FOOTBALL

Lines to decide winner between Lions, Buckeyes

Jeff Rice

The Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year will quarterback the visitors. The likely Big Ten Player of the Year will quarterback the hosts.

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• Penn State defense focused on Pryor

But Terrelle Pryor and Daryll Clark won’t be the most important players on the field when Ohio State and Penn State meet Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium.

Ohio State’s battered offensive line faces the unpleasant task of handling Nittany Lion defensive tackle Jared Odrick and the rest of Penn State’s frantic front seven, while the Nittany Lions’ offensive line must contend with a Buckeye front capable of creating just as much havoc.

Clark, the conference’s leader in passing efficiency, is thoroughly outplaying Pryor and benched Illinois quarterback Juice Williams, the Big Ten’s other preseason POY candidate, and is the key ingredient in the conference’s most productive and balanced offense. But through nine games, Clark has faced only one quality defensive line — Iowa’s. The Hawkeyes sacked Clark twice and pressured him into throwing 19 incompletions, including three interceptions, in a 21-10 loss in late September.

Clark’s offensive line, which has allowed a total of three sacks in the five games since, offered little resistance on that drizzly night. Iowa defensive ends Broderick Binns and Adrian Clayborn got so much pressure by themselves that the Hawkeyes could afford to drop

their linebackers into coverage. The Nittany Lions’ running attack didn’t fare much better, averaging 3.3 yards per carry.

Dennis Landolt, Johnnie Troutman, Stefen Wisniewski, Lou Eliades and Ako Poti (who did not play in that game) have come a considerable way since. But, they must be even better to slow down the big fellas they will face on Saturday.

Defensive ends Thad Gibson and Cameron Heyward and defensive tackle Doug Worthington were all part of a defense that came as close as anyone did to shutting down the Nittany Lions’ high-powered 2008 offense. Penn State totaled 281 yards — 168 below its season average — in last year’s 13-6 win in Columbus. And that was with first-team all-conference linemen Gerald Cadogan, Rich Ohrnberger and A.Q. Shipley up front.

“They gave us problems last year and we’re looking for the same this year,” Penn State tailback Evan Royster said.

Gibson (four sacks), Heyward (three sacks) and Worthington (29 tackles) are now joined by tackles Dexter Larimore and Todd Denlinger and ends Lawrence Wilson, Nathan Williams and Solomon Thomas in one of the nation’s deepest and most talented group of defensive linemen. They’ve freed up linebackers Brian Rolle and Ross Homan to make plays behind them and blown up both running and passing plays in the backfield.

To move the ball against this group, the Nittany Lions must be creative and aggressive with their play-calling but also patient; the Buckeyes have surrendered only 12 offensive touchdowns in nine games (and scored three themselves on interception or fumble returns). Clark must be precise when he has time to throw but be unafraid to throw the ball away to avoid a sack or a pick.

Earlier this week, Penn State linebacker Sean Lee remembered the dominant performance of Ohio State’s offensive line during its 37-17 win in Beaver Stadium in 2007 — “We weren’t even able to make the offense punt,” Lee said — but Pryor’s current bodyguards haven’t provided the same kind of protection Todd Boeckman received that night.

The Buckeyes are allowing one sack every 15 pass attempts (for comparison’s sake, the Nittany Lions are allowing one sack every 28 attempts), not a horrible number until you consider the weak defenses — those of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue, Toledo, New Mexico State — that have been chasing Pryor and his running backs. Injuries to left tackle Mike Adams, who won’t play Saturday, and left guard Justin Boren, who should, have robbed the line of talent and, more importantly, continuity.

And they’ve yet to see anyone in the class of Odrick.

It’s tough to say which defensive line should provide the bigger advantage. Clark has been much steadier than Pryor, and his line has been strong late in games, but the Buckeyes’ depth could negate that. Pryor is elusive and strong enough to evade the initial pass rush, but Penn State’s defensive line should get plenty of help in pursuit from linebackers Navorro Bowman and Sean Lee and safety Drew Astorino.

The decisions both quarterbacks make with the football will go a long way in determining Saturday’s outcome. But the defensive lines could force them to make those decisions a lot sooner than they would like.

The team that most often moves the chains will be the one that gets the best performance from its offensive linemen.

“Without those guys,” Clark said, “we go nowhere.”

Note: Penn State coach Joe Paterno said Thursday on Nittany Lion Hotline that running back Stephfon Green is available to play against the Buckeyes. Green has missed the last two games with an ankle injury.

Jeff Rice can be reached at 231-4609.