Ohio State remained perfect on the season, beating Penn State 38-14 on Saturday, handing the Nittany Lions their fifth straight loss on the season. There was a lot to like on both sides of the football from the Buckeyes as they kicked off their five-game November schedule with a 24-point victory.
Since the numbers never lie, a fitting way to wrap up the win over Penn State is to look at some of the most impressive numbers to come out of the game. I found 10 numbers from the victory that I thought were important.
23
The win over Penn State marked Ohio State’s 23rd consecutive win following a bye week. The last time the Buckeyes failed to earn victory after a bye week actually came against the Nittany Lions back in 2005 in the 17-10 loss in State College. After nearly falling to Nebraska 21-17 in Columbus last year following a bye after the loss to Oregon, Ohio State handled its business after both bye weeks this season, winning each game by at least 20 points.
12
Ohio State is now riding a 12-game winning streak after Saturday’s victory, the longest active streak in the country. Under Ryan Day, the Buckeyes have four win streaks of at least 10 games. The 12-game winning streak is now tied for the second-longest under Day, as Ohio State also recorded a 12-game winning streak spanning the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The longest winning streak Ohio State has had under Day is 16 games, which the Buckeyes will have a chance of equaling if they win each of their four remaining regular-season games.
55
The Buckeye defense held Penn State to just 55 yards rushing, which was by far their lowest total of the season. Prior to Saturday’s game, the season-low for the Nittany Lions in rushing was 135 yards, which came in the season-opening win against Nevada. The 55 yards rushing was Penn State’s lowest total since 2023, when they were held to just 49 yards rushing against Ohio State.
2,040
With 123 receiving yards today, Jeremiah Smith surpassed 2,000 receiving yards in his Ohio State career. Smith now has 2,040 career receiving yards, passing Ted Ginn Jr. for 14th-most in school history. With 51 more yards, Smith will move past Dee Miller for 13th at Ohio State. To move into the top 10, Smith needs just 256 more receiving yards.
247
Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate combined to rack up 247 yards and three touchdowns on 11 receptions on Saturday, accounting for the majority of the yards Julian Sayin threw for against the Nittany Lions. Now Smith and Tate have each gone for over 100 yards in the same game twice this season. Even though Smith has a 16 catch advantage over Tate this season, the two are only separated by 14 yards, with Smith leading 725 yards to 711 yards.
80.7
By completing 20 of his 23 passes on Saturday, Julian Sayin now has a completion percentage of 80.7% in his first season as the starting quarterback for the Buckeyes. Currently, Sayin’s completion percentage is blowing Will Howard’s school record of 73% out of the water. Incredibly, the top seven completion percentages for a season in school history all come from the past seven seasons of Ohio State football, and the trend looks like it will continue when Sayin’s season comes to a close.
3
Along with his outstanding completion percentage against Penn State, Sayin also threw for 316 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions. This marks the third game this season where Sayin has completed at least 85 percent of his passes, thrown for at least 300 yards, tossed three touchdowns, and not been intercepted. Sayin was the only Ohio State quarterback to reach those numbers in a game twice. Now the redshirt freshman quarterback has achieved the feat in back-to-back games.
2
Kenyatta Jackson Jr. had a monster game on Saturday after dressing up as Michael Myers on Friday. The senior defensive end registered a career-high two sacks in the victory over Penn State. Jackson has been the hottest player on the defensive line of late, notching 3.5 sacks over the last three games. For the season, Jackson now has 4.5 sacks, ranking third on the team.
33
Saturday’s game was the 33rd consecutive season in which Ohio State and Penn State have met in the regular season. That streak will end since the programs aren’t scheduled to meet in the regular season until 2028. Penn State had a chance to continue the annual series, but they didn’t opt to pick Ohio State as one of their “rivals”. Then again, the Nittany Lions probably wanted a couple of years off from their annual loss to the Buckeyes, since with Saturday’s win, Ohio State has now won nine straight games in the series.
12
Arvell Reese continued his masterful season with 12 tackles and a sack on Saturday. Reese not only leads the team with 54 tackles on the season, but he also sits just behind Caden Curry with 6.5 sacks. Each week, Reese keeps getting better and better. Should Reese decide to declare for the NFL Draft following this season, it is hard to imagine the athletic linebacker not being selected in the first round.
