It was not the result that Penn State Nittany Lion faithful were looking for as PSU dropped yet another tough contest to Ohio State last Saturday, 20-12.

It’s the seventh consecutive game that the Buckeyes have won against the Nittany Lions, and Penn State head coach James Franklin is 1-9 against Ohio State in his career.

Simply put, Ohio State is an elite college football program and Penn State is not.

The Nittany Lions have been oh so close the past few seasons. The 2022, 2019, 2017 and 2016 seasons were all ones that saw PSU win 11 games, but also lose two games. That has been the difference. Programs like Ohio State and Michigan - when they have had good football teams - have found a way to get to the end of the season either undefeated or with just one loss.

If you read last week’s column, you saw that I was expecting Penn State to focus on running the football with its talented running backs in Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. My thoughts were that the Nittany Lions were going to pound the football, control the clock and rest the defense in order to come after Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord.

Getting McCord off schedule was the key to him not having time to find the best wide receiver in the nation in Marvin Harrison Jr.

Instead, PSU threw the ball 42 times and went 1-for-16 on third down. Of those 16 third downs, they had five that were a 3rd-and-4 or less. They threw the ball 4-out-of-5 times on those plays, and also threw the ball on two 3rd-and-1 situations. James Franklin and his staff have forgotten more about football than I will ever know, but it seems to me that PSU went away from the run game, and I don’t understand why.

Penn State was winning games coming into the Ohio State contest by leading the country in time of possession, running the football and moving the chains.

Singleton and Allen got a combined 18 carries in the game. That is just not enough, and I do understand Franklin’s explanation to their lack of touches by pointing out that if you don’t convert on third down, then that is going to take away touches from those guys. But I also think if PSU would have dedicated itself more to the run, then maybe it would have had more third down and manageable situations.

Maybe running the ball more would have softened up the Buckeyes’ defense, so that they could have some more opportunities downfield in the passing game, and also maybe not. Maybe the Ohio State front was just that much better than the Penn State offensive line and Franklin didn’t trust that group to get a good enough push up front.

It was honestly one of the weirder and kind of mind-boggling Penn State games I have ever watched from an offensive standpoint.

With the Buckeyes in the rear view, the Nittany Lions must move forward as Indiana comes to Beaver Stadium this afternoon (noon, CBS). The Hoosiers have struggled this season at 2-5, but PSU needs to re-focus and not fall ill to a hangover from last week’s tough loss.

One positive Penn State faithful can take away from last week’s game was the performance of the defense. The Nittany Lions’ “D” certainly played well enough to win, giving up just 20 points to the Buckeyes, and will be going up against an Indiana offense that is ranked 122nd in the country in scoring offense at 17.9 points per game.

The Hoosiers offense has struggled altogether this season, ranking 11th in the Big Ten in total offense (311.7 yards per game), 10th in passing offense (198.0 ypg) and 12th in rushing offense (113.7 ypg). The Hoosiers run a two-quarterback system, so you will see both Tayven Jackson (914 yards, 2 TDs/5 INT) and Brendan Sorsby (420 yards, 3 TDs/0 INT) come in during the game.

Sorsby likes to run the ball as well, as he has 130 rushing yards on the season. Hoosiers’ running back Jaylin Lucas is a playmaker for them. He has 247 rushing yards and two touchdowns and ranks third in the Big Ten in all-purpose yards per game with 99.3 yards per game.

Las Vegas has Penn State as a 32-point favorite.

Indiana is giving up almost 30 points per game on the defensive side of the ball and almost 175 yards rushing per game. I’m assuming that Coach Franklin will lean heavy on the run this week to try and get back some of that physical style of play from the first seven weeks. The Hoosiers also give up nearly 200 yards passing per game as well. It would be nice to see the offensive staff call some plays for PSU quarterback Drew Allar to attack the middle of the field and the seam, especially with how talented the Nittany Lions tight end room is.

The Hoosiers also have not done a good job of taking care of the ball this season as they come into the game with a miuns-4 turnover margin.

My pick is Penn State 41, Indiana 10.