As you know from my writing, everything starts and ends with TP.  Our paradox of savior and nemesis appeared to be the former in this game.  I remain skeptical that he has improved enough to take us to the Natty.  As always, there were some nice throws where only the receiver could get it and there were some "what the hell is he thinking"  throws to keep you worried.  This night the nice plays outweighed the bad by far.  Unfortunately, Pryor had all night to throw the ball (with the exception of one play where he was forced to throw off balance into coverage) and wasn't really tested.  It's that one play which keeps one worried.  He will have pressure next week and will need to make quick decisons and that is his one major weakness.  The Miami dbacks are one of their weaknesses, so maybe he'll have a repeat of the Rose Bowl.   I still don't see the progression from last year where he's shown he is Heisman caliber.  Hopefully, we'll see this moving forward.

Saine does look like he earned the title of starter and showed his speed as being difficult to handle in the open field.  He definitely doesn't have the size to bruise or show he can "make holes", but his speed makes up for it when he has an open hole.  I was also impressed with Berry, he showed both speed and "hole making" ability and it will be interesting to see how he much playing time he gets moving forward. 

The Oline looks much better this year compared to last year's opener.  It's hard to tell if this is related to the quality of the opponent or is true improvement.  This should be one of our better lines in years with many new faces added.

The only two issues I have with the defense are lack of pressure on the QB and apparent holes deep in the middle of the field.  I know Marshall had a quick strike offense, so that probably offset the apparent lack of pressure by our D line.  Getting Nathan Williams back should improve our pressure and depth on the line.  Our starting safeties allowed a lot of crossing patterns to work for large gains and that has to be a concern for the defense moving forward.  Tyler Moeller is a linebacker playing safety and looks like a beast. 

Everything still hinges on TP's performance.  Saine still doesn't look like a back who can take over a game and the only way to get the ball to our very talented receiving corp is through Pryor.  Maybe down the road Berry will develop into something special, but it wouldn't be till much later this year or next.  I am still more than a little worried about the safetys and hope they'll be able to produce some INTs next week against UM.  For the 4th year in a row,  our Natty chances rest on our performance in the 2nd game of the year.  I was very pleasantly surprised by our defensive play last year against SC and UM isn't SC.  Everything really rests on whether Pryor lays an egg again in a big game.

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Our offense managed to score points thanks to some key plays by Pryor both with his legs and his arms.  I didn't really see Pryor do anything different then he has all year round.  As always, he had one or two nice throws and a lot of not so nice ones.  He went to the run and sometimes managed to get a way and sometimes didn't.  Tress called a nice game and deserves a lot of the credit as well.  The big difference here really wasn't Pryor or Tressel, it was the Oregon D.  They really were undersized and their secondary was sub par.  We really need to keep this in context before we coronate Pryor as a savior.

  The national media did everything in their power to throw their kudos at Pryor and coronate him.  As they were praising him to his face in the post game conference, I was screaming NNNNNOOOOOO!!!! at the TV.  Pryor is animal best not fed.  He now has a whole off season to bask in his glory.  I'm afraid that this will be the end of any hope for a championship in the next two years.  It took Tress 2 years to get Pryor's attention and start to listen and that was all thrown to the wayside last week.  I'm afraid the beast is loose and we may be in some trouble.  It's just my feeling based upon his past performances. 

   I also think there shouldn't be any real comparisons to Vince Young.  Athletically they are similar, and I think Pryor is faster.  The big difference is that Young played loosed, had fun and got his teammates involved.  Pryor plays tight, is very serious and pouty on the sidelines,  and is a complete island.  I don't see him as the typical leader (ala Troy Smith) that everyone will rally for when the chips are down.  This will be the biggest reason why we don't get our ultimate redemption next year (unless of course something changes).

   Finally, don't think for a minute that guys like Heyward, Gibson and Chekwa will stay to win it next year.  Lauranitis and Jenkins showed them that by staying an extra year doesn't mean squat and their draft stock went down quite a bit.  We can all dream that they'll stay, but chances are slim.  Next year's weakness will be Oline, DT and secondary.  There will be a particular problem in the secondary as 3/4 of them will be gone.  If Hines stays (and that is a big if as well), we will fill the void of losing the starters. 

   Enjoy the day!  We have redeemed ourselves somewhat and can look forward to another long offseason.  Talk to you in the Spring!

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If the defense continues to play as it has,  we have a chance of going far for the rest of the season and actually making a BCS bowl as Big Ten Champions.  If the offensive line continues to block as it did last weekend, we could make a lot of noise nationally.   There were a lot of good things that happened especially considering everyone in the stadium knew we were going to run the ball in that inclimate weather and Illinois couldn't stop us from doing it.  The execution was there even if it probably had more to do with Illinois not showing up to play.  Pryor did what he had to in those conditions and didn't make too many mistakes.  It was a good building opportunity for his confidence.

In mainstream TV, a colloquialism has been coined, "jump the shark",  when a TV series has some event which occurs where the show loses its novelty or intrigue and takes a turn for the worse never to be the same.  It was originally coined in reference to the Happy Days episode where Fonze jumped a shark while on water skis (www.jumptheshark.com).  Happy Days was never the same again.

I really have begun to wonder  whether OSU football is past it prime and we have "jumped the shark" and taken a turn for the worse?  Prior to the 2OT victory over Miami for the National Championship in 2002,  I never dreamed of going to the Natty.  My main concern was winning the Big 10 and beating Michigan.  I was content with the latter more then the former.  I guess all those years of being really really good under Cooper only to have it viciously taken away from me at the hands of UM jaded me into this.  Even going into the National Championship Game, I was convinced we didn't stand a chance and was content with the victory over hated UM.  When we won the Natty in the fashion that we did, it awoke something more monstrous in me, a will to win it every year.  That became the expectation especially considering Tress' great success over UM.  We need to keep it in perspective on how hard it is to actually make it to the National Championship and how special it is that we are winning as many games/year as we are.   The novelty of getting there and enjoying has rubbed off for most fans (including myself) and we need to realize what we have at this moment since we may not have it any longer.

As far as the point where we "jumped the shark", it has to be immediately after that touchdown run of Ted Ginn's in the National Championship game against Florida in 2007 where he was jumped on by a teammate and twisted his ankle while celebrating his score, we basically "twisted the Ginn".  Up to that point, OSU football was respected, expected and did win.  Tressel was the "best big game" coach in the country.   OSU fans were in seventh heaven and expected this year in and year out.  Six more big game losses to top 5 opponents and we are not the same by any means.  Nationally the Big 10 is the laughing stock of all college football and Tress is under fire because of his ultraconservative ways.   The program appears to be on the decline and is at greater risk of being canceled.  For now, suffice it say we've twisted the Ginn.

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