2009
OSU MARCH TO BIG TEN
CHAMPIONSHIP
AND
ROSE BOWL VICTORY
| |
2009 OSU MARCH TO BIG TEN
CHAMPIONSHIP
AND
ROSE BOWL VICTORY
|
2009 GAME BY GAME OHIO STATE HIGHLIGHTS
| GAME 1 September 5, 2009 | |
 Pryor rushes for 2 yard TD  Rolle returns 2 point conversion attempt 99 yards |
OHIO STATE 31
NAVY 27 Consecutive plays in 4th quarter turned comfortable win into nail biter. First Tressel goes for a 4th and 2 on the Navy 15 rather than kicking a field goal for an 18 point lead. On the next play Russell tries to knock down long pass rather than tackle receiver leading to an 85 yard TD pass and a 8 point lead. The 85 yard pass play was the 3rd longest in Navy's history. Navy scores again with 2:23 to go and try for a 2 point conversion to tie. Brian Rolle intercepts and outruns Navy QB to end zone for 2 points. Navy gained 352 yards including 183 on the ground in 43 attempts. Navy has led the Nation in rushing for a record 4 straight years. Navy averaged 292 yards a game in 2008, 24 yards more than 2nd place Tulsa. Navy ran 57 plays and averaged 6 yards a play. Next up for OSU is USC who ran 45 running plays for 7.6 yards a carry and 23 pass plays for 12.1 yards per attempt in their first game. Pryor was 14-21 for 174 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. He rushed for 30 yards and a TD. Big Ten teams were 10-1 on opening weekend |
| GAME 2 September 12, 2009 | |
 Dane Sanzenbacher catches 56 yard pass play. Caught 4 passes for 115 yards in first 2 games.  92 Todd Denlinger, 87 Lawrence Wilson, 36 Brian Rolle |
OHIO STATE 15
USC 18 Difference in game could be two calls. After Pryor 1st Qtr. interception, USC gained 0 yards on first 3 downs but still went for TD on 4th and 2 and made it. OSU had 4th and 1 for a TD in 7-7 tie in 2nd quarter and kicked field goal. Difference 4 points! OSU defense was awesome all game except for last USC possession in both half's. Tressel elected to try two pass plays on their own 20 with 2:21 left in first half rather than run the clock down. OSU kicks to USC at the 19 who are intent to run out the clock but break 1st play, a run, for 30 yards. USC runs out of time at OSU 5 and kicks a field goal. At they end of the game they had a 2nd and 19 from the 5 yard line. 13 plays later they scored the winning TD. On those two late half drives, USC gained 173 yards on 21 plays. For the remainder of the game, USC gained 140 yards on 51 plays. USC out gained OSU 313 yards to 264 yards. USC had 18 first downs to 10 for OSU. OSU gained 7.1 yards per pass attempt to 6.1 for USC. USC rushed 3 yards per attempt and OSU rushed 2.9 yards per attempt. Barkley was 15-31 for 195 yards and one INT. Pryor was 11 for 25 for 177 yards and one INT. Stats were even but Pryor made more mistakes than Barkley. USC is now 28-3 vs non conference BCS programs since 2001 when Pete Carroll became head coach including the last 24 in a row. Ohio State is 0-6 vs last 6 top 10 teams they played. OSU was held to 10 first downs. In last years 35-3 loss to USC, OSU had 15 first downs. OSU fewest first downs in a game last year was 13 vs Michigan. USC has now won their last 10 games against Big Ten teams with the closest game a 10 point win until game today game. |
| GAME 3 September 19, 2009 | |
 Dane Sanzenbacher catches 76 yard TD pass. Caught 5 passes for 126 yards. Now has 9 catches for 241 yards, 37th nationally on yards gained. 4th nationally at 26.8 yards per catch.  Pryor passed for a career high 262 yards and ran for a career tying 110 yards. The 372 yards of total offense was the first 300+ total yards for a QB since Troy Smith threw for 326 yards against Michigan in the 41-38 OSU win. |
OHIO
STATE
38 TOLEDO (AT CLEVELAND) 0 OSU defense ruled. Toledo ran their 1st play in OSU territory with 4:35 left in the 3rd quarter. Toledo never did run a play inside OSU 27. Toledo managed 197 yards passing in 45 attempts and rushed for 13 yards in 13 attempts. Going into game Toledo was 5th out of 120 teams offensively with 1117 yards including 742 yards passing. Defensively Toledo was in bottom 10 giving up 90 points and 986 yards. Pryor passing stats looked OK with 17 for 28 for 262 yards, 3 TD's and 2 INT. He again made many poor decisions passing into 2 on 1 coverage many times leading to two interceptions. Nevertheless Pryor set a personal record for passing yardage in one game breaking the 226 yards he passed for against Penn State. Pryor did look great running, gaining 110 yards in 12 carries with one TD. This tied his career high in 13 carries vs Illinois last year. After 3 games Pryor is leading OSU in rushing with 176 yards (81st nationally out of 874 listed) to Herron's 158. Pryor is rushing 6.3 (198th nationally) yards per rush (including sack