Storming the Field 101: What the Buckeyes got wrong after beating Penn State Football

Ohio State’s field storming? C’mon …

Saturday night, the Ohio State student section stormed the field after their 33-24 win over Penn State Football.

1.  Did an upset occur?
No, not at all. And not even close.

Ohio State opened as 18.5 point favorites and closed even higher (19.5 was the last number I saw). The Buckeyes won by nine points.  Not only did an upset not occur, but the heavily favored team also didn’t even cover …

2.  Has the winning team been there before?

Since the College Football Playoff’s inception in 2014, the Ohio State Buckeyes have made four visits to the Playoff. Ohio State has won five of the last seven conference championships. And, Ohio State has won nine of the last 10 games versus the Nittany Lions.

3.  Was any division or conference championship berth clinched?

Nope, while the Buckeyes win did give them the ability to control their own destiny to make it to Indianapolis, they will still have to win games to earn their way there. Penn State Football was the first test, but Ohio State still must play Michigan and Michigan State before making the B1G Championship Game …

4.  Do the two teams playing have a history or rivalry?

This one is tricky.

Obviously the ‘Haley Scoop and Score’ won’t ever be replaced in Nittany Lion lore. But, the Buckeyes have had Penn State’s number, despite some unbelievably painful losses (2017 in Columbus, and 2018 in State College by a combined two points). OSU likes to say PSU isn’t their rival (and UM is their chief rival), but, boy they love doing ‘We Own Penn State’ to Zombie Nation.

Add in the similar recruiting footprints, these schools definitely have some version of a rivalry.

5.  Miscellaneous

OSU, a top-five team in the nation, won but didn’t cover versus a reeling conference foe.  That’s what happened last night.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Verdict: Storming the field was an embarrassment.

There’s really no way to defend or fathom why Buckeye faithful found it necessary to storm the field last night.  I am a feverent defender of letting college kids have (safe) fun, but using the criteria, there was nothing about last night worthy of a storm.