About five minutes later, the botched kick was irrelevant. Ohio State scored again, rushing the ball, but certainly not rushing to hand the ball back to Penn State.
"It didn't help that they put that nice drive together," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said.
The Buckeyes carried the ball on seven of its 11 plays on a 73-yard drive that ended with a Derek Combs one-yard touchdown run and ended Penn State's chance to salvage its season in the Big Ten opener.
Penn State could have averted disaster had it contained the Buckeyes on a third-and-11 as Ohio State had possession on the Lions' 21 yard line.
But the Lions encroached and that put Bellisari and Co. five yards closer to the goal.
And, on the following play, Bellisari found tight end Darnell Sanders in the middle of the field for a 10-yard gain that perpetuated the drive and eventually put Penn State out of contention.
"They got a little confidence after they got their touchdown," Combs said. "They probably thought they were back in the game. We score right after that and it is a big confidence booster for us."
Penn State never recovered. Cornerback Nate Clements picked a Rashard Casey attempt to Eddie Drummond and returned it 12 yards to the Lions' 40-yard line. More than three minutes and seven plays later, the Buckeyes took a 31-6 advantage when reserve tailback Jerry Westbrooks took a pitch from quarterback Steve Bellisari and raced three yards into the end zone.
Less than a minute later, Brent Johnson stripped quarterback Matt Senneca and Mike Collins received an escort from Bullard Courtland, giving the Buckeyes a 38-point advantage as the third stanza expired.
And Penn State's scoring drive 10 minutes earlier went for naught.
"That was the pivotal drive," Bellisari said. "That was, I think, the turning point in the game."
