Snap Reactions: Give credit to Ohio State defense

Every Saturday during the Big Ten football season, BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart watches all the action and offers his Snap Reactions. Dienhart was very impressed by Ohio State, and on both sides of the ball, in its 35-23 victory over Penn State. Check out his impressions in this post.

Ohio State 35, Penn State 23
1. Ohio State imposed its will in the trenches to slowly take over the game. The Buckeye defensive line played especially well. And Braxton Miller bounced back from a neck injury to run 25 times for 134 yards and two scores and pass for 143 yards and a touchdown, as Ohio State remained unbeaten.

2. Give credit to an often maligned Buckeye defense that entered the game No. 9 in the Big Ten (393.4 ypg). The unit played well vs. Penn State, slowing down the running game and getting after Matt McGloin and allowing 359 yards. The defense needed an effort like this as Ohio State comes to the home stretch with games left vs. Wisconsin and Michigan.

3. The loss does not diminish what Penn State has done to this point. The Nittany Lions just met a better team and a hotter team on this day. Penn State still has a chance to finish strong, but it needs to get better at running the ball to take pressure off Matt McGloin. The Nittany Lions ran 28 times for 32 yards, 1.1 yards per carry.

BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men's basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section.

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