I had to wait to watch the game on Saturday because of various personal conflicts. I have a DVR, so it was no big deal to sit down and watch it later. I made sure to tell everyone I saw to not tell me the score as the first thing I said to them. The looks I received were quite comical.
In any event I sat down to watch the game and yada yada yada it was halftime and we were up 7-0. My point is that the first half of the game was basically more of the same. No real offensive explosion. Pryor make a mix of good and bad plays and nothing to write home about, except for the one nice 18 play drive we had which failed with our missed field goal. The lack of emotion from the offense was apparent and I thought Oh boy here we go again....
The short kickoff got Minnesota off guard and actually provided the spark we needed in the second half to dominate and win. Both the running game (even with our 3rd and 4th RB's) and Pryor's overall play worked for us (granted we were playing the 9th best defense in the Big 11). Two things really stood out in the game for me: Posey has emerged as a big play maker and Martin was bowling people over up the middle). I was shocked to see that an Ohio State offensive player was in the top 10 for any good category. Posey finished with 161 yards which would have been more if he hadn't had a sure touchdown catch knocked away from him as he was turning. Again Minnesota's defense ain't that good, but it was nice to see a RB running up the middle and taking people with him. My feeling is this type of change of pace is necessary for us since the other 3 RB's we have are much better at moving on the edges. Hopefully, Martin will continue to produce as we need some running help. Kudos do go out to the O-line for not being the ole line from the prior two weeks.
I am still more than a bit concerned about Terrelle Pryor. Late last week he mentioned that the Purdue loss humbled him and that he was a new man. What about the PSU loss last year or the USC loss earlier this year? Why would it take last week's loss to change him? In addition, after Jordan Hall scored a touchdown, Pryor looked to the sideline and Tressel pointed toward the endzone. Pryor then sprinted down the field to congratulate Hall (who, by the way, was a highschool teammate of his). The fact that Tressel had to prompt him to go down field shows you Pryor's attitude, me first. I really hope that Tress can bring him around to being team first because that is what the team sorely lacks, an offensive leader who can hold players accountable.
I do think that Pryor will ive up to his potential at OSU, but it may take 2 years to get there. I don't see him as anything other then a QB and Tressel can be the best thing to happen to his career in the long run. It's obvious that being a prima dona isn't going to get him where he needs to be at the college level and humility and hard work are the only routes to salvage his career.
Looking forward, things were incrementally better on offense this game and we need to make many more strides forward. PSU remains the biggest challenge on our schedule. Playing in Happy Valley will not be good for our offense and we will need some special plays to pull out a victory there. I actually think Iowa will be a winnable game as they are not explosive on offense. We have to be careful or yada yada yada the season will be over and we are at the Outback Bowl.
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Technorati Tags: Change Of Pace, Dvr, Field Goal, Hadn, Kickoff, Kudos, Lack Of Emotion, New Man, Offensive Explosion, Offensive Player, Ohio State, Personal Conflicts, Posey, Psu, Purdue, Rb, Running Game, Second Half, Terrelle Pryor, Touchdown
