Kirk Herbstreit waiting to see what Ohio State-Penn State reveals
Ohio State and Penn State are set up for a monster top-10 showdown this weekend and it could be a coming-out party of sorts for either quarterback. Both have played well to this point but haven’t experienced many true tests.
That also holds true of both teams. While Ohio State has bested Notre Dame, neither has a ton of truly quality wins.
“I’m almost just waiting to see this week who this Ohio State and who this Penn State team, who they really are,” said ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit.
“Because Penn State looks like this feels different, but yet their quarterback Drew Allar‘s never really seen this kind of environment. He’s passed every test up to this point. Kid that grew up in the state of Ohio in the Cleveland area, now he gets a chance to take on the Buckeyes as the Penn State starting quarterback and he’s trying to get them over that hump.”
Allar will need to make some key plays in the game for the Nittany Lions if they’re hoping to best the Buckeyes. Until he does, doubts will linger.
That’s just what happens when you haven’t been able to get over the hump against the best teams in your conference.
“Penn State, at some point we continue to wait on them take that next step,” ESPN’s Booger McFarland said. “They lost to Michigan and Ohio State last year, and as much as James Franklin can say that we played these guys close, you still lost by double-digits. This is an opportunity for us to say, hey Penn State, you’ve got two good runners. You’ve been waiting on this quarterback Drew Allar to kind of come in to give you a presence in big games that can push the ball down the field. If not now, when? We’re waiting to see what Penn State is and can they proclaim themselves in this college football conversation.”
But make no mistake about it, Ohio State has question marks, too. The Buckeyes haven’t been able to figure out rival Michigan the last couple years. Penn State is just the second of the true tests for new quarterback Kyle McCord.
“This is the first opportunity we’re going to get to see what Penn State is,” McFarland said. “We saw Ohio State in a hostile environment in South Bend, and I think we saw their quarterback Kyle McCord kind of grow up in front of us, especially in the fourth quarter. So we have an idea what their talent base is.”
Despite that win over Notre Dame, Herbstreit still has his question marks about the Buckeyes.
“For me, I look at Ohio State and I think that Ohio State, just grading them against their own standard, their own bar, I don’t think they’ve been able to consistently get up to that bar yet on both sides of the ball for a full 60 minutes,” Herbstreit said. “Now they haven’t played great competition, the Notre Dame game would be the exception.
“But we’re going to really find out who they are and who this offense is with a number of injuries into that backfield, to see if they can beat a very talented Penn State team.”