I had to check the internet this morning to make sure Penn State really beat Ohio State last night

Last night was fucking crazy.  No one saw this coming.  Ohio State was not on "upset alert".  This was the No. 2 team in the country in late October, not the No. 2 team in the 2nd week of September.  The body of work was there.  This was a team that waltzed into Norman and demolished Oklahoma 45-24.  They blasted an awful Rutgers team 58-0.  They escaped Wisconsin with a 30-23 win at night on the road.  Yes, Happy Valley at night is a tough place to play, but it's not supposed to over compensate for talent by that much.  Not when you're facing an Urban Meyer coached team who's won 20 straight games and eats Papa John's to celebrate in the bowels of your stadium:

This was a Penn State squad that looked absolutely lifeless in a 49-10 beat down at Michigan.  Yes, they looked better after wins against Minnesota and Maryland, but those teams are not Ohio State.  Perhaps it's the scheduling gods that made this happen.  Ohio State had back-to-back road night games in the Big Ten.  I can't remember that happening recently.  Penn State hadn't been on the road since that Sept 24 loss to Michigan and had two weeks to prepare for Ohio State.  Not that an open week really helps when you look at these stats:

But this is why sometimes in football, stats don't mean shit.  Special teams decided this game, and special teams don't make the stat sheet.  Watching this game early, I was nervous when Penn State's first drive ended in a blocked field goal, and then they muffed a punt that led to Ohio State's first field goal. You can't do that shit against Ohio State and expect to win.  When the game was 12-7 at the half, it was obvious points were at a premium.  That's why when Ohio State struck quickly to make it 19-7, then Penn State had another special teams miscue that sent the snap over the punter's head into the end zone for a safety (crucial recovery by the way) and made the score 21-7, it felt like I'd seen this script before.  This is where Ohio State silences the crowd and takes breaks the game wide open.  That was going to happen...until it didn't.  If you're keeping track, Penn State's special teams miscues equaled an 8 point swing.  What happened next was downright incredible.  With the score 21-14, Ohio State had a blocked punt that led to a field goal, making it 21-17.  It was nuts to think that the safety could be the difference since a field goal now would do Penn State no good. Everybody knows what the next huge special teams play was:

I've bashed James Franklin here before, and while I'm not completely onboard, this win showed giant progress.  He's saved his job last night unless there's a giant collapse and Penn State goes 2-3 the rest of the way.  There isn't a ranked team left on the schedule.  10-2 and a New Year's six bowl is a reachable goal after two lousy 7-6 seasons.  Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but this is what's expected at Penn State.  Last year's team was 7-2 after nine games, but that was a mirage since they finished the season with 3 straight losses to ranked opponents.  The schedule isn't back loaded the same way.  As for the Big Ten East race, this upset doesn't shake it up that much.  It still comes down to Ohio State-Michigan, since in a 3-way tie for the division, Penn State is out because it has a non-conference loss (to FUCKING PITT) and Ohio State would win the head-to-head with Michigan.
                   

Teams have been left for dead after an upset loss, only to win a national championship that same year because other teams can't sustain the success (Alabama comes to mind).  I'm going to enjoy this win for a while, even if it doesn't shake up the playoff picture THAT much.