Trace McSorley had one of the very best games of his career against Ohio State on Saturday night. 

McSorley has faced some criticism this season, although it is totally unwarranted in my humble opinion. In any case, McSorley showed the college football world why he should be a Heisman contender and also reminded fans why he has owned the starting job in Happy Valley for three seasons. 

It was clear early on in the matchup that the running game was not going to be allowed to take off. The stifling Buckeye defense allowed Miles Sanders to run for just 43 yards on 16 carries. 

McSorley, however, found some space to operate on passing plays. No. 9 showed his elusiveness and speed over and over again on his way to rushing for an astounding 175 yards. His longest run of the night went for 51 yards, which is impressive against a defensive unit that otherwise stifled the run. 

McSorley had a pretty big game through the air, too, including a 93-yard touchdown pass to KJ Hamler. Despite a number of dropped passes, he still managed to throw for 286 yards and two touchdowns. He put up 461 yards of total offense compared to 278 yards from Dwayne Haskins. 

No. 9 also didn’t turn the ball over against a team that scored two defensive touchdowns against TCU. The moment never seemed too big for the Penn State quarterback on Saturday night, no matter what situation he was in.

When asked about McSorley’s performance and ability to shoulder the load offensively, Miles Sanders kept it straight-forward.

“That’s what Trace does,” Sanders said. “Trace wanted it bad.”

Part of what has made McSorley such a successful quarterback is his ability to focus in on details. 

“We need to have total buy-in from everybody in understanding what the little details mean,” McSorley said. “I know that it can get annoying to a lot of guys — it’s tedious. Most of it is just tedious little details.”

Even though his Nittany Lions didn’t pull out the win in front of the White Out crowd, McSorley showed yet again that you just cannot underestimate him. The senior has an uncanny ability to find a way to make the defense pay, and he certainly did that against Ohio State.