COLUMBUS, Ohio — C.J. Stroud can smile about it now.

Holding onto a slim 27-24 lead early in the fourth quarter, the Ohio State redshirt freshman quarterback led his offense down the field and into the red zone. Once the Buckeyes reached the Penn State 20-yard line, the offense stalled: a three-yard rush by freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson on first down, an incompletion to Henderson on second down, a four-yard completion to sophomore wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba on third down to set up fourth-and-short at the Nittany Lions’ 17-yard line.

Instead of trusting in his kicker Noah Ruggles, who hit field goals in the first and third quarters when red zone drives tired out before Ohio State could cash in for six points, head coach Ryan Day put his trust in his offense one more time, an offense that worked without a hitch for the past three games against Rutgers, Maryland and Indiana.

With the ball in his hands, with the opportunity to put Penn State away for good, Stroud underthrew senior wide receiver Chris Olave dramatically, giving Penn State the ball with a three-point deficit and the rest of the quarter to work with.

But Stroud can smile about that moment now, coming off a 33-24 victory at home against a top-20 opponent.

“The game of football is never perfect,” he said. “Do I want that one back? Hell yeah I do. I’m never going to get it back.”

Ohio State was nowhere near perfect Saturday night.

Day knows the Penn State film will be waiting for him, saying it’s filled with things to learn from, grow from and “pull our hair out from.” But Day’s focus Saturday night after the win was Ohio State’s grit, how he felt his team didn’t flinch, how he felt his team fought through mistakes.

“You are not trying to get style points against Penn State,” Day said. “That’s not how it works.”

However, in the College Football Playoff era, that really is how it works, especially for a team that has no room for error, especially on a day where the Big Ten lost another contender for the Playoff in Michigan, who fell victim to an undefeated Michigan State team in East Lansing.

Through the loss, style points have been what carried Ohio State to the top-five in both the AP and the USA Today Coaches Polls ahead of the Spartans, the Wolverines and the Nittany Lions.

Instead of style points, more questions arose for Ohio State.

Can Stroud respond to consistent pressure from an opposing defense?

Against Penn State, he threw for 305 yards — his fourth game of more than 300 yards this season — but completed 64.7% of his passes — his lowest since Tulsa — and one touchdown, leading an offense that scored only two touchdowns and was forced to convert on three field goals.

Can Henderson break through a stout defensive front?

Other than a 68-yard run in the third quarter and a 22-yard gain in the fourth, the freshman was held to 68 yards on 26 carries: an average of 2.4 yards per touch.

“Football is not a perfect sport,” Stroud said. “We’re not going to run the ball well every game. We’re not going to throw the ball well every game. It’s all about fight, and that’s what we did tonight. I’m so proud of my team of just keeping going.”

Defensively, will Ohio State’s bend-but-don’t-break approach work against offenses like Michigan and Michigan State?

The Buckeyes allowed 394 yards — 361 of which came through the air on soft spots in zone coverage, allowing Nittany Lions receivers room to make plays, converting on three turnovers, including a 57-yard scoop-and-score touchdown by defensive tackle Jerron Cage to keep the Nittany Lions at an arm’s length.

Sophomore safety Ronnie Hickman knows there are things to be fixed. But he also knows the what this defense can do, showing glimpses with four sacks, eight tackles-for-loss and an interception by Cameron Brown.

“The guys in the locker room, these guys on the team know our potential,” Hickman said. “It’s just a matter of us going out on Saturday and showing the rest of the nation what we are capable of.”

This is Day’s argument for Ohio State ahead of the first College Football Playoff rankings release Tuesday: It's all about potential.

“To win the way we did and not even play our best ball down in the red zone, I think it says a lot about where we are and how we have played in the past month,” Day said.

“I think you can see this thing building, but with the teams we are about to play in the past month, as long as we keep building this thing strong, I think our body of work will speak for itself.”

For Ohio State, it’s about what they showed against teams like Rutgers, Maryland and Indiana, what they haven’t showed against teams like Oregon and Penn State, but what they could show in the future against teams like Michigan State and Michigan.

But the Buckeyes aren’t worried about the past. Stroud made that clear.

If Ohio State worries about the past, it's "shooting itself in the foot," something that all Ohio State losses in recent memory have been the product of.

“The Buckeyes are going to stop the Buckeyes,” Stroud said. “If you look at our history and look at every single game that we have lost, the Buckeyes beat the Buckeyes. It’s weird to say, but it’s true.”

That’s why Stroud can continue to smile.

Ohio State didn’t shoot itself in the foot enough to lose Saturday night.