The Nittany Lions had a golden opportunity to put more points across when defensive tackle Jordan Hill recovered a fumble at the Ohio State 11. But with first-and-goal from the 2, they tried four cracks between the tackles without getting in, the last three being from one yard out.
Still, the Penn State defense had enough to control dynamic freshman quarterback Braxton Miller.
Drake took the first Wildcat snap of the game and handed off to Green, who dashed 39 yards to put the Nittany Lions on the board less than 21/2 minutes of the game, capping a seven-play march.
On their next drive, the Lions ran 15 plays and got a 43-yard field goal by Fera out of it.
But Penn State needed just five plays to go 81 yards and score its second touchdown. They got 62 yards on two of the plays - a 42-yard run by Silas Redd and a 20-yard pass from Matt McGloin to Derek Moye. Green capped the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run.
Drake's 38-yard run off a direct snap aided a Penn State drive at the end of the half and led to Fera's second field goal.
Ohio State was down 10-0 before scoring on Miller's 24-yard run early in the second quarter. A McGloin pass that was intercepted by Orhian Johnson set up the Buckeyes at the Penn State 37, and the home team scored in five plays. Miller capped the march with an 11-yard TD pass to Jake Stoneburner.
That score came with 5:22 left in the first half. Ohio State suffered from poor field position for much of the second half, starting consecutive drives on its own 10, 1 (after Penn State was stopped short of a touchdown), 3 and 13.
The Buckeyes took that last drive from the 13 to the Penn State 36 but on fourth down, a false-start penalty moved the ball back to the 41. Miller ran for nine yards but fell one yard short of a first down, giving the Lions the ball.
Contact staff writer Joe Juliano at 215-854-4494 or jjuliano@phillynews.com
