Penn State vs. OSU Preview Part 1

Penn State vs. OSU, September 23, 3:36, ABC

Series History
This will be the 22nd meeting between OSU and Penn State. Penn State leads, 11-10. OSU has won seven of the last 12 played in Columbus, the last time Penn State won in Columbus was in 1978. The home team has won 11 of the last 13 and the ranked team has won 14 of the last 15 in the series. The two teams have met each year since Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993. Penn State won last year, 17-10. The Nittany Lions took a 14-3 lead in the second quarter. OSU scored before the half, making it 14-10. Penn State shut out OSU (ranked #6 at the time) for the entire second half and hit a field goal. OSU had two turnovers and Penn State racked up five sacks against OSU.

Coaches
Jim Tressel is in his sixth year at OSU and he has a record of 53-13, which includes a 33-4 home record. He is 3-2 against Penn State. Coach Joe Paterno is in his 41st year at Penn State, with a 356-119-3 record. To put that in perspective, since Paterno became head coach in 1966 there have been 775 head coaching changes in Division I, an average of six per school. Paterno moved ahead of Bear Bryant for the lead in Division I-A wins in 2001 in a comeback win over Ohio State, 29-27, but he is now behind Bobby Bowden at Florida State (361-108-4.) Some have argued that 31 of Bowden's victories should not count since they occurred at Samford University, currently a Division I-AA school, but the school was then known as Howard College and the NCAA did not split division I at the time. JoePa is 7-10 against OSU.