STATE COLLEGE - If someone would've told you on Saturday before the Ohio State-Penn State game began that the Nittany Lions were going to spot the Buckeyes 17 points then you probably would've guessed they were going to have their doors blown off.

I mean who wouldn't with the Nittany Lions coming off back-to-back losses to very average teams in Northwestern and Michigan.However, the Penn State fan base proved one thing, and that is something that they've pretty much always proved. Anytime there is a capacity crowd (107,000 plus) and it's a "white out" then the Nittany Lions have a shot.Obviously, they didn't get off to the start they wanted turning the ball over on a Christian Hackenberg interception on their first possession at the PSU 39. By now, everyone knows it wasn't an interception, but the officials said the feed wasn't working correctly so there were technical difficulties when trying to review the interception. It's something I don't think anyone has ever heard of, but that's just the way it is.Ohio State took advantage and scored quickly after on a 10-yard run by Ezekiel Elliot.The Buckeyes would tack on two more scores before the end of the first half. A Sean Nuernberger 49-yard field goal and a J.T. Barrett one-yard touchdown pass would give Ohio State a 17-0 advantage.The officials seemed to have some struggles with the Nuernberger field goal as well as they missed a delay of game penalty on the attempt. The play clock read zero for almost three whole seconds before Nuernberger kicked the ball.After the obvious two missed calls by the officials that led to 10 points for Ohio State it was evident after the ball game that James Franklin wanted to sound off, but he held steadfast."I know you guys would love for me to give you a sound bite that not only would sell papers but would get me a big fine, but I'm not going to do it," said Franklin. " I'm going to focus on the things that I can control, which are our players, our coaches, our program and loving these kids and coaching them and putting them in a position to be successful. We're going to come out on Sunday and we're going to work harder than we've ever worked to do that. That's what I can control."Anytime you're down in the game of football and you have a big loud crowd on hand, sometimes all it takes is one play to get you back in contention. Penn State defensive lineman Anthony Zettel did just that intercepting a J.T. Barrett pass on OSU's first possession of the second half, rumbling 40 yards for a touchdown to bring the Nittany Lions within 10. It was just what the blue and white needed to get back in the ball game.Zettel was one of many defensive standouts on the night for Penn State. Simply put, the Penn State defense played fantastic. They held Ohio State to 31 points which is 15.5 points lower than its season average. They also held the Buckeyes to 293 total yards, which is a remarkable 277.8 yards below its season average of 533.8 yards per game.As noted a ton of PSU defensive players shined, but the best performance on the defensive end on Saturday night belonged to Mike Hull. Hull was all over the place as he ended up with 19 tackles and an interception. It was his fifth 10-plus tackle game of the season and his third consecutive game with at least 10 tackles. He also leads not only Penn State, but the BIG 10 in tackles, and ranks sixth nationally with 11.9 tackles per game."I think he (Mike Hull) should be on every award list right now," said Franklin. "He deserves that. I've been doing this for 20 years. I've coached in a lot of different leagues, even the NFL. The guy is playing at a really, really high level week in and week out. He makes plays from sideline to sideline in the run game and in the pass game."Penn State got within three early in the fourth quarter after Hackenberg threw a nice jump ball to freshman Saeed Blacknall in the corner of the end zone for a 24-yard hookup.Ohio State would get the ball two more times after that, but the PSU defense like it did all night held strong, forcing the Buckeyes to punt on both occasions."Hack" and the offense would get one last shot to potentially tie or win the ball game with 2:58 remaining on their own nine yard line. Per usual, Hackenberg looked good in the no huddle two-minute offense and got the Nittany Lions down to the OSU 14. Sam Ficken's 31-yard attempt tied up the ball game and sent the game into overtime. Saturday's overtime game with Ohio State was the fifth time out of Penn State's last seven BIG 10 home games that they've went past regulation, starting with the 2012 Senior Day win over Wisconsin.The two teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime period, but in the second overtime Penn State's offensive line issues were made evident once again. After Ohio State scored to start the second overtime period on a J.T. Barrett four-yard run Hackenberg saw a heavy dose of scarlet and grey jerseys. A fourth down sack by Joey Bosa sealed the win for Ohio State, dropping the Nittany Lions to 4-3 (1-3 BIG 10).Hackenberg ended up with 224 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception on the night. Redshirt freshman DaSean Hamilton set the single-game PSU reception record on the day with 14 catches. Hamilton finished up with 126 receiving yards.Penn State will now head to Maryland next week for a Noon start, which will be aired on ESPN 2. A win against the Terrapins is a much needed one as the Nittany Lions will be heading into the BIG 10 match-up on a three-game losing streak."We're that close, we really are," said Franklin. "I truly believe with a little bit of patience, a great attitude and tremendous work ethic, we'll get where we want to go."