Before each Ohio State game, Eleven Warriors catches up with a media member who covers the opposing team to get his or her perspective on the Buckeyes' upcoming opponent.This week, Ohio State hosts Penn State in a crucial Big Ten East matchup in a contest that could be pivotal in deciding if the Buckeyes qualify for the Big Ten Championshig Game or not later this season..
As far as mindset, I wouldn't say that Penn State is playing down the opportunity but I don't think there is a frontward-facing"this is the biggest game ever" sort of narrative either. This has been Penn State's biggest game for a decade now, everyone sort of understands the deal at this point and going"man I would really like to finally win this game" probably doesn't help either.
Defensively, Penn State has a massive on-paper advantage in stopping Ohio State’s running game considering PSU is third nationally in run defense, OSU might be down to its fourth-string running back and averaged less than two yards per carry two weeks ago.
There are very few cornerbacks in college football you can trust to attempt to play man coverage on Marvin Harrison Jr. Kalen King might be one of them. What do you make of the star-studded matchup?King is smart and moves well, those are the biggest things to me. He doesn't have the size that Joey Porter Jr did but I think King is in many ways a better corner because of that.