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First Posted: 10/23/2013 If they didn&#8217;t remember the play by sight, they would still remember it by the sound.
A year later, Penn State players still recall Braxton Miller&#8217;s highlight reel touchdown run against them at Beaver Stadium.
On third-and-goal from the 1, Ohio State called for a draw to Carlos Hyde. But Penn State&#8217;s Sean Stanley burst through the line unblocked and crushed the big tailback. The sound crew immediately cued up the music to celebrate a huge defensive stand.
Except Hyde didn&#8217;t have the ball.
Miller had managed to see Stanley coming at the last second and hold onto it himself. Back at the 5-yard line and looking dead to rights, the quarterback was able to fake out Gerald Hodges with a stutter step, jumping backward to avoid a big loss. A Buckeyes lineman tackled the other linebacker, Michael Mauti.
Safety Malcolm Willis came up to fill the hole, aiming to hit Miller low and bring him down short of the goal line. But the 6-foot-2 Miller launched himself from the 2 and vaulted over top of the tackle attempt and into the end zone for the score.
Just as the music stopped playing.
&#8220;A crucial play in the game,&#8221; said linebacker Glenn Carson, who also was on the field at the time. &#8220;It just shows his athleticism.&#8221;
&#8220;I definitely remember that,&#8221; said Stephen Obeng-Agyapong, who saw it all unfold from the opposite side of the formation as a safety. &#8220;I see pictures of that play all the time. &#8230; You don&#8217;t want things like that to happen again.&#8221;
Those sights and sounds serve as an important reminder to the Nittany Lions. No matter how well-prepared they feel to take on Miller on Saturday in Columbus, it&#8217;s the things they can&#8217;t plan for that could cost them the game.
As much as any player in the nation Miller is capable of turning a broken play &#8212; like a draw ruined by a blown blocking assignment &#8212; into a touchdown.
&#8220;Yeah, it&#8217;s a very difficult challenge playing a guy like Braxton Miller, in my opinion one of the top five players in the country,&#8221; Penn State coach Bill O&#8217;Brien said. &#8220;A really good football player who has improved immensely since he&#8217;s been in the system. Last year was his first year in (Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer&#8217;s) system. Now I think he&#8217;s got great grasp of this system.
&#8220;He&#8217;s throwing the ball well. I thought they played real well offensively against Iowa. And if he gets outside the pocket, he&#8217;s a dangerous guy.&#8221;
Miller certainly did play well against Iowa. It was a big step forward after his Heisman campaign had been derailed early in the season by a knee injury, which caused him to miss nearly three full games.
Last week against the Hawkeyes was his third game back. And he certainly looked to be 100 percent, finishing 22-of-27 passing (82 percent) for 222 yards and two touchdowns while adding 102 yards on the ground.
&#8220;Containing him is the the emphasis of this week,&#8221; said Carson, who estimated that he would spend &#8220;well over 10 hours&#8221; this week with coaches and on his own time watching film of Miller and the Buckeyes offense.
&#8220;You just have to keep in mind he&#8217;s an explosive player,&#8221; said Obeng-Agyapong, who will face Miller as a linebacker this time around. &#8220;He can make a play at any time. You can feel like you have him one-on-one, then he can make you miss.&#8221;
The Lions defense got plenty of practice in this area last time out against Michigan. Wolverines quarterback Devin Gardner, though perhaps a notch below Miller as a passer, ran for 121 yards against Penn State.
Half of that total came on improvised scrambles.
&#8220;You know, sometimes those things are going to happen,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got to play hard and play with great effort and do the best we can to keep him in (the pocket), and when he gets out, we have to make sure that we understand our rules, our scramble rules.
&#8220;But that&#8217;s the difficulty with a lot of these teams that you face with these quarterbacks that are dual&#8209;threat guys. &#8230; They&#8217;re excellent quarterbacks in the pocket and they&#8217;re good outside the pocket. We&#8217;ll just do the best we can.&#8221;

Lions wary of Miller’s scrambling ability