Penn State OC: 'I felt like we had a good chance to run the ball' on 4th down play
Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne said he failed to account for something in Ohio State’s defense on the Nittany Lions’ ill-fated fourth-down play late in the Buckeyes’ win on Saturday.
Trailing by one, Penn State ran the ball on a crucial fourth-and-5 at the Ohio State 43 with 1:22 left in the game. The run went nowhere and Rahne told the Associated Press that he took responsibility for the call to run the ball.
“I was upset with [the play call] because there was a particular thing that I should have foreseen and I didn’t,” Rahne told the AP. “I should have foreseen one other thing, and I didn’t. That made it a little bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be.”
Rahne said he saw that Ohio State’s defensive front was in an alignment that typically meant a pass rush. Rahne didn’t talk immediately after the game because Penn State’s assistant coaches are not available to the media after games.
“So that was the thought process that went into it,” said Rahne said. “I felt like we had a good chance to run the ball and split it right up the hash. I went back and watched the tape. Is there a possibility for that? Yeah, maybe, but ultimately I didn’t give our guys the best chance to succeed.”
Here's what Penn State went with on 4th and 5 with the game on the line. pic.twitter.com/onhYZGP2RH
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) September 30, 2018
Compounding matters, Penn State used two timeouts to Ohio State’s one before the play. When Ohio State took over after the turnover on downs Penn State had just one timeout left. That allowed the Buckeyes to run out the clock and preserve a 27-26 win.
The call will haunt Penn State for the rest of the 2018 season, especially if the Nittany Lions don’t make the Big Ten championship game and miss out on a shot at the College Football Playoff.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter
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