Rose Bowl Game: Terrell Pryor and Ohio State beat Oregon

Terrell Pryor grew as a quarterback tonight. The Ohio State sophomore signal-caller made the throws when it counted and followed with hard-nosed running to guide the Buckeyes to a 26-17 win Rose Bowl win.

Terrell Pryor

It was a great Rose Bowl game with several lead changes, small drama stories like LeGarrett Blount, and two very fast teams. In the end, the Oregon Ducks found itself pitted against an Ohio State Offense that was almost a mirror-image of its own in scheme and operation. With the exception of the use of The I Formation, both teams features use of the Spread Option and the Belly Series from it. But the difference maker was Terrell Pryor.

I've long believed that if you wanted to beat Ohio State all you had to do was stop their running attack and put the ball in Pryor's hands. That's what the Oregon Ducks tried to do but didn't work. The 6-6 Terrell Pryor was 23 of 37 for a season-best 266 yards and two touchdowns, versus one interception. While Pryor's 62.16 passer rating wasn't good, the important stat within the rating is that he threw 23 times. That's more passes than Ohio State coach Jim Tressel normally calls for Pryor. Pryor just missed the 50 percent mark and many of his throws were short, and just enough to keep the chains moving.

But it was Pryor as a run threat that made the overall difference. He rushed 20 times for 72 yards, but it was during the 4th Quarter and when he picked up clutch yardage when his team needed it the most, that Pryor earned his MVP award.

Oregon was a game competitor but give Ohio State's coaching staff credit for having an answer to its system of blitzes. However, my issue is that many of Oregon's blitz came off the edge and not up the middle. Ohio State would run around or throw over Oregon's outside linebacker and safety blitzes.

Now Oregon ads to a 2009 bowl season that has not been kind to the Pac-10. Last year, the Pac-10 was undefeated in bowls; this year, it's tally now stands at 2 wins and 5 losses to close out the Pac-10 Football season.

Stay tuned and Happy New Year 2010!

Topics this hour:

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