By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland.com) —
Columbus- Beanie Wells was stunned.
You could have walked into postgame interviews after Ohio State’ 13-6 loss to Penn State on Saturday, taken one look at the star Buckeyes running back and known everything you needed to know about the outcome and the run game.

And Ohio State’s offensive line.

In seven previous starts against ranked teams, Wells had bro ken the 130-yard mark six times and never averaged less than 4.5 yards per carry. Whatever else had gone wrong, Wells had gone right.

And now, after rushing for just 55 yards on 22 carries, a 2.5-yard average that was his worst in 19 career starts, Wells knew what it was like to get stuffed.

Asked if he’d ever felt like this after a game, Wells’ eyes widened as he said, “I definitely haven’t.”

Several times this season, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel has trotted out the story of how often Ohio State ran a simple run play in 2002, how if you do something well, a defense can know it’s coming and still not stop it. Nine games into this season maybe, at last, the Buckeyes realize that doesn’t apply to this team.

“I think the consistency of the offense has not progressed,” Tressel said Tuesday during his 10 minutes on the Big Ten coaches conference call. There was no regular Tuesday news conference during this bye week for the Buckeyes.

Saturday, Penn State blew by right tackle Bryant Browning six times in pass protection, with defensive end Aaron Maybin, whose 11 sacks ranks second in the nation, the usual culprit. Other than that, and that’s a lot, the pass protection wasn’t bad. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor actually seemed to scramble several times when there was a pocket to work with.

But with Penn State often stacking eight men near the line of scrimmage, the offensive line seldom got a real push.
“We couldn’t run the ball, that’s why we lost the game,” left guard Jim Cordle said immediately after the loss.
Why?

“Well, we haven’t had the consistency of play [on the line] that we had hoped,” Tressel said Tuesday. “I think Alex Boone has consistently been solid. Bryant Browning is a newcomer and he’s playing a difficult position at right tackle, and Penn State has outstanding ends and he had his hands full from that standpoint.”

Answers are coming. Boone, Steve Rehring and Ben Person are seniors. The starting line next year should include current freshmen center Brewster and tackles Mike Adams and J.B. Shugarts, who have both battled injuries this year, as well as Michigan transfer Justin Boren.

And with Pryor getting more comfortable, Ohio State next season must be more threatening in the passing game. Wells made that point after the Purdue game, then tried to restrain himself when asked about it again Saturday.

“I guess you can kind of answer that question,” Wells said. “That’s football. You can’t just . . . I don’t know.”

Then he stopped. You can’t just run, run, run, he might have continued. At least not with this line.

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