Behind The Box Score

In Terrelle Pryor’s first game of his highly anticipated sophomore season, the former number one player in the country showed the potential and talent that was expected out of him from Jeanette, Pennsylvania. With all this said, the 6’6″ 235 pound burner didn’t do it alone. In the post Beanie Wells era, the Buckeyes featured Boom Herron and Brandon Saine, both who had quality games, and in my opinion, Saine looked the best, on each carry the junior was impossible to bring down on first contact. The Buckeyes featured a trio of new receivers, with Duron Carter impressing making spectacular catches similar to the ones his father made. As the offense moved efficiently, the defense had troubles of their own.

 With Navy rolling down the field on their first drive, the Buckeyes looked confused and overpursued for the most part. The Midshipmen, who have led all of college football in rushing yards per game the past four games, ran effectively for the most part but the intriguing fact was that quarterback Ricky Dobbs threw two touchdowns in less than 15 attempts, both coming in part of blown coverage by Anderson Russell, a great run defender who has been suspect in pass coverage lately. With the USC Trojans coming to town next week, coach Jim Tressel must get his team together and the Buckeyes will need to execute.

 The offensive line had trouble getting a push on the smaller Navy front four, thus causing concern for next week’s matchup. Unable to gain an advantage against a team that is nowhere near the skill level of the Trojans, which is a tell tale sign of the things to come for Ohio State next week. As Chris Speilman called Navy’s plays from the booth, Tressel and Jim Heacock had trouble expecting what the Midshipmen were running only adding to the speculation that Tressel has lost touch of the modern game.

 Even featuring many skill players at every position, the Buckeyes seemed in a daze all day, not expecting the challenge put forth by the Midshipmen. Jumping out to an early 7-0 lead as Pryor threw a 31 yard pass to Dane Sanzenbacher, and after halftime the Buckeyes led 17-7. As usual, Ohio State struggled in the third quarter, only to see the Midshipmen strike back. With two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Dobbs led Navy downfield with a rushing touchdown to cut the lead to two, 29-27. Going for the two point conversion, Dobbs threw an interception which was returned all the way for two points by middle linebacker Brian Rolle, one of five impact players I mentioned earlier this week.

 Pryor, who had a tremendous first half, wasn’t as crisp for the remainder of the game, totalling 172 yards in the air with an interception and 30 on the ground combining for two touchdowns. Expecting to come into their opener and destroy the servicemen, the Buckeyes were outcoached and outplayed for the second half against a team that is trememdously less talented. Pryor was running for his life all day as the offensive line had trouble getting a push, but with the triple option no longer on the “To-Defend” list, the Buckeyes’ fortunes may change next week, as USC breaks in true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley, the nation’s #1 quarterback from the class of 2009. On the bright side, the running backs ran hard all day with Boom Herron leading the way rushing for 72 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown. The aforementioned Saine was arguably the best runner today, carrying the ball 9 times for 59 yards, an average of 5.9 yards per touch. Coleman, Rolle and Thaddeus Gibson led the defense stepping up all day as Gibson and Coleman both had forced fumbles along with Coleman and Rolle picking off passes. It will be interesting to see how the Barkley and the Trojans play today against San Jose State, a game which starts in less than 20 minutes. Not winning big games has been Ohio State’s along with the Big Ten’s motto and with Iowa near loss to FCS Northern Iowa, the Big Ten has established themselves as one of the worst conferences among BCS schools.