Saturday’s top-10 battle between Big Ten East rivals Ohio State and Penn State was a slugfest that the No. 3 Buckeyes won 20-12. The game was a defensive battle in which the Buckeyes did just enough to defeat the Nittany Lions for the tenth time in the past 11 meetings. On a day where the new and improved Ohio State defense held Penn State to 240 total yards, in large part due to a very vanilla and conservative game plan, the Buckeyes tallied only 365 total yards themselves.
At the forefront of nearly 45 percent of that total was wide receiver Marvin Harrison who tallied 11 receptions on 16 targets for 162 yards and one touchdown. Harrison showed why he’s widely considered the top receivers expected to be available in the upcoming 2024 NFL draft. On a day when offense was hard to come by, the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison was far and away the best player in the Ohio Stadium, aka “The Shoe.”
Ryan Day Applauds His Star WR
Catching passes from Kyle McCord, his high school quarterback at St. Joe’s Prep in Philadelphia, Harrison’s 162 yards receiving were also nearly 57 percent of the team’s passing yards. That type of performance drew big praise from Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day, who said this in his postgame presser.
“I’ve got to give Marvin Harrison so much credit,” Day said. “To go for 11 catches for 162 yards and a touchdown when I think most teams, the first thing they look at is ‘How do we take away Marvin Harrison?’ We targeted him 16 times and I think he was open for most of those 16 plays. So he showed up in a big spot today.”
It’s no surprise. ‘Harrison’s unique blend of route-running, speed, quickness and a huge catch radius make him a nightmare to cover. And the Nittany Lions tried to do it with man coverage a lot of the day.
Harrison Has Embraced BEING THE MAN
Nicknamed “Maserati Marv” for the fluidity and pace he played with, Harrison Jr. has embraced being the man this season, knowing that teams would game plan to take him out of the game as much as possible. That hasn’t stopped the preseason pick to win the Biletnikoff Award, who in the last two seasons has reached career-highs in yards (185) in 2022 and receptions (11) against the Nittany Lions.
Harrison embraces the pressure and just goes out and plays. He told reporters this following his big day.
“I think you could say a lot’s on my shoulders, but that’s my job at the end of the day,” Harrison said. “My teammates and coaches count on me to be the focal point of the offense, and each and every week I know they’re going to lean on me. Offense kind of goes as I go.”
Harrison is correct, because on Saturday the Buckeyes averaged a paltry 1.9 yards per carry against a very stingy Nittany Lions defense. No matter how good Harrison and his Buckeyes have been this season they’ll be measured by their end of the season with archrival Michigan, who’s won the last pwo matchups.
