Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor Feels the Pain
My BCS national championship dreams came true Saturday night in Columbus when Penn State did the college football world a huge favor by defeating Ohio State 13-6.
After two consecutive BCS championship game appearances in which the Buckeyes got pounded by Florida and LSU, we won’t have to worry with another Ohio State beatdown in Miami.
To the Buckeyes’ credit, they played hard and gave Penn State all they wanted. The game wasn’t decided until the last play when Terrell Pryor threw an interception with 26 seconds remaining, sealing the win for the Nittany Lions.
However, I’m perplexed why Jim Tressel felt a freshman quarterback would give his team a better chance to win, considering how much was at stake.
Todd Boeckman doesn’t possess Pryor’s athleticism, but at minimum he has big game experience, and Ohio State could have used that against the Nittany Lions.
In what proved to be the game’s crucial mistake, Pryor fumbled with 10:38 left giving the Nittany Lions possession at the Buckeyes’ 38-yard line.
Penn State needed seven plays to score on a Pat Devlin sneak from 1-yard out to put the Nittany Lions up 10-6 with 6:25 remaining.
Penn State DB Lydell Sargeant closes out the Nittany Lions win over the Buckeyes
On Ohio State’s next possession, the Penn State defense held the Buckeyes to just four plays, forcing a punt.
The Nittany Lions took over on their 34 and went on an eight-play drive that ended with Kevin Kelly kicking a 35-yard field goal to put Penn State up 13-6 with 1:07 left.
The victory marked the first time Penn State has won in Columbus since 1978. The Nittany Lions improved to 9-0, 5-0 in Big Ten play and won their 10th straight game, tying them with Texas Tech for the nation’s longest winning streak.
For Ohio State (7-2, 4-2) the loss was the second against a top 5 team this season. The Buckeyes lost to then top-ranked USC on September 13, 35-3.
Barring a meltdown, the Nittany Lions will win the Big 10 and move on to the BCS national championship game in Miami.
