Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Penn State Nittany Lions

Ohio State Buckeyes linebacker Darron Lee (43) celebrates a sack on Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg (14), who lost his helmet during the play in the second quarter on Saturday.

(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania – The crowd that stood and roared so long and loud did so in Beaver Stadium, a gargantuan steel structure that sits in the valley of Mount Nittany. That crowd numbered 107,895 strong -- students and townies, Joe Paterno true believers and James Franklin newbies -- all in white, like a conclave of ghosts practicing up for Fright Night.

But Ohio State threw the last scare Saturday night because Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg could not throw his last pass.

Defensive end Joey Bosa bull-rushed Penn State running back Akeel Lynch into the legs of Hackenberg on fourth-and-5 from the OSU 21 in the second overtime. The sack and 6-yard loss meant the Buckeyes survived, 31-24.

At long last, the only sound the visitors could appreciate fell over the stadium and its hushed crowd, silence.

The noise here can make the ground shake and can turn the clock back on a freshman quarterback who had seemed mature beyond his years, such as Ohio State's J.T. Barrett.

Barrett threw for two touchdowns in the regulation game, but only one was to Ohio State. However, he scored both overtime touchdowns for Ohio State, as the Nittany Lions keyed on Ezekiel Elliott up the middle.

Barrett's 4-yard game-winner was a legs-pumping barge up the middle. As quarterback Don Meredith used to say whenever a fellow QB scored, "When in doubt, give it to your power runner."

Defensive lineman Anthony Zettel, who was a force all night for Penn State, scored a touchdown on the first series of the second half with an interception to start the Lions' comeback from a 17-point deficit. That yanked the crowd back into the game by their pom-poms. The Buckeyes were leaves in a hurricane for the longest time after that.

In the past, Ohio State players spoke of the din here, saying it was a feeling that the ground itself was rocking, that a sonic fault line was slipping, that the very turf was in upheaval here, just were as their national championship and Big Ten hopes Saturday night over into Sunday morning.

Bosa knocked down Hackenberg at 12:04 a.m. Sunday. For him, for all the Buckeyes, it had been a long night's journey into the light.

Ohio State might seem luckless because nickel back Armani Reeves dropped an interception inside the 10-yard line on the Penn State drive that tied the game at in the last minute of regulation time.

But the Buckeyes were oh, so lucky in other ways.

Ten of their points came on referees' mistakes, starting with a short field, courtesy of an interception, which, replays showed, clearly wasn't. Sean Nuernberger kicked a 49-yard field goal kicked three seconds at least after the play clock had expired, too. He was unlikely even to have tried a 54-yarder that would have followed a correct application of penalty yardage.

The big lead OSU took, however, was destined to be transitory. All the balance Urban Meyer had sought between run and pass, all the speed that ranged from fast to faster to "Zowie! What was that streak of white, a jet contrail?" – none of that came to matter.

This was a slugging match, Michigan State last December, all over again for the Big Ten title.

Meyer's spread formation never was supposed to be that of a finesse-oriented, pass-crazed team. Maybe to make a point, he came out from the start with his team determined to run the ball right at the nation's best collegiate run defense.

It might not be the way his spread formation is supposed to work, but it also might be the way he wanted to play because of the almost territorial aggression of his personality.

For a half, the Buckeyes had their way, with almost double Penn State's 66-yard average of rushing yards allowed per game.

But a combination of the crowd noise pounding down, the recorded mountain lion growling and snarling even during Buckeye plays, making useless all Ohio State's noise preparations, plus the blizzard of white pom poms shaken by the ecstatic crowd as Penn State came off the mat –- all the surroundings that make college football either special or diabolical depending on your rooting interest -- came down on the Buckeyes. Plus, Penn State's resolve increased, of course.

Ohio State chose to wear all white except for scarlet numbers and scarlet and black leg stripes. It was as if the uniforms, the same as the Buckeyes had worn in their near-death experience at Michigan last year, were a way of giving notice that they were crashing the snow white-themed party.

Some party,

"It's a different kind of demon we face," said Meyer of the crowd's effect.

Hackenberg used quick hitting passes that could frustrate the Ohio State pass rush to bring the Nittany Lions back. They even took the first overtime lead. This guy clearly was the best offensive player on the field. He will play on Sundays.

For Ohio State's part, the forward pass became an afterthought, an irrelevant footnote, as it had at the end of last season. This was a type of football savagery associated with Woody Hayes and the dusty 3-yard gain. But Meyer himself says you cannot beat a good team that way alone.

Still, the bottom line is that Ohio State will have to win more of such games if it wants to reach its preferred destination. For perseverance with very few friends around in a very hostile and deafening place, this was impressive, in its flawed, dogged way.

It certainly erased the memories of the four straight 50-point games and the many easy victories. Perhaps that's what whiteouts do to false promises.