losses) to 5.3 for Saine and 3.2 (588th out of 974 nationally) for Herron. OSU had a total of 522 yards, 27 more than their highest total of last year vs Youngstown State. USC, a 21 point favorite, lost at Washington 16-13. Stats were similar to OSU-USC game last week. USC out gained Washington 360-293 and OSU 313-264. Washington gained 1.7 yards per rush, OSU 2.95 yards per rush. Locker, Wash. QB, gained 6.8 yards per pass attempt while Pryor gained 7.1 yards per attempt. My favorite stat is Locker, who Carroll said was a better runner than Pryor, rushed for (15) yards in 8 attempts only 125 yards less then Pryor today. Pryor rushed for 36 yards in 10 carries vs USC. How did USC win? Washington won the turnover battle 3-0. OSU & USC each had 1 turnover last week. USC was also 0-10 on 3rd down. USC 110 yards passing was the fewest since Carroll took over as coach in 2001. USC has lost to a conference team in a big upset in 6 of the last 8 years. The last two upsets in conference play have been the week after the OSU game. Ohio State can't win the Big Game and USC can't win the Little Game. BIG TEN QB EFFICIENCY RANKINGS OUT OF 117 DIVISION QB'S RANKED (Rank & efficiency below): Cousins, Mich St. 14- 164.3 Pryor, OSU 57- 133.4 Tolzien, Wisc 15- 161.8 Stanzi, Iowa 72- 124.6 Clark, Penn State 22- 153.9 Elliott, Pur 77- 120.8 Kafka, NW 23- 153.6 Weber, Minn 82- 116.6 Forcier, Mich 32- 149.1 Williams, Ill 93- 110.8 Chappell, Ind 55- 134.3 CONFERENCE RECORDS FOR NON CONFERENCE GAMES: SEC 19-2 Big Ten 24-7 Big East 16-5 Pac 10 19-6 Big 12 24-10 ACC 17-10 |
| GAME 4 September 26, 2009 | |
  Brian Rolle makes key play of game with 39 yard Herron runs for 75 yards and 2 TD's. He has TD in 8 interception return in 1st Quarter. Eludes #7 Juice Williams straight games   T. Gibson (90) tackles Juice Williams for a loss in 3rd Quarter Dane Sanzenbacher and Pryor celebrate their 4th TD pass of year |
OHIO
STATE 30
ILLINOIS 0 OSU held Juice Williams to 15 for 29 for 82 yards and 3 interceptions with another dominating performance by the defense . Total yardage allowed has improved each game with opponents gaining 342 by Navy 313 by USC, 210 by Toledo and 170 today by Illinois. That was the lowest total yards since Youngstown State was held to 74 yards in last years season opener. Neither Toledo or Illinois started a drive inside the OSU 27 yard line as OSU pitched back to back shutouts for the first time since 1996. A downpour in the first half led to some unusual stats. Juice Williams and Terrelle Prior were 6 for 16 for 34 yards in the first half. Brian Rolle intercepted one Juice pass and returned it 39 yards, 5 more yards than the combined passing game of the two teams. Pryor threw incomplete passes on the 2nd and 3rd plays of the game and never attempted another pass until the 3rd quarter. It was the first time OSU had no completed passes in a half since the Michigan game in 2007. The rain stopped at half time allowing Pryor to go 8 for 11 for 82 yards and a late TD in the 2nd half. Saine and Herron both had good games gaining 156 yards and 2 TD's on 27 carries. Pryor added 59 yards in 11 carries. Pettrey is now 9 for 10 in field goals this season after making 50, 46 and 27 yard field goals. His only miss this season was the shortest attempt that hit the upright against Toledo. Locker, Washington QB, picked up 20 more yards on 7 carries. 62nd is passing efficiency Pryor is 6th QB in nation in rushing with 235 yards. 11th QB in nation with at least 10 carries averaging 6.0 yards a carry. OSU is now 33rd in nation (out of 120 teams) in rushing yardage gained per game. Defense is 10th in nation on tackles for loss and 17th with 6 interceptions. OSU 7th in scoring defense at 11.3 a game, Penn State 6th at 10.3, USC 5th at 10.0 and Oklahoma 1st at 4.3. OSU tied for 16th giving up 4.1 yards per play. OSU 29th giving up 3.1 yards per run. Indiana 16th at 2.7 yards per attempt. OSU 19th in giving up 159 yards passing per game, Indiana 84th at 233 yards per game. Pryor 55th in nation in passing efficiency. Clark dropped to 52nd after Penn State loss. Tebow 7th, McCoy 28th, Barkley 32nd. New AP poll: USC 7th, OSU 9th, Iowa 13th, Penn St 15th, Michigan 22nd . Four top 10 teams lost this weekend. |
| GAME 5 October 3, 2009 | |
  Saine who rushes for 113 yards in 17 carries and caught 2 passes.. Pryor and Posey celebrate 23 yard TD pass to Posey  Pryor eludes tackle. Pryor rushes for 63 yards in 16 attempts despite estimate of 30 yards in sack losses |
OHIO STATE
33
AT INDIANA 19 OSU easily defeated Indiana 33-19 to win their 15th consecutive Big Ten road game which is one off of the conference record set by Michigan in 1988-92. After the first two possessions by each team OSU led 10-0 and had 119 yards to 14 for Indiana. A TD on the last play of the game for Indiana made the game look closer then it was. Pryor was inconsistent in his passing but threw 3 TD passes on 16 of 27 for 159 yards to a season high 8 receivers. He also threw a late 4th quarter interception. He rushed for 63 yards and a TD in 16 attempts despite three sacks for 38 yards in losses. In the crucial first half Pryor threw 3 TD passes and rushed for 75 yards. One of 3 TD passes was to Zach Boren, the first time a full back had a receiving TD since 2001 (Bellisari to Martin). Brandon Saine started for injured Dan Herron and picked up 113 yards on 17 carries. The defense played well again. They held Darius Willis to 23 yards in 11 carries after he gained 152 yards on 16 carries last week vs Michigan. Indiana rushed for 18 yards in 26 attempts. The Buckeyes have the 2nd best winning % since 1950 at 75.5%. Oklahoma leads with a 75.7% winning %. Ohio State has held opponents to fewer than 21 points 44 times since 2006, the best among FBS teams. Ohio State is 41-3 in those games. Scott Tolzien, Wisconsin QB, is top ranked QB in Big Ten and 17th in nation with 154.6 rating. Pryor is 52nd at 135.2 rating. Rushing yards are not figured in QB rating. Pryor is Buckeye's leading rusher with 298 yards (5.4 yards per carry including sack yardage). Saine has 294 (6 yds per carry) and Herron 233 (3.6 yards per carry). OSU 10th in nation in first in Big Ten allowing 83.4 yards rushing per game. OSU is 9th in nation and 1st in Big Ten in total yardage allowed per game at 252.6. Non conference records: SEC 25-3 89.2% Big East 23-7 76.7% Big Ten 25-9 73.5% Big 12 34-13 72.3% Pac 12 19-8 70.4% ACC 21-13 61.8% WAC 16-17 48.5% (Boise St conference) Big Ten conference appears weak but you wouldn't know it from non conference records above. |
| GAME 6 October 10, 2009 | |
 Ray Small returns kickoff 96 yards for TD, 1st kickoff TD return since Ginn vs Florida   Posey catches 32 TD pass from Pryor. Coleman returns interception for 89 Yd TD. Hines had 32 Yd interception return |
OHIO STATE
31
WISCONSIN 13 Despite an anemic offense, being out gained 2-1 (368 to 184 yds), losing time of possession 43 to 17 minutes, running 40 plays to 89 for Wisconsin, OSU managed to win 31-13. OSU ran 14 plays (and 3 punts and a field goal) and picked up 2 first downs in the 2nd half! The fewest plays OSU ran in 2008 & 9 was 47 against Penn State last year. Today OSU ran 40 plays. The fewest first downs in the last two seasons was 10 against USC this year. Today OSU got 8 first downs. The fewest passes completed in last two seasons was 6 against Illinois. Today it was 5. The Buckeyes offense didn't get the ball in the 2nd half until 1:40 minutes remained in the 3rd quarter but had already outscored Wisconsin in the 3rd quarter 14-3! Wisconsin ran 25 plays to OSU 3 in the 3rd quarter but OSU increased a 4 point halftime lead to 15. OSU returned 2 interceptions for TD's, the first an 89 yarder by K. Coleman and a 2nd of 32 yards by J. Hines. OSU also had a 96 yard kickoff return for a TD by R. Small. Those 3 plays totaled 217, the offense gained 184! OSU Defense 14 points, Special Teams 10, and Offense 7. Wisconsin Special Teams 13 points, Offense 0 and Defense 0! Pryor only completed 5 passes and 3 were in the last 2 minutes of the first half when Pryor drove OSU 88 yards in 72 seconds and 7 plays for their only offensive TD. The rest of the first half they gained 36 yards! The rest of the game OSU gained 96 yards! Thus almost half of OSU yards were in a 72 second span. 60 of the remaining 96 yards were on a 9 play drive in 4 minutes in the 4th quarter for a field goal. Pryor was 1 for 1 for 17 yards in the 2nd half. Pryor had one run of 27 yards but the other 9 times he ran he gained 8 yards (thanks to runs/sacks for losses of 24 yards). Saine had one rush of 31 yards, but gained 24 yards on the other 13 carries. Herron carried twice for 8 yards before an ankle injury. OSU defense held Wisconsin to half of the yards (118) they normally rush for and only 2.7 yards per carry. Scott Tolzein, Wisconsin QB, was 27 for 45 for 250 yards and 2 interceptions. The two OSU interceptions were returned for almost half of the yards Wisconsin gained on 27 completions. Wisconsin came into the game only give up 2 sacks which led the nation. The Buckeyes sacked Tolzein 6 times and barely missed several times. OSU has covered spread in each of last 5 games. OSU is 109th out of 120 at 166.2 passing yards per game. Last 3 teams are Navy, Army and Air Force all averaging under 100 yards a game. OSU is 42nd in rushing at 172.2 yards per game. OSU tied for 5th with 18 sacks. OSU leads nation in return yardage on interceptions at 213. OSU tied for 5th in interceptions at 10. OSU averages 28.2 yards per kickoff return good for 7th in nation. OSU is 102nd on punt returns at 4.6 yards a return. OSU allows 271.3 yards a game good for 11th in nation. They allow 12 points a game which is 7th best. 12th in rushing defense and 30th in passing defense. OSU 14th in nation for fewest penalties. |
| GAME 7 October 17, 2009 | |
  Pryor sacked, one of 5 sacks Aaron Valentin scores TD while being tackled by Devon Torrance  PC. Chekwa runs interception 19 yards as Coleman (4) and Hines (7) watch |
OHIO STATE 18
AT PURDUE 26 Purdue a 13.5 point underdog controlled the game with the help of 5 turnovers. Pryor fumbled twice and had 2 INT. Purdue ran 83 plays to 59 for OSU and controlled the ball for 36 minutes to OSU 24. Purdue stripped Pryor from the ball twice and threw him for 5 losses of about 40 yards. Pryor finished with 21 runs for 34 yards and a TD despite a run of 35 yards. He hit 17 of 31 passes for 221 yards with one TD pass and 2 Interceptions. The 17 completions tied a career high and 221 yards was 3rd best in his career of 17 starts. Offensive line had a terrible day also. They allowed Pryor to get sacked 5 times, helped gain 66 yards rushing, the 2nd worst showing in two seasons (worst was 61 yards vs Penn State last year) had a holding penalty on Browning to nullify Saine's 12 yard TD run and ended up with no points on possession. And Worthington grabbed a face mask with 1:56 remaining and turned 4th and 6 to a first down, denying OSU one more possession. Saine only ran 7 times and no other backs (not including QB's) carried the ball. Before game the fewest carries in the last two season by backs was 14 against USC last year. Despite a bad day for Pryor and offensive line and a weak performance by the defense and 5 turnovers they were one possession from a possible tie on the road. Streaks - ended OSU Big Ten road win streak at 16, one off of Big Ten record. Purdue was first team with 5 game losing streak to beat OSU since Wisconsin in 1987. Win stopped Purdue's streak of losses against a top 25 team at 19. Columbus Dispatch after game ran a poll on who should be starting QB next game. Preliminary results - 82% said Bauserman. Won't happen. |
| GAME 8 October 24, 2009 | |
  Pryor runs for 104 yards and TD on 15 carries Saine runs for 45 yards on 11 carries before suffering concussion   Posey catches two TD passes for 62 and 57 yards. 17 catches in last 2 weeks. Gibson gets one of 3 sacks - leads team with 4  Coleman returns interception 40
yards - 4th in nation in total return yardage of 140 |
OHIO STATE
38
MINNESOTA 3 Ohio State defense was great once again. Minnesota never got to OSU 30 yard line until 5 minutes remained and OSU was playing reserves. Otherwise, OSU would be the only team in the nation with 3 shutouts. Pryor, after a week of severe criticism by fans and sports writers, had a decent game. He was 13 for 25 for 239 yards, 2 TD and 1 interception. His running was impressive with 104 yards on 15 carries and a TD. His stats could have been awesome except for Posey who cost Pryor 3 TD's despite a highlight line of 8 catches for 162 yds and 2 TD's. Posey dropped 2 TD passes totaling 55 yards and had a holding call on a Pryor 15 yard TD run. Pryor also had a 2nd 15 yard run canceled by a penalty. Could have had 294 yards passing, 134 yards rushing and 6 TD's!! Pryor's 9.56 yards per pass attempt was his best in the last 11 games. The 509 total yards was 2nd this season to the 522 yards vs Toledo. OSU had 2 interceptions for the 5th straight game. Colman ran one back 40 yards and Spitler had the other INT. USC had given up 28 points total in last 8 home games. Today they allowed 36 points and 482 yards (153 rushing) against Oregon State at home. Pryor is Buckeye leading rusher with 471 yards on 101 carries and 5 TD's. Tebow has 428 yards on 121 carries with 6 TD's. Locker, Carroll's favorite QB runner, has 215 yards on 74 carries and 4 TD's. Barkley has -6 yards on 24 carries. McCoy has 104 yards on 59 carries, Clark 132 yards on 42 carries. Pryor 70th in nation out of 1239 listed with 471 rushing yards. Posey 53rd out of 1535 receivers with 38 catches. Coleman is 4th out of 4725 players in interception return yardage of 140. Rolle is 34th in tackles with 60. Gibson tied for 37th in nation with 4 sacks. Small 53rd in kickoff return average at 28.7 yards. OSU 7th in scoring defense at 13.1 points a game. Penn St is 1st at 8.9 points per game. USC 17th at 15.1 points per game. OSU 10th in rushing yards allowed per game at 92.3, 29th at 192.5 passing yards per game, 27th best (but 7th in Big Ten) at 5.6 penalties a game, 10th best allowing 4.2 yards per play |
| GAME 9 October 31, 2009 | |
 Pryor runs for 8 yd TD and rushed 9
times for 83 yards.  Sanzenbacher catches 39 yard TD pass
from Posey  Herron runs for 53 yard TD Posey catches one of his 5 passes for 79 yards. Also threw 43 yd TD on end around |
OHIO STATE
45 NEW MEXICO STATE 0 Stifling defense, inconsistent offense and a weak opponent equals the nation's leading 3rd shutout. New Mexico offense cranked out 22 yards passing on 15 attempts and 40 yards on 30 rushes and 2 first downs. OSU defense 7 NMS offense 0. 2nd time in 4 games that OSU defense outscored opponents offense. Prior to today the fewest first downs by an opponent the last 2 seasons was 5 vs Ohio Univ last year. The fewest yards was 74 yards vs Youngstown St in last season's opener. Pryor was his usual inconsistent self but stats were poor despite two dropped interception that could have turned to TD's for NMS. Pryor finished 11 for 23 for 135 yards (43 yds on first play of game) and 1TD with no INT for only the 2nd time this season, but only played one half. He ran for 83 yards and a TD on 9 carries but appeared to be slower than usual. OSU rushed for 310 yards by 10 runners with the leading rusher being Jordan Hall with 90 yards on 10 carries. That is the most yards rushing by OSU in the last two seasons. OSU has not allowed a 100 yard rusher in the last 19 games, 2nd longest streak in the nation to 27 by Alabama. If you don't think that is impressive, USC and their 'great' defense has allowed 170 yards in 18 carries to James tonight and 118 yards on 11 carries to QB Masoli and they have a quarter to go. The 'Great USC defense has given up 498 yards in 3 quarters not to mention 90 points in the last 8 quarters! The Buckeye defense has allowed 94 points all season, but only 68 in the last 8 games. OSU has allowed fewer than 21 points 47 times since 2006, best in the nation. They are 44-3 in those games. Victory could be costly. Pettrey injured a knee and is likely out for a while. Pryor was probably nicked a bit in the ankle, but no one is saying how serious it might be. Any injury to the leg could affect his main attribute, running next week vs Penn State. Last week, Navy beat Wake Forest 13-10 in the rain and never attempted a pass. Woody would have loved it. Coleman 4th in nation with 129 yards in interceptions returns. Posey is 41st in nation with 595 receiving yards, and 42nd with 43 catches. Sanzenbacher is 10th at 20 yards per catch of those receivers catching 20+ passes. Both receivers tied for 18th in nation with 6 TD receptions. 11 of Pryor's 13 TD passes are to those two receivers. Following are defensive rankings and average per game: OSU PS IOWA USC Points per game: 6- 11.7 1- 9.3 13- 15.8 27- 19.1 Yards per play 4- 4.0 7- 4.1 22- 4.7 26. 4.8 Rushing yards per game 6- 86.4 5- 86.1 36- 117.4 41- 119 Passing yards per game 14- 174 12- 171 26- 180 52- 213 Total yards per game 6- 260 5- 255 19- 298 36- 332 Turnovers per game 7- 2.7 55- 1.9 5- 2.8 105- 1.3 Penalties per game 14- 5.2 4- 4.9 21- 5.4 71- 6.9 Total sacks 11- 24 2- 32 45- 18 4- 30 Interception yards 4- 272 25- 153 3- 280 58- 94 Interceptions 3- 15 30- 10 1- 18 114- 3 Punting Average 98- 38.1 67- 40.1 47- 41.7 78- 39.3 Offensive stats: Points per game 29- 31 33- 30.7 75- 25.7 37- 30 Yards per game 78- 353 24- 429 88- 342 Passing yards per game 95- 196 41- 254 43- 250 Rushing yards per game 29- 187 33- 182 89- 125 24- 191 |
| GAME 10 November 7, 2009 | |
  Small Returning Punt 45 yards. Also had 41 yard return Paterno & Tressel. First regular season game between coaches with combined 600 wins  Pryor dives for 7 yard TD run. Ran 10 times for 50 yards and was never tackled or sacked  Posey catches 62 yard TD from Pryor.   Heyward & Williams Rush QB Clark. Heyward had 11 tackles. Royster being tackled by Rolle. Royster had 36 yards on 13 carries |
OHIO STATE
24
AT PENN STATE 7 The defense, Small's two long punt returns and Pryor's big 2nd half crushed Penn State 24-7. The defense held Penn State to 76 yards rushing in 30 attempts including Royster's 36 yards on 13 carries. QB Clark was held to 12 of 28 for 125 yards and an INT. Penn State's 201 yards of offense was worst of season - next worse was 307 vs Iowa. Small returned punts for 41 and 45 yards to set up two OSU TD's. Pryor was 5 of 8 for 80 yards and 2 TD's in the second half on bad wheels. Most thought Tressel was way to conservative especially on first down. With Pryor playing with two turf toes, a painful sprained ankle and 4th leg injury the game plan (in my opinion) was too protect Pryor at all costs. It worked to perfection. Pryor was never sacked (was most sacked QB in Big Ten) and Tressel only called one play for Pryor to run, an option which he quickly pitched forward to Saine. Pryor ran 5 times for 50 yards and a TD all on scrambles. Four times he ran out of bounds and once he dove over the goal line thus was never hit. In addition after running all those backs up the middle on first down for 9 consecutive series, Pryor faked it then hit wide open Posey for a 62 yard TD. Tressel couldn't have called a better game plan. His QB never got hit once and the Bucks ran for 228 yards on 49 carries for a 4.7 yard average. Penn State hadn't given up 200 yards rushing all season although OSU was only the 2nd decent team they have played. Pryor was inconsistent passing per usual. I am not sure how much the Turf Toe contributed to poor passing since his accuracy was little different from the rest of the season. However, he threw no interceptions and one perfect bomb to increase a 3 point lead to 10. For all of those who long ago gave up on Pryor, his stats are still a tad better than Vince Young at the same stage in their careers! And in the last 8 games Pryor has thrown for 14 TD's and ran for 6 TD's. Pryor leads some of the top QB's in TD's per pass attempt in last 8 games played as follows: TD's Pass Att. % TD Passes Pryor 14 177 12.6 Tebow, Florida 11 173 15.7 McCoy, Texas 15 275 18.3 Clark, Penn St 12 220 18.3 Barkley, USC 9 202 22.4 Locker, Washington 13 277 21.3 And Tebow and Pryor both have about 550 yards rushing and 5 TD's and none of the other 4 has 250 yards. Of course there are other passing stats like yards per attempt and INT where Pryor lags. Sill, not bad for a guy that gets a lot of bad press for his performance. Can he improve - certainly. Potential - unlimited. Can he win big game and perform in clutch. Looked OK to me today on two bad wheels while beating Odds by 22. OSU is now 8-2 vs the Odds and have won turnover battle 8 times and tied once in 10 games. OSU has out rushed opponent in 6 of last 8 games and are 4-5-1 for season in passing yards, OSU had season high 86 yards in penalties today. OSU has won 17 of last 18 Big Ten road games. Terrelle Pryor passed Rex Kern for 11th on Ohio State's career yardage list and he is only a Sophomore. Last week he moved into 4th place in career rushing for an Ohio State QB. OSU led the nation averaging 5.7 three and outs on defense. Today they had 7 more. Defensive Stats for OSU NCAA 1st in Place NCAA Scoring 4- 11.2 Florida 10.1 Yards per play 4- 4.0 Texas 3.5 Rush Yards game 3- 85.4 Texas 56.4 Pass Yards 11- 168.7 Air For 127.2 Total Yards 6- 254.1 Texas 231.9 Turnovers 9- 2.5 Rutgers 3.1 |
| GAME 11 November 14, 2009 | |
 Herron scores on 11 yard TD run. Herron gained 97 yards on career high 32 carries  Saine speeds untouched to a 49 yard TD. Saine gained 103 yards on 11 carries and 2 TD's  Russell on one of two interceptions. Bucks have interceptions in all 11 games. 90 is Gibson and #4 is Coleman.  Tressel with Roses after clinching 5th straight Big Ten Championship and trip to Rose Bowl |
OHIO STATE
27 OT
IOWA 24 Tressel
Ball
barely
prevailed
as
OSU
defeated
Iowa
27-24
in
Overtime
to
clinch
at
least
a share of
their 5th
consecutive Big Ten title. OSU took a
24-10 lead with 11 minutes to go on Saine’s 49 yard TD run. But Iowa returned the ensuing kick-off 99 yards for a TD and after a Buckeye 3 and
out Iowa drove 70 yards for a TD with the benefit of
two big breaks. Rolle took an
interception 51 yards for a TD
but an OSU offside nullified the play. Then
QB
James
Vandenbeg threw
a
ball up for grabs. Two Buckeyes collided
knocking the ball in the air and the Iowa receiver caught for a 30 yard
gain. The
ensuing two possessions
will have both coaches taking a lot of heat for their conservative
calls with
the game tied and the Big Ten title on the line. OSU
got
the
ball
first
and
after
a
first
down
with
2
minutes
left
and
on about the 30 yard line, Tressel called two
running
plays and a short pass that forced a short punt. Iowa
got
the
ball
back
at
the
32
with
a
minute
left
and
ran
one
play then let the clock run out forcing an
overtime. Iowa
started the OT period
with an incomplete pass, 6 yard loss on a run on a Spitler tackle
followed by
OSU’s only sack of the game by Worthington. On
4th
and
26,
Vandenberg
threw
into
the
end
zone
with
OSU’s
Russell
the
only
player in the vicinity. Tressel
then ran Herron three times for 3 yards and Barclay calmly kicked a 39
yard
field goal for the win. Pryor
completed 14 of 17
passes for 93 yards with no TD’s or Interceptions.
The 81% completion rate was a career
best. The 5.47 yards per pass attempt
and his 29 yards in 8 rushing attempts were season lows.
Saine
rushed for 103 yards and
2 TD’s on 11 carries while Herron rushed for 97 yards and a TD on 32
carries. OSU rushed for 229 yards on 51
carries for their 4th straight 200 yard rushing game.
Pryor still leads team in rushing with 633
yards on 128 carries followed by Saine with 610 yards on 119 carries
and Herron
with 462 yards on 120 carries. OSU
has interceptions in all
11 games this year for a total of 18. Last
season they had only 10 interceptions in 13 games and
none in 5
different games. With the win, Ohio State
clinches its
fifth-consecutive Big Ten championship. Ohio State won six in a row
from
1972-77. Michigan is only other team to
win 5 in a row (in the 1990’s) Jim Tressel is 25-4 in
November games at
Ohio State. Jim Tressel is 4-1 in
overtime games. The
last home overtime game was vs. No. 24 NC State Sept. 13, 2003, a 44-38
triple
overtime win. The last away overtime game was at Northwestern, a 27-23
loss,
Sept. 18, 2004. Jim Tressel's record with
the Buckeyes is
92-21 and his career record is 227-78-2. Tressel's 227 victories rank
fourth
among active FBS coaches. The Buckeyes are 431-131-14
all-time as a
Top 25 team. Jim Tressel is now 80-6 when
leading/tied
at the half and 85-6 when leading/tied going into the fourth quarter in
his
Ohio State career. The Buckeyes have won 85
games since the
start of the 2002 season, the fourth best among FBS schools during that
span. |
| GAME 12 November 21, 2009 | |
 Heyward 97 recovers Forier fumble in end zone. 4 is Coleman, 36 is Rolle   Pryor running for some of his 79 yards Herron catches screen pass for 12 yard TD catch from Pryor   Coleman on one of two interceptions Rich Rodriguez congratulates Jim Tressel after game |
OHIO STATE
21
AT MICHIGAN 10 Ohio State scored their 3rd fewest points this season in a 21-10 win over Michigan. The two games they scored less they lost. They rushed for over 225 yards for the 5th straight games but under 100 yards in passing for the 2nd straight game and todays 67 yards were a season low as was the 3.9 yards per attempt. Herron rushed for 96 yards on 19 carries, Saine gained 84 yards on 12 carries and Pryor rushed for 74 yards on 19 carries. Michigan's leading rusher was V. Smith with 32 yards on 8 carries. For the season Pryor had 707 yards on 147 carries, Saine gained 694 on 131 carries and Herron rushed for 558 yards on 139 carries. OSU had 4 interceptions, the first time Forcier had more than one in a game. OSU had at least 1 each game for a total of 22. Ex-Michigan QB, Mallett of Arkansas threw for 5 TD's today. OSU two scoring drives were 80 and 89 yards. On those two drives OSU had 7 runs of 12+ yards and one of 9. Pryor had 4 of those and Saine 3. OSU has beaten Michigan 6 straight times for the first time in history. Michigan won 6 straight in the 1920's and 9 in a row from 1901-09. No I don't remember that! Michigan has consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1962-3. Ohio State head coaches Jim Tressel (football), Thad Matta (men's basketball) and Jim Foster, (women's basketball) are a combined 27-2 against Michigan teams during their tenure at Ohio State. Tressel is 8-1, Matta 9-1 and Foster 10-0. Michigan came into the game averaging a Big Ten-best 31.2 per game. Ohio State held them to just 10 points Ohio State came into the game averaging 5.8 three-and-outs per game and recorded seven more today. They have totaled 69 through 12 games. Coleman tied for 11th in NCAA with 5 interceptions and 11th in interception return yardage with 129. Homan tied for 37th in NCAA with 96 tackles. TEAM DEFENSIVE STATS - PLACE IN DIVISION 1 PL # 1st # Points per game 5 12.2 Florida 9.8 Yards per play 5 4.1 Texas 3.8 Passing Yards/Game 16 179.1 Florida 139.3 Rushing Yards/Game 5 83.4 Texas 51.1 Turnovers forced 3 2.8 Ohio U/Rutg. 2.9 Penalties/Game 7 5.0 Conn. 4.4 Interceptions 1 23 2 - Boise St 20 Int yards Returned 5 293 Clemson 367 Sacks 27 28 Pitttsburgh 41 Kurt Coleman is only OSU player on All Big Ten team for both coaches and media team. Justin Boren was 1st team by the media. Cameron Heyward, Thaddeous Gibson, Brandon Saine and Ross Homan were 2nd team on both media and coaches team. Bryant Browning, Chimdi Chekwa, Doug Worthington, and Terrelle Pryor were honorable mention on at least one of teams. Iowa (7), Penn State (5) and Michigan (5) led 1st team selections with only Indiana having fewer 1st team players than OSU! First time since 2004 that OSU didn't have either offensive or defensive player of the year. |
| GAME 13 JANUARY 31, 2010 -
ROSE BOWL, OREGON VS OHIO STATE PREVIEW |
|
| ROSE BOWL PREVIEW - OFFENSE (2nd
number is national rank out of 120 teams) OREGON OHIO STATE NET OFF/DEF Points per game 38 - 7th 29 - 47th OSU +3 Yards per game 425 - 25th 364 - 71st OSU +7 Passing yards per game 198 - 95th 165 - 106th Oreg +9 Passing yards per atttempt 7.1 - 65th 7.2 - 62nd Rushing yards per game 236 - 6th 199 - 19th OSU +13 Rushing yards per attempt 5.5 - 7th 4.7 - 21th Turnovers by offense 24 - 52nd 22 - 40th OSU +13 Fumbles lost 14 - 100th 8 - 27th Interceptions lost 10 21st 14 - 65th NOTE: NCAA stats don't add up. Rushing plus passing yards don't = total yards. Used NCAA # for Oregon (off by 9 yards) and mine for OSU (at least mine add up. NCAA had OSU at 180 passing yards per game, I had 165 . OSU has slight edge in stats. Masoli slim edge over Pryor. PAC 10 overrated. They were favored by 2 and 3 points in first two bowl games and lost 44-20 and 37-27. Oregon played 3 teams in the top 24 defensive teams. They lost to #16 Boise St 19-6, beat 19th ranked Utah 31-24 and lost to 24th Stanford 51-42. OSU beat 4th ranked defensive team, Penn State 24-7 and 11th ranked Iowa 27-24 in overtime. In last 5 games OSU had 3 turnovers and took ball away from opponents 16 times. That was over the meat of schedule and after Tressel became more conservative. In last 5 games Oregon had 8 turnovers and only 4 take aways. Oregon fumbled 9 times and lost 5 of them. Not sure how many were Masoli. But Oregon likes to toss the ball around and I expect OSU to win turnover battle by 2 Slag Prediction: OSU 24 Oregon 17. |
ROSE BOWL PREVIEW - DEFENSE OREGON OHIO STATE Points allowed per game 24 - 52nd 12 - 5th Yards allowed per game 330 - 75th 262 - 5th Passing yards allowed per game 203 - 35th 179 - 17th Rushing yards allowed per game 127 - 37th 83 - 5th Turnovers taken per game 2.0 - 40th 2.9 - 2nd Penalties 6.3 - 64th 5.0 -8th QB Comparisons: Eff. Rank Com Att % Yds TD Int Sack J. Masoli 132.6 50 168 285 58.9% 2066 15 5 9 T. Pryor 128.0 67 144 258 55.8% 1828 16 10 18 Running: Yds Rank Att Yds Avg TD's J. Masoli 659 97 115 659 5.7 12 T. Pryor 707 86 142 707 5.0 7 |
  Ballards makes key 4th Qtr 24 yard leaping catch. #7 is Lamaar Thomas   Posey catches 17 yard pass from Pryor to give OSU 26-17 lead Pryor on run - Ran for game high 72 yards  Posey makes 17 yard TD catch Dane Sanzenbacher makes one of game high 9 catches. Oregon had 9 total catches .   Saine scores TD on 13 Yard pass from Pryor. MVP Pryor and Ellen Tressel after game #2 is Pryor, #76 is J. B. Shugarts |
OHIO
STATE 26 OREGON 17 As expected, a good defense beats a good offense. Oregon's coach, Chip Kelly, said before the game that he didn't care about time of possession. However, he didn't expect OSU to have the ball for a Rose Bowl record 41:37 minutes. As a result, Oregon's offense spent most of the game on the sideline. Pryor was MVP of the Rose Bowl by competing 23 of 37 passes for 266 yards and 2 TD's. Going into the game experts wondered if Pryor could pass. After the game they wondered if Mazoli could pass. He was 9 of 20 for 81 yards and a TD. Pryor ran for a game high 72 yards on 20 carries. Probably included 5 sacks for -20 yards. Mazoli was held to 9 yards on 6 carries including a couple of sacks. James was held to 70 yards, breaking a 7 game streak of 100 plus yards. OSU hasn't allowed a 100 yard rusher in the last 23 games which is the 2nd longest streak going. OSU converted 11 of 21 3rd down plays vs 2 of 11 for Oregon. OSU won turnover battle 2-1 and finished 11-0 this season when they won turnover battle. OSU turnover was an interception on 3rd and 6 which was 25 yards downfield, better than a punt would have netted. Oregon's two turnovers were killers. Oregon stacked the line of scrimmage to stop the run which worked, as OSU gained 3 yards per rushing attempt. That forced Pryor to pass which was fine with him. Oregons best weapon was kickoff and punt returns as they returned 7 for an average of 28 yards to give Oregon good field position all day. Despite 37 passes by Pryor, OSU passed 38 times and rushed 51 times. Oregon passed 20 times and rushed 33 times. Oregon averaged 38 points and 425 yards a game this season. OSU held them to 14 points and 260 yards. Big Ten wins first Rose Bowl since 2000 but were only playing in 5 of those games with 4 being vs USC and one vs Texas. Big Ten now 5-6 in last 11 and 8-7 in last 15 Rose Bowls they have been in. In last 15 games the Big Ten have been 0-5 vs USC and 8-1 vs other Pac 10 teams. Big Ten has had 5 offensive MVP's in last 11 Rose Bowl games. They are Brian Griese of Michigan, Ron Dayne of Wisconsin twice and Joe Germaine & Terrelle Pryor of OSU.  Jim Slagle and Todd Harrison take time out while at Rose Bowl game to get picture of The coaches trophy  Brutus in Nelson's front yard in Westminster, Calif. Brutus predicts OSU 24-Oregon 17 - Final Score OSU wins 26-17 |
|
|
|
| CLICK HERE FOR 2009 DETAILED GAME BY
GAME
STATS & HEISMAN WATCH |
|
TERRELLE PRYOR HIGH SCHOOL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
 Pryor is
6'6 and 235 pounds and runs a sub 4.4 40 yard dash - GPA 3.4 Pryor's football teams were 45-7 in football
and 98-18 in basketball in high school Passed for 1889 yards and 23 TD's Senior Year -
Went 16-0 and won Pa AA Title He was 85 for 124 passing averaging 15.2
yards per pass attempt Rushed
for 1899 yards and 33 TD's Senior Year averaging 13.4 yards a carry Scored 2285 points
in basketball Senior Year and lost in AA Title game in OT. Pryor
scored 23 points and had 8 rebounds in 75-71 loss in finals. In final regular season
basketball game in senior year, Pryor's team won 82-68. Pryor
scored 39 points, grabbed 24 rebounds, had 10 blocked shots and 6
assists! Won football State finals 49-21. Pryor rushed
for 209 yards and 3 TD's, completed 3 of 4 passes for 83 yards and
caught a 28 yard TD pass First player to rush and pass for 4,000 career yards
in Pa. High School football MVP of
US Army All American Bowl in summer of 2008 |
|
| PRYOR FRESHMAN STATS AT OSU RUSHING: 139 ATTEMPTS FOR 635 YARDS, 6 TD'S AND 1 LOST FUMBLE RECEIVING: 1 PASS FOR 5 YARDS AND 1 TD LED BIG TEN IN PASSING PROFICIENCY PROJECTED TO BE BIG TEN MVP BY BIG TEN COACHES PRIOR TO 2009 SEASON |
Jim Tressel Office