justin Fields threw for 188 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 68 more yards in the win for the Buckeyes.
"Justin's a great athlete, great quarterback," Penn State junior defensive tackle Antonio Shelton said. "I think the only thing that really gave us some trouble a little bit was just that quarterback draw to extend a few drives, but other than that, I feel like we did a really good job getting pressure. Sometimes we just didn't finish the sacks that we needed to, but other than that, I feel like we did a good job."
"I felt like my heart got ripped out of my chest," Wade, a junior safety, said. "But one thing I told the guys, I said 'the only thing holding my tears back right now is how hard we fought and we didn't give up.' So I just said it hurts, but me being proud of those guys in the locker room is helping me out right now."
"I agree with him," Penn State sophomore tight end Pat Freiermuth added. "I think we showed a lot of fight, a lot of resilience. Obviously, when you go down 21-0, it's not easy to stay positive and continue to fight, but we did that and we learned a lot of things today and we've just got to start faster."