UPSET! Penn State topples No. 2 Ohio State 24-21

The white out in the stands became the white out on the field as Penn State fans mobbed their Nittany Lions. Well after the biggest victory of the post-Joe Paterno era was over, the cries of "We Are! Penn State!" echoed underneath 56-year-old Beaver Stadium and bounced off its big rusty metal beams.

It felt like the good ol' days for Penn State football and Happy Valley was downright ecstatic Saturday night after the Nittany Lions upset No. 2 Ohio State 24-21.

"Obviously these types of wins are important," coach James Franklin said. "To be honest with you, I don't want to spend a lot of time thinking about the big picture right now, I just want to soak this all in. I just want to enjoy tonight."

Grant Haley returned a blocked field goal 60 yards for a touchdown with 4:27 left in the fourth quarter and the Nittany Lions sacked J.T. Barrett twice on Ohio State's final possession to seal a milestone victory for Penn State:

- First against Ohio State since 2011.

- First over a ranked team under Franklin.

- First against a top-five team since 1999 against Arizona.

- First against a top-two team since 1990 against No. 1 Notre Dame.

- First in Beaver Stadium against a team ranked so high since 1982 against No. 2 Nebraska.

Penn State (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) took its first lead against the Buckeyes when Marcus Allen leaped high to blockTyler Durbin's 45-yard field goal attempt and Haley made the scoop and sprint to the end zone.

"It's something you dream about as a kid," Haley said. "Just running to the end zone and falling, it was a huge sigh of relief, like, everything, all the hard work this team's put in coming into play against the No. 2 team in the country."

The crowd of 107,280 at Beaver Stadium, almost all dressed in white, went nuts after Penn State took the lead, and then thousands poured out onto the field when the clock hit 0:00.

The Buckeyes (6-1, 4-1 Big Ten) had their 20-game road winning streak snapped and the Big Ten East race that looked like an inevitable march toward an Ohio State-Michigan showdown on Nov. 26 in Columbus, Ohio, took a bit of a detour. Two seasons ago the Buckeyes bounced back from an early loss and won the national championship. Last season one loss turned out to be enough to eliminate Ohio State from the College Football Playoff.

"Feel the same as Michigan State last year," Ohio State defensive end Sam Hubbard said.

The Buckeyes are in much better position to recover.

Penn State is now in the mix, but the Wolverines and Buckeyes still have the advantage in the division. If they all finish 8-1 in the conference and the Buckeyes beat Michigan, Penn State - which has already lost to the Wolverines - would be eliminated from three-way tiebreaker because of a worse overall record.

The Nittany Lions will worry about that later.

"This isn't a fluke win," linebacker Jason Cabinda said. "This is who we are. This is who we believe we can be and will continue to be."

THE TAKEAWAY

Ohio State: The Buckeyes became the highest ranked team to lose to an unranked team this season. Problems with the passing game left them unable to put Penn State away. Barrett was 28 for 43 for 245 yards and he was sacked six times as the Buckeyes, especially right tackle Isaiah Prince, struggled to protect their quarterback.

"I think we put our O-line in bad spots early on in drives, so we're in second and long and then we had to pass and that harmed us," Barrett said.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions got Cabinda and fellow linebacker Brandon Bell back from injury, and the defense played it best game of the season. Bell (19 tackles) and Cabinda (12 tackles) were all over the field and defensive end Garrett Sickels had 2.5 sacks.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Ohio State: How far will the Buckeyes fall? At least behind most of the unbeaten teams and maybe behind Louisville. Figure somewhere around No. 7 or 8.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions have not been ranked since 2011, but that could change on Sunday.

UP NEXT

Ohio State: The Buckeyes return home after two straight road games to face Northwestern, which is on a three-game winning streak.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions visit Purdue. Penn State has won seven straight meetings.

No. 2 Buckeyes claw past No. 8 Wisconsin in OT thriller

J.T. Barrett escaped Wisconsin's pressure and shook off a mistake.

Ohio State's do-it-all quarterback proved his mettle after halftime in the toughest of road environments, accounting for three touchdowns and setting a school record in the process.

Barrett threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to leaping receiverNoah Brown in overtime, and the second-ranked Buckeyes finished off the eighth-ranked Badgers with a sack on fourth-and-goal from the 4 for a 30-23 win on Saturday night.

Barrett also ran for two touchdowns for the Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) in a contest that had the intensity of a championship heavyweight bout.

"That was just two good teams going at each other," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said.

He had the best player on the field on his side.

The touchdown throw in overtime gave Barrett his 89th career touchdown passing or rushing, breaking the school record previously held by quarterback Braxton Miller.

The Buckeyes rushed the field after defensive end Tyquan Lewis sacked quarterback Alex Hornibrook to end the thriller. Just in time too, after school officials warned fans that severe weather was rolling through the area right before the final play.

Ohio State got the ball first in overtime, with Barrett ending the possession with the pass to Brown for the go-ahead score.

Barrett finished 17 of 29 for 226 yards with one interception, and ran for 92 yards on 21 carries.

"We grew up even more this week," Barrett said.

Corey Clement ran for 164 yards on 25 carries for Wisconsin (4-2, 1-2) and its revived rushing attack .

The Badgers gained chunks of yards in the first half on the Buckeyes' vaunted defense, but often had to settle for field goals. They led 16-6 at halftime.

It took a little while for Ohio State to get its bearings in the second half.

"We just had to keep on grinding. This Big Ten football," Barrett said.

But Barrett, as usual, led the charge. Wisconsin's defense often got to Barrett in the backfield and tried to contain him in the pocket, only to watch him slip away with just enough time to hit big passes.

"You look at those things ... how can we finish," coach Paul Chryst said. "At the same time, you say, `Hat's off, he's a heck of a player.'"

THE TAKEAWAY

Ohio State: Barrett shook off his interception into the end zone during heavy rain early in the third quarter. He hit long pinpoint passes, often on the move, into tight coverage. The Buckeyes made it a point to work on the passing game leading into the game after problems last week against Indiana. That work paid off, though it didn't come easy against the Badgers' tough defense.

Wisconsin: Chryst dug deep into the playbook to throw off the Buckeyes in the first half, running receiver Jazz Peavy on jet sweeps and passing out of tight formations. The Badgers had manageable third-down situations, for the most part, for Hornibrook. Wisconsin picked up another first down in the fourth quarter after faking a run before Hornibrook threw a shovel pass to tight end Troy Fumagalli for 4-yard gain. The offensive-minded Chryst showed creativity that should keep Wisconsin's opponents guessing for the rest of the season.

"This one is tough ... because we didn't come into this one hoping to keep it close," Chryst said. "This one hurts tonight."

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Ohio State: The Buckeyes padded their playoff resume, but don't figure to leapfrog top-ranked Alabama in the Top 25 poll on Sunday after the Crimson Tide's 39-point win over No. 9 Tennessee.

Wisconsin: The Badgers are the best 4-2 team in the nation with a losing record in their conference. Wisconsin also lost two weeks ago to No. 4 Michigan, 14-7, at the Big House. They figure to fall a few spots in the poll, but shouldn't be severely penalized given their admirable performances against top competition.

STAT LINES

Ohio State: Barrett completed passes to eight different receivers. .... RBs Mike Weber and Curtis Samueleach finished with 46 yards rushing.

Wisconsin: Hornibrook, a freshman, was 16 of 28 for 214 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. ... Peavy finished with 70 yards on six carries, and 76 yards receiving on four catches, including a 24-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter that gave Wisconsin a 10-0 lead. .... The Badgers outgained the Buckeyes 450-411.

UP NEXT:

Ohio State: The Buckeyes play the second of two straight night games at a tough road venue when they visit Penn State on Oct. 22.

Wisconsin: There is no letup in the schedule with a trip to Iowa up next. The tested Badgers are coming off a stretch of having faced three straight top 10 opponents.

No. 2 Ohio State struggles at times but downs Indiana 38-17

 J.T. Barrett ran for 137 yards and a touchdown and passed for another score Saturday and Ohio State beat Indiana 38-17.

Second-ranked Ohio State (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) was forced to rely mostly on its ground game, which accounted for 290 yards, and some tough play by its defense - including a critical fourth-quarter stop on its own 4 yard line following a Barrett inception - to fend off the Hoosiers, who had upset Michigan State last weekend.

Ohio State's defense held when it had to, also forcing Indiana (3-2, 2-1) to turn the ball over on downs on the Hoosiers' own 33 with 5:22 left and the Buckeyes leading 31-17. Five plays later, Barrett hit Dontre Wilson with a 37-yard touchdown pass to put the game out of reach.

Safety Malik Hooker sealed the win by picking off Richard Lagow on Indiana's next series. The Buckeyes held Indiana to just one score in the second half.

Barrett was 9-of-23 for 93 yards. He carried the ball a career-high 26 times.

"JT had too many carries, so we have to fix it," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said.

Both teams struggled to establish any offensive tempo.

"It was just an awkward game," Meyer said.

Ohio State hybrid back Curtis Samuel rushed nine times for 82 yards and a touchdown, and tailback Mike Weber ran for 71 yards and two scores.

Lagow was 14-of-28 for 182 yards and two touchdowns, but Indiana managed just 99 yards rushing. Indiana had 281 total yards, compared with 383 for the Buckeyes.

"They have a great defense," Lagow said. "They're going to be tough for anybody the rest of the year, That's on us as well as them being good. We didn't hit a couple plays and they made a couple plays."

THE TAKEAWAY

Indiana: Buoyed by last week's upset of Michigan State, Indiana was effective at times but couldn't keep up with the more talented Buckeyes.

Ohio State: The Buckeyes' defense played tough and kept Ohio State in the game. But Ohio State showed its passing game can be stopped, though Barrett can find a way to win.

"I think that's the best quarterback in college football," Indiana coach Kevil Wilson said.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

A largely unimpressive win over an unranked Big Ten team isn't likely to garner Ohio State many more first-place votes.

UP NEXT

Indiana: The Hoosiers face another stiff test next week at home against undefeated No. 12 Nebraska. The Cornhuskers were off this week.

Ohio State: The Buckeyes may face their toughest challenge of the season next week when they play No. 11 Wisconsin on the road. The Badgers were off this week.

Barrett sets record, Ohio State blows out Rutgers 58-0

 J.T. Barrett broke the school record for career touchdown passes with the third of his four TD tosses Saturday, No. 2 Ohio State's stifling defense forced Rutgers to punt on each of its 10 drives and the surging Buckeyes romped to a 58-0 victory.

Barrett was 21 for 29 for 238 yards before giving way to backup Joe Burrow near the end of the third quarter. He now has 59 TD passes in 27 career games for Ohio State.

Freshman tailback Mike Weber continued to cement his place in the Ohio State (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) backfield, rushing for 144 yards on 14 attempts before also taking a seat in the third quarter. He also scored a touchdown, cutting around the left end and racing untouched for a 46-yard score 2 1/2 minutes into the second half.

Ohio State's superb defense never allowed the Scarlet Knights (2-3, 0-2) to penetrate deeper than the Ohio State 38 yard line. They sacked quarterback Chris Laviano three times.

The Buckeyes piled up 669 yards of total offense against a Rutgers team coached by former Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash.

THE TAKEAWAY

Rutgers: After playing tough against Iowa in 14-7 loss last week, Ash and the Scarlet Knights showed they will need a talent upgrade to keep up with the Big Ten's elite teams. It didn't help that star wide receiver and kick returner Janarion Grant suffered a season-ending injury in the Iowa game.

Ohio State: The Buckeyes took care of business again and blew out an overmatched team. They show no signs of slowing down.

UP NEXT

Rutgers: The Scarlets Knights' rough ride through the conference continues with a night game at home against No. 4 Michigan.

Ohio State: The Buckeyes will be heavily favored again when they play Indiana in another appetizer game next Saturday before the Big Ten main course.

Brown, Barrett lead No. 3 Ohio State past Oklahoma 45-24

Noah Brown tied a school record with four touchdown receptions, and No. 3 Ohio State rolled past No. 14 Oklahoma 45-24 on Saturday night.

Brown, who entered the game with five catches and one touchdown in his career, caught five passes for 72 yards. On his best grab, he reached around Michiah Quick and held onto Quick and the ball while falling out of bounds for a 21-yard touchdown reception with 6 seconds left in the first half.

"Anytime J.T. puts the ball in the air, he's putting trust in me, and I try to come down with the ball for him," Brown said. "I have my quarterback's back. It felt good to be able to make that play and put some points on the board."

J.T. Barrett passed for 152 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 74 yards for the Buckeyes (3-0), a team that lost 16 starters from last year's squad and was playing in a hostile environment for the first time this season.

"This was the coming-of-age game," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. "I just made a comment earlier about that, I took a deep breath and as I just watched our guys be on the buses, I thought, `My gosh, this is a young team.' This was for a lot of them their first road experience. I'm very proud of them."

Mike Weber ran for 123 yards, pacing an attack that pounded out 291 yards rushing.

"Our inability to stop the run ...They got us out of a lot of our stuff and made it a physical game, and we didn't react well to it," Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said.

Oklahoma (1-2), which lost its opener to Houston, was in desperate need of a big win to keep its hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff alive. Instead, a school-record home crowd of 87,979 watched the Sooners get dominated for most of the night. Ohio State led 35-17 at halftime.

Now, the Sooners turn their focus to Big 12 play.

"We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to win the Big 12," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "We'll keep a positive attitude. We'll keep working to improve and do our best to have a better showing when we get back on the field in a couple of weeks."

Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield passed for 226 yards and two touchdowns, but he threw two interceptions.

Ohio State's Curtis Samuel broke loose for a 36-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1 to open the scoring. The Buckeyes threatened to break the game open when Jerome Baker scored on a 68-yard interception return, but Oklahoma's Joe Mixon returned the kickoff 97 yards for a score.

Ohio State seized momentum for good when Marshon Lattimore intercepted a pass by Mayfield, then Brown caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Barrett on the next play to give the Buckeyes a 28-10 lead.

THE TAKEAWAY

OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes are a threat to win the national title, and Barrett showed why he's near the top of Heisman Trophy watch lists.

OKLAHOMA: Mayfield continues to get himself into trouble by forcing throws. His coaches criticized him for that after the loss to Houston, and he appeared to have fixed the problem against Louisiana-Monroe before regressing against the Buckeyes.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Ohio State strengthened its position, especially with No. 2 Florida State getting blown out by Louisville. Oklahoma will be fortunate to remain in the top 20.

UP NEXT

OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes have a bye week before they host Rutgers on Oct. 1.

OKLAHOMA: The Sooners ashave a bye week before playing at TCU on Oct. 1.

No. 6 Ohio St posts record romp over Bowling Green 77-10

Ohio State scored 10 offensive touchdowns and rolled up a school record 776 yards in beating Bowling Green Saturday, but was it enough to impress coach Urban Meyer?

Maybe not yet.

After the 77-10 romp, Meyer made it clear that he wants to see what his team can do when the competition gets more difficult, especially in two weeks when the No. 6 Buckeyes have to travel to Oklahoma.

"Well, it's one game," he said. "Let's chat in about four weeks and see how we're doing."

Meyer started the day worried about how his many inexperienced players would perform on the big stage. Thirty Ohio State players were participating in their first college game. Lots of them ended up getting involved in the record-breaking day.

The 776 yards topped the 718 yards Ohio State put up against Mount Union in 1930.

Eight players scored touchdowns on offense as the Buckeyes (1-0) overpowered the Falcons in front of a crowd of 107,193.

Veteran quarterback J.T. Barrett broke a school record in being responsible for seven touchdowns - six passing and a seventh on the ground. The junior was 21 for 31 for 349 yards and rushed for another 30 before giving way to backupJoe Burrow with 6:30 left in the third quarter.

Freshman tailback Mike Weber bullied his way to 136 yards on 19 carries. Curtis Samuel ran for two touchdowns and caught a scoring pass.

"We definitely want to spread the wealth," Barrett said. "There's only one football, but try to get the ball in the playmakers' hands."

Ohio State held Bowling Green (0-1) to 244 total yards.

"We pretty much got taken to the woodshed here today," Bowling Green coach Mike Jinks said.

BG's experienced offensive line did a decent job protecting quarterback James Knapke, who was 12 for 33 for 110 yards, but the Falcons couldn't overcome off-target passes and multiple dropped balls.

The Falcons' only touchdown came in the first quarter when Barrett's second pass of the day was picked off by linebacker Brandon Harris and returned for a 63-yard touchdown.

"It's hard to take positives from a butt-whooping like that," Jinks said.

THE TAKEAWAY

BOWLING GREEN: The Falcons receivers need to start holding on to Knapke's passes if they're going to have success.

"Any loss is difficult, but every one is a learning opportunity," Knapke said. "That's the attitude we're going to take from it. These young guys got a taste of what it's like."

OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes did what they wanted: break in a bunch of inexperienced players against a huge underdog. They also showed they have many weapons and stunning team speed.

KEY NUMBERS

BOWLING GREEN: Bowling Green could manage only 69 yards on the ground. The Falcons' primary tailback, Fred Coppet had just 38 yards on 12 carries.

OHIO STATE: The 77 points scored are the most by an Ohio State team since a 76-0 win over Florida A&M Sept. 21, 2013. The Buckeyes' 417 passing yards rank fourth-most in a single game in school history.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Ohio State: With No. 3 Oklahoma's loss to No. 15 Houston Saturday, the No. 6 Buckeyes could move up.

INJURY REPORT

Starting defensive tackle Tracy Sprinkle left the game with a leg injury at the end of the first quarter. Meyer said it's likely a tendon injury that will end Sprinkle's season.

UP NEXT

BOWLING GREEN: After the loss, the Falcons get their own tuneup game at home next Saturday against North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks, a Big Sky conference team formerly known as the Fighting Sioux, went 7-4 in the last season in the FCS.

OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes will get another game at home against an overmatched opponent when Tulsa visits next week. Then it's on to play at Oklahoma the following week.