Ohio State Peaking at the Right Time
Dave Curtis - SportingNews.com
Nov 09, 2009
STATE COLLEGE, PA. -- Count this as another crazy year in the Big Ten.
Iowa ripped off its best start in school history then lost to Northwestern. Illinois ranked among the nation's worst disappointments, then won its last two. Purdue lost to Northern Illinois of the MAC, then swept Michigan and Ohio State for the third time in 122 years of Boilermaker football.
Yet after all the craziness, after 10 topsy-turvy Saturdays, things have fallen exactly as everyone expected. After a 24-7 victory over Penn State on Saturday, No. 15 Ohio State, the preseason pick to win the Big Ten, hits mid-November in prime position to take the conference's automatic spot in the BCS.
Beat Iowa at Ohio Stadium next week, and OSU will do no worse than the Rose Bowl this postseason. The victory, seemingly a sure bet with Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi expected to miss the game, will also bring a fifth straight year of the Buckeyes at least sharing a conference crown. The Midwest's dynasty will not die in 2009.
Yes, they've done it again, folks, and they've done it in familiar fashion. Coach Jim Tressel should trademark efforts like Saturday's, where the Buckeyes dominate both sides of the line of scrimmage, excel in the kicking game and commit zero turnovers.
"We ran the ball, hit big passes, played great special teams and great defense," offensive tackle Jim Cordle said. "That's a Tressel win right there."
If full-strength Penn State, in front of 110,000 fans in Beaver Stadium, couldn't prevent one of those, shorthanded Iowa has no chance. The No. 11 Nittany Lions saw this game as a season-definer, a chance at redemption for the home loss to the Hawkeyes in September. But from the first snap, when Cameron Heyward dumped PSU QB Daryll Clark for a 6-yard loss, the Buckeyes dominated up front.
Heyward and fellow end Thad Gibson bullied the Lions' offensive line and helped hold the hosts to one score (versus 10 punts) and 201 yards offense. The Buckeyes got 228 yards from its rushing game alone, thanks to huge efforts from a thus-far inconsistent offensive line.
"You come in here and rush for a couple hundred yards and not get sacked," Tressel said. "That's a big deal."
Then there was Pryor, who looked better and more comfortable Saturday but still a far cry from the Vince Young expectations that surround him. He played smart football -- never forcing a throw, running when required instead of on a whim.
Like a typical Tressel quarterback, he also provided a single big play. With the scoreboard stuck on OSU 10, PSU 7 for better than a quarter, the head coach opted to start a Buckeyes third-quarter possession with a deep ball. Pryor for once looked like a senior and not a sophomore, standing tall in the pocket and finding DeVier Posey for a 62-yard gamebreaking TD.
"It was a big moment for him," quarterbacks coach Nick Siciliano said. "What will be a bigger moment is if we can win the Big Ten."
This time next year, the world might point back to Saturday as the turning point in Pryor's career. For now, he's a don't-screw-it-up game manager. He'll let the big guys on the lines bring another big moment for the Buckeyes next week.
And even after a wild fall, that moment is one everybody should have seen coming.
Dave Curtis is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at dcurtis@sportingnews.com.
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