COLUMBUS — Perhaps the offensive explosion at Michigan State last week was the aberration.
For the third time this year — and the second time in a row at The Horseshoe — Ohio State’s offense failed to produce a touchdown in losing to No. 3-ranked Penn State, 13-6, Saturday in front of 105,711 mostly red-clad spectators.
So much for the so-called Scarlet Fever night at Ohio Stadium. It effectively ends Ohio State’s Big Ten title run at three — two outright and one shared.
“At the beginning of every year you always want to win the Big Ten championship and earn the opportunity to become the national champions,” said coach Jim Tressel. “It just so happened that this year, there was an opportunity from an outright standpoint, but this year’s not over. There’s three more football games.”
Tressel is right. There are three more games — road trips to Northwestern and Illinois, before finishing at home against Michigan — but after contending for national titles the past two years, it seems rather shallow.
Saturday, the Buckeyes produced just 61 yards on the ground and had a total offense under 300 in handing the keys to this year’s national championship bid to the Nittany Lions, now 9-0 on the year — the 10th time Penn State coach Joe Paterno started a season with nine straight wins. Ohio State fell to 7-2.
Ohio State appeared to have put its offensive woes behind it last week at Michigan State, where the Buckeyes rolled up 216 yards on the ground and added 116 through the air as they routed the Spartans, 45-7. Saturday night, Chris “Beanie” Wells had just 55 yards and his longest gain was just 8.
“Penn State did a nice job of moving and attacking the line of scrimmage,” said Tressel. “We did not run the ball nearly as well as we needed to score a lot more points.”
It was freshman quaretrback Terrelle Pryor’s fumble that first gave Penn State its chance to win but it was his interception as time wound down that nailed the Nittany Lions’ victory. Pryor’s passing numbers were certainly acceptable. He threw for 226 yards on 16 completions off 25 attempts and connected on a couple long ones that set up potential scores. Unfortunately, those opportunities evaporated into field goals.
“I think he saw a couple gaps,” said Tressel when asked about Pryor’s fumble that set up Penn State’s go-ahead touchdown. “Some penetration. He tried to slide outside but maybe a helmet hit the ball or whatever. It was unfortunate.
“Tip your hat to Penn State. They came in and played extremely hard. They didn’t make a whole bunch of mistakes.
“For a moment there, it was nothing but field goals. It was the hard play of our defense. It was the hard play of their defense and usually in those type of battles the tide turns on the smallest things.”
Like fumbles, interference and face mask penalties and a general lack of being able to run the ball. Those mistakes all added up in the wrong column for Tressel and the Buckeyes.
Tressel, still trying his best to be philosophical said, “We’re still going to try to be the best that we can be.”
Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. 

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