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closeUNIVERSITY PARK — Mark it down as the day Terrelle Pryor finally proved he could win the big game.
CDT/Nabil K. Mark
Terrelle Pryor shakes hands with Joe Paterno's hand after the game. Penn State lost to Ohio State 24-7 November 7, 2009. CDT/Nabil K. Mark
Few expected him to be part of a win at Beaver Stadium. Fewer expected him to actually lead the way.
But Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was welcomed with a feeling early Saturday that the time had come.
“Before we boarded the bus,” Tressel said, “you could tell he knew what was up. I don’t know what his passing numbers were and I don’t know how much we threw it, but he made some big throws and made some good decisions when not to throw.”
Pryor tossed for two touchdowns and ran for another in a 24-7 Buckeyes’ victory over Penn State in the sophomore’s first game in his home state and against one the programs he spurned to play at Ohio State.
The circumstances weren’t lost on Pryor afterward.
“This is my first time to lead the team and lead the offense down the field and score some touchdowns against another big team and a ranked team,” he said.
Three weeks seems like such a long time ago now. That’s when Pryor committed four turnovers in a numbing loss at Purdue.
What followed was a firestorm of criticism spewed at the prized signal caller. If that wasn’t enough, Pryor’s high school coach at Jeannette questioned Ohio State’s conservative offensive philosophy, saying of his former player: “I see a robot.”
In the midst of it all, LeBron James showed support for Pryor, offering advice for dealing with scrutiny.
It must have worked. In perhaps his biggest game at Ohio State yet, Pryor passed with flying colors.
“I’ve never wavered in my thinking of his progress,” Tressel said. “I know others have, but I get to be at practice and I get to be at meetings.”
Wearing a sharp suit, Pryor smiled as he spoke after the victory, a stark contrast from the scene that played out last season, when he grumbled and took blame for a late fumble that led to the Nittany Lions’ 13-6 victory in Columbus.
Pryor played along, when asked about the suit.
“My mom bought it,” he said. “I just make it look good.”
Despite playing with an injured left ankle, Pryor looked crisp on the field, too. He only completed 8 of 17 passes for 125 yards and only rushed for 50 yards on five carries, but he didn’t throw an interception and wasn’t sacked. He also made plays when the Buckeyes needed.
The biggest came on a 52- yard scoring bomb to roommate DeVier Posey that provided Ohio State a sturdy 17-7 lead late in the third quarter.
“We knew they were biting up,” Pryor said. “I just had to move the safety a little bit to the right. We just got in there.”
The ball hung high in the air — “It felt like forever,” Posey said — for Posey, who caught the ball at the Penn State18 and coasted in. Safety Nick Sukay was late getting over in coverage.
The play came on first down. Until then, the Buckeyes had passed just once in that situation.
“I felt like they got comfortable in their stance and were sitting down us,” Posey said.
“We knew the same thing everyone else knew, that we were running it a lot on first down,” Tressel said. “We felt like if we had decent field position, it was time to strike.”
If that play didn’t serve as a knockout blow, Pryor’s scramble for 12 yards on third-and-11 on Ohio State’s next possession did. With the crowd roaring, Pryor took off around left end, the are left open by blitzing cornerback D’Anton Lynn.
According to Pryor, the journey wasn’t as easy as it looked.
“I’m still very hurt,” said Pryor, who rode a stationary bike on the sideline to stay loose when the offense wasn’t on the field. “It was really hard to run. I had to wobble and had to like skip. I still ran pretty fast. You probably didn’t notice it, but it was hurting. Sometimes you’ve got to play with pain.”
Pryor finished the drive with a 3-yard TD pass to running back Brandon Saine. Game over.
“He’s grown each game into being more comfortable,” receiver Dane Sanzenbacher said. “He kept his focus all week. It showed out there.”
Pryor scrambled away from tackles by Ollie Ogbu and Navorro Bowman and dove in to complete a 7-yard run that gave Ohio State an early 7-0 lead. He then hit Sanzenbacher in double coverage on a high pas down the seam on third-and- 3 to set up a Devin Barclay field goal that made the score 10-7.
“You might look at it as a high ball, but that was the only place he could’ve put it,” Sanzenbacher said. “Earlier in his career, I don’t know if he would’ve been confident enough to make that throw.”
Pryor missed a wide-open Sanzenbacher on a deep ball that would’ve been a touchdown before halftime. The next bomb was right on target.
“Sometimes you miss opportunities,” Pryor said. “You got to punch in on that. We did the next time.”
That’s the story of Pryor’s season. With Iowa’s loss to Northwestern Saturday, all the sudden Ohio State is in the driver’s seat for another Big Ten title. Who would’ve ever believed that three weeks ago?
“I know we slipped up back at Purdue, and I’m going to keep bringing that up because we slipped up,” Pryor said. “It’s a learning process. That’s just what happens.”
On Saturday, Pryor didn’t allow Penn State’s hard-charging defense or just as hard-charging trash talk from the stands to bother him. He was a big-game quarterback, finally.
“They were on me,” Pryor admitted. “Sometimes I wish I had headphones on, but you can’t let people get to you. I could hear it, but I can’t. As a quarterback, coach talks a lot to me about poise and patience. I had a lot of poise.”
In Print
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