You can’t help but to wonder if the thought crossed Ryan Day’s mind as he made his way through photographers, players and the flash flood created by 111,000 teary-eyed souls.

“Maybe that will shut them up for a week.”

The Ohio State coach is far too classy to enunciate that thought out loud, but he would certainly be excused if it escaped at some point in the aftermath of his Buckeyes’ 20-13 victory over unbeaten Penn State.

Because marching into Happy Valley on a glorious fall afternoon, the unbeaten Nittany Lions on the other side of the field and those same 111,000 screaming their Paterno-loving lungs out, wasn’t supposed to go this way for Day and Ohio State.

The Buckeyes weren’t exactly the Big Ten flavor of the month when the calendar turned from October to November just a couple days ago, replaced by the Oregons and Penn States and Indianas of the conference – unbeatens that were floating above and below Ohio State in the national rankings and undoubtedly above the Buckeyes in the national conscience.

That is not a spot Ohio State either expected to be in or deserved – what with its lone loss coming by a single point to Oregon a couple of weeks ago. But even with the expanded College Football Playoff rendering roughly 100 teams still eligible to make the 12-team field, the Buckeyes felt a little like week-old bread.

Chief among them had to have been quarterback Will Howard, who played his guts out against Oregon only to come up a yard and a second short Oct. 13 in the Autzen gloaming. Early on Saturday, Howard felt like he was primed for another strong-yet-goat effort – throwing a pick-6 to Penn State’s Zion Tracy on his very first pass attempt in the first quarter.

That sent those 100,000+ into the stratosphere, but Day wasn’t hanging his head by a longshot. Neither did he mope the sidelines when Howard scrambled to the goal line for a gain of 13 early in the second quarter – only to have the ball dislodged by Zakee Wheatley at the 1. The loose football bounced off Howard’s thigh and over the pylon on a play that was reviewed and changed from a touchdown to a touchback.

Precisely no one would have blamed the Buckeyes for shrugging their shoulders in the international symbol for “this isn’t our day,” but instead Ohio State steadfastly stayed the course.

Sure enough, Saturday afternoon’s Touchbackathon continued in the opposite direction later in the quarter when Penn State quarterback Drew Allar lobbed a pass into the end zone for receiver Harrison Wallace III – only to see Buckeyes defensive back Davison Igbinosun wrest the rock away from Wallace and get a toe down for a turnover.

Momentum, as the saying goes, is a slippery devil sometimes. Just like that, Howard – who is from Philadelphia but didn’t get a Penn State offer out of high school because he believes PSU thought he “wasn’t good enough” – started to show more confidence in the backfield and Ohio State felt emboldened to ramp up an already stout defense to championship levels.

Allar, who was practically a game-time decision with a knee injury, was increasingly harassed by the Buckeyes en route to a 12-of-20 afternoon for just 146 yards, an interception and 3 sacks. Ohio State limited the Nittany Lions to just 3-of-11 3rd-down conversions.

That defense continued to torture Penn State to the final gun, as the Nittany Lions only possessed the rock 3 times in the second half and only mustered 3 points in the process — basically making life miserable for James Franklin and Co.

Ah yes, Franklin. The other major storyline entering Saturday (other than Day’s struggles against Top 5 teams), was that Franklin can manufacture Top 10 teams year after year in Happy Valley – yet can’t seem to win the big one when it matters. That narrative won’t be going anywhere, as “Little Game James” is now 1-9 against the Buckeyes and a dismal 1-14 against top-5 teams.

In many ways, this felt a bit like a pair of mid coaches looking to take that next step. And Day, now 63-9 on the tOSU sideline, inexplicably was being spoken of not as the answer for the Buckeyes but a speed bump in the way of more national championships.

Not Saturday, alas, and not in Happy Valley and through that flash flood of 111,000 tear-soaked fans trudging to the Penn State Berkey Creamery for consolation ice cream. Saturday was Ryan Day’s turn to puff out that chest, show off that glorious beard and think to himself a single predominant thought.

“Maybe that will shut them up for a week.”