Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes get the 2010 campaign off to an impressive start, corralling the Marshall Thundering Herd.
View full sizeBrandon Saine scores one of his two touchdowns on the night against Marshall. Saine ran for 103 yards on just nine carries. The discrepancy in talent showcased Thursday night in Ohio State's 45-7 win over Marshall was kind of like a World War I Sopwith Camel engaging in a dogfight with a Blue Angels FA/18 Hornet.
Call 'em the Thundering Herd, but not seen.
So why was Thursday's season opener for the Buckeyes so important? Because as Plain Dealer beat writer Doug Lesmireses noted in his game story, the time span between today and Terrelle Pryor's MVP performance in the Bucks' Rose Bowl victory is too great to be called momentum. If Ohio State's national title dreams are to come true, the Buckeyes needed to start something new and start it now.
Pete Fiutak of foxsports.com was positively effusive in his praise for the Buckeyes:
That's EXACTLY what you want to do if you're the No. 2 team in America.
Ohio State didn't come out sheepish, didn't play true Tressel Ball, and didn't let Marshall have a chance to breathe. Terrelle Pryor was able to be a quarterback, and not a running back who lines up under center, and the offense kept it open (by OSU standards) after all the success from the Rose Bowl.
Does this signal a new era for Buckeye football? It's almost as if Tressel realizes his program needs to do something a bit more to break through the ceiling, and now that he has an experienced Pryor to handle the workload, he's going to allow the team to do more.
Maybe it's okay to take a few more shots down the field, especially knowing that the defense can take care of the rest. When the Buckeyes were rocking and rolling on offense in 2006 with Troy Smith at the helm, the attack was able to break out of the conservative mode a bit. Tressel and the coaching staff appear to be comfortable enough to allow his great team to play up to its talent level and to open the throttle, but let's see what happens against Miami. It's one thing to be relaxed and cool against Marshall, but it's another when the Hurricanes blow into town.
And that's the point. Don't expect the 13th ranked 'Canes, who laid a 45-0 beating on Florida A&M Thursday night, to bear any resemblance to the Division I-A Thundering Herd. This definitely will be the Bucks' first real test.
What, me worry?It's not like the Buckeyes were totally unconcerned about Marshall. John Kampf, the Lake County News-Herald staffer who's the OSU pool writer for the Journal Register News Service, put it this way:
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel worried about the warm, muggy weather giving his team weary legs on Thursday.
If the Buckeyes did have weary legs, it was more likely because they spent the night running up and down the field.
Yeah, 529 yards of total offense can have a tendency to sap your strength. But on the plus side, the defense should be well rested for the Hurricanes: Buckeye defenders held the blundering Herd, er, THUNDERING Herd, to 199 yards of offense.
No doubt
The BCS title hopes for the Buckeyes clearly rest on Pryor maintaining the production he exhibited in last year's Rose Bowl. Some worry that it might be too much to ask of the true junior quarterback. They might want to check with Maria Ridenour, who writes for the Akron Beacon-Journal.
. . . Pryor took the first step in convincing the doubters he has elevated his game Thursday night as the second-ranked Buckeyes routed Marshall 45-7.
As Pryor completed 17-of-25 for 247 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, there were plenty of throws to remember.
. . . Next week when Pryor is being stared down by Miami defensive end Allen Bailey, all 6-foot-4, 285 pounds and 4.65 40-yard dash of him, we'll know more. The 'Canes will be out for blood, Pryor's blood, and will have speed and athleticism rarely seen in the Big Ten.
It's no wonder that a possible Heisman Trophy campaign for