Penn State has not beaten Ohio State since 2016.
That’s eight long years.
The Nittany Lions are looking to snap their seven-game losing streak against the Buckeyes in one of the most highly anticipated games of the year.
Penn State is ranked third in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll, while Ohio State is ranked fourth in both polls.
It is going to be a heavyweight fight, with both teams undefeated, and both looking to put themselves in position to win the Big Ten.
All Penn State has to do, is do something they haven’t been able to do in nearly a decade.
Something they haven’t been able to do since one of college football‘s most iconic plays took place in Beaver Stadium in 2016.
The Block Six.
As a 19.5-point home underdog, the Nittany Lions shocked the world when they took down the number two ranked team in the country, 24-21, in part to a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown, that proved to be the winning score.
With just over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Ohio State was looking to push its’ 21-17 lead over Penn State with a chip shot field goal.
Until Marcus Allen and Grant Haley happened.
The Nittany Lions safety blocked the kick up the middle, while Haley was able to scoop it up and race 60 yards the other way for a touchdown.
It is regarded as one of the greatest plays in Penn State football history.
“It’s something you dream about as a kid,” Haley said after the game.
“Just running to the end zone and falling, it was a huge sigh of relief, like, everything, all the hard work this team’s put in coming into play against the No. 2 team in the country.”
That win marked one of the biggest in program history.
It was the Nittany Lions’ first victory against Ohio State since 2011 and also their first victory over a top-five team since 1999 and their first win against a top-two team since 1990.
In other words, it should have been a program-altering win.
But fast forward right years later, and that hasn’t seemed to be the case, as head coach James Franklin and the Nittany Lions haven’t been able to break through and get over the hump.
They’ve won the Big Ten just once, that year in 2016, and are still without a playoff appearance.
In other words, it’s time for Franklin and Penn State to put up or shut up.
And they will have no bigger opportunity than against the Buckeyes.
Franklin will be hoping to capture the magic of the Block Six and beat his rival for the first time in a long time.
Or else, it could start to get real dicey in Happy Valley.
