COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Five thoughts and observations on Ohio State's 39-38 win over Penn State on Saturday.

By Bill Landis, cleveland.com

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1. All things being equal, Ohio State’s first botched two-point conversion attempt in Saturday’s win over Penn State doesn’t mean much. Nobody will remember it when thinking back on this game. And they’ll do that for years to come.

But what was supposed to happen on that play -- a reverse to Johnnie Dixon -- is interesting.

“He should’ve thrown it,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “There was a blitz. He was fighting. There’s an option for a reverse and a pass. Under stress he wasn’t able to throw the ball. Marcus (Baugh) was open in the corner of the end zone. Couldn’t get it launched.”

He wasn’t talking about J.T. Barrett.

He was talking about Dixon.

On a crucial play that would’ve put the Buckeyes within a field goal inside of five minutes to play, they wanted Dixon to throw a pass to Baugh off the reverse. And it would’ve worked if Dixon didn’t hold onto the ball.

Maybe Dixon thought he had the edge, and after a good Isaiah Prince block to seal the outside, it looked for a moment like he did. But Penn State rallied, brought Dixon down before the goal line -- and there was Baugh standing alone in the end zone with a sure two points gone off the board.

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via GIPHY

It’s kind of crazy that Ohio State would put the ball in Dixon’s hands there. Not that Dixon is bad. And he had a great game against Penn State. But wouldn’t you rather someone like Barrett or J.K. Dobbins have it?

On first glance from the press box, it looked similar to a play the Chicago Bears ran on Monday Night Football a few weeks ago. But that play was a handoff to the running back, a reverse pitch back to the H-back and then a speed option pitch back to the quarterback for a score. It was crazy. More complicated than what Ohio State tried on Saturday.

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Wilson had seen something similar before.

Urban Meyer, when he was the coach at Bowling Green, used that Dixon reverse play to beat Wilson's Northwestern team 43-42 in 2001. That was a major win in Meyer's early coaching career. Wilson didn't forget it. They put it into the game plan on Thursday, and added a pass option on the end.

It nearly worked out perfectly.

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2. I asked center Billy Price about some of the false start penalties against the offensive line on Saturday. There were a few drive killers early in the game.

“Just sloppy. We shot ourselves in the foot in a lot of cases. Not to be pessimistic about this win, but there’s a lot of things that we could not have done,” he said. “We come into a game not having many false starts, then we have three or four. The big thing was I couldn’t hear J.T. I turned around on one and he’s saying go, then Isaiah jumps. I couldn’t hear him. That’s why you see us out there sometimes trying to quiet the crowd.”

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3. When you’re a defensive end being read by the quarterback on an option play, usually you slow a little bit, chop your feet and get ready to find the ball. Not Sam Hubbard. He’ll just tackle both the quarterback and running back at the same time.

That’s what he did to start a crucial fourth-quarter drive that gave the ball back to the Buckeyes for what became the game-winning score.

“They were reading me,” Hubbard said. “I got there before they had the chance to read me.

It was one of the more remarkable plays you’ll ever see from a defensive end.

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via GIPHY

It was a special moment for Hubbard.

“I wanted more than anything in the world to make a play like that,” he said. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for a moment like that. For it to finally happen was really emotional.”

It was the second time in four years that an Ohio State defensive end tackled two Penn State on the same, game-altering play. Remember Joey Bosa’s walk-off sack against the Lions in 2014?

Here’s a refresher in case you don’t remember:

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Which do you think was the better double tackle?

Hubbard was flattered by the comparison, but picked Bosa’s.

“I wish that was fourth-and-10, or the last play of the game to close it out, so I’m gonna have to give it to him,” Hubbard said. “I’m just happy to be in the same conversation as that play.”

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4. I suspect we’ll get more into what Ohio State was doing to slow down Penn State Saquon Barkley this week. That run defense will be important moving forward -- say if the Buckeyes end up playing Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship.

The Buckeyes bottled up the best running back in America, held him to 44 yards on 21 carries. And 36 yards of those yards came on one touchdown run in the second quarter. Barkley had 36 negative yards.

And here’s a stat to keep Ohio State fans warm:

In the second half, Barkley had 14 carries for 3 yards. That’s an average 0.2 yards per carry.

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5. Meyer wouldn’t talk about kick off struggles after the game. He wanted to bask in the win. Understandable. I think there’s only one solution. He needs to follow the Saban plan.

Meyer likes to use young players, a lot of first and second-year players, on special teams. That inexperience is showing in leaky kick coverage that let two returns get out on Saturday, one for a touchdown. The level to which Ohio State’s kick game is dysfunctional is hard to fathom.

Saban's plan: Playing his starters on special teams.

Players like Damien Harris, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Cavin Ridley are on special teams at Alabama.

Time for Meyer to consider the same. This vulnerability can’t continue, not now that the Buckeyes are on the playoff path. Put your best players out there. No more rewarding young, inexperienced players with special teams run if they can’t get the job done.

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