Ohio State football routs Penn State as LI's Jeremy Ruckert catches two touchdowns passes
Jeremy Ruckert of the Ohio State Buckeyes scores a touchdown in front of Lamont Wade of the Penn State Nittany Lions during the first half at Beaver Stadium on Saturday in State College, Penn. Credit: Getty Images/Scott Taetsch
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Justin Fields passed for 318 yards and four touchdowns, including two to Lindenhurst's Jeremy Ruckert, and No. 3 Ohio State beat No. 18 Penn State, 38-25, on Saturday night.
Ruckert caught a 10-yard pass from Fields with 2:23 left in the first half, then scored again on a 1-yard catch with 9:14 left in the game. Ruckert had four catches for 25 yards.
Chris Olave also caught a pair of touchdowns, Master Teague II ran for another and the Buckeyes generated 526 yards of offense in their 15th straight Big Ten win and 10th straight on the road against a ranked opponent.
Ohio State (2-0) didn’t take long to break the game open and hand Penn State (0-2) its first 0-2 start since 2013.
Garrett Wilson took an opening sweep 62 yards to set up Teague III’s short touchdown run two plays later.
The Buckeyes needed only five plays on their next drive to take a 14-0 lead when Fields zipped a 26-yard pass over corner Joey Porter Jr.’s shoulder to Olave in the end zone.
Instead of an almost glittering sea of more than 100,000 white-clad Nittany Lions fans singing along to "Shout" and shaking the stadium as they bounce to "Zombie Nation," about 1,000 friends and family of players were scattered in the bleachers behind each bench. The student section was filled with cardboard cutouts of fans.
Penn State got on the board when Jake Pinegar capped an 11-play, 61-yard drive with a 31-yard field goal.
Fields completed his first seven passes and went 15-for-18 in the first half.
The Nittany Lions got a break when Ohio State turned the ball over on downs with a second left before halftime. Fields took a knee on fourth down too quickly to burn the clock. Penn State’s Jake Stout used it to make a 50-yard field goal and cut it to 21-6.
Sean Clifford, who was 18-for-30 for 281 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, found his rhythm on the Nittany Lions' first drive of the second half. He went 5-for-5 with a 14-yard scoring toss to Jahan Dotson that cut Ohio State’s lead to 21-13.
But the Buckeyes answered back seven plays later when Fields laid a deep ball into Olave’s hands for a 49-yard touchdown.
Dotson caught touchdown passes of 21 and 20 yards in the fourth, but a 22-yard field goal from Dominic DiMaccio and another short touchdown catch by Ruckert had already put the game out of reach.
Dotson had eight catches for 144 yards in a breakout game.
For Ohio State, Olave had seven catches for 120 yards and Wilson made 11 grabs for 111.
