Oct. 8, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Ten years have passed since an epic night in Penn State lore.
Few environments will ever compare to the one inside Beaver Stadium on Oct. 8, 2005 when the unbeaten and 16th-ranked Nittany Lions battled the sixth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in a primetime tilt of Big Ten heavyweights.
Having knocked off Northwestern in dramatic fashion two weeks prior, the Nittany Lions entered the Ohio State game on the heels of a 44-14 rout of Minnesota. The Buckeyes came in with one blemish on their record following a narrow 25-22 setback to eventual national champion Texas.
ESPN College Gameday set the stage outside of Beaver Stadium on what proved to be a special Saturday in Happy Valley.
Chilly, damp conditions under the lights proved to be the perfect setting for a slugfest between two of the conference's best defenses.
The Buckeyes got on the board first with a 30-yard field goal from Josh Huston in the first frame, but the Nittany Lions answered with a big second quarter. Freshman Derrick Williams capped off a nine-play, 74-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run on an option play with quarterback Michael Robinson to put the Nittany Lions on top by a score of 7-3.
With capacity crowd of 109,839 in a frenzy, defensive linemen Matthew Rice and Tamba Hali sacked Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith on the first play of the ensuing Buckeye possession. Two plays later, safety Calvin Lowry stepped in front of a Smith pass for an interception before racing to the Ohio State 2.
Robinson then plunged into the end zone to give the Nittany Lions a 14-3 lead. Ohio State answered on the next possession with an 81-yard drive, setting the score at 14-10 heading into the break.
Penn State added a 41-yard field goal from Kevin Kelly on the first drive of the second half to make it 17-10, Nittany Lions.
From there, the tenacious Blue and White defense took over with a spirited performance.
The Buckeyes managed 105 yards in the second half, including just 54 yards and two first downs in the final quarter of play.
It was only fitting on a night dominated by the Nittany Lion defense that the clinching moment came in the form of a sack. With Ohio State driving in the final two minutes of action at the Penn State 45, Hali raced into the backfield, sacked Smith, forced a fumble, and Scott Paxson pounced on the loose ball, which directed the boisterous crowd into a deafening roar.
Hali's senior season was filled with big plays, but none were more iconic than his sack of Smith.
Linebacker Paul Posluszny led stifling effort against an Ohio State offense that came into the game averaging nearly 400 yards per contest. The All-American finished with 14 tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack en route to becoming the first player to earn Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors in three consecutive weeks. Fellow linebacker Dan Connor has 12 tackles, while Hali finished with seven tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. The Buckeyes finished with 230 total yards.
In all, more than 30 players from the two teams that competed that night were selected in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 NFL drafts.
A last-second touchdown in Ann Arbor the very next week was all that stood between the Big Ten and Orange Bowl champions and an undefeated season.
Ten years may have passed, but Oct. 8, 2005 remains as a night Nittany Lion fans that were in attendance or watching at home will never forget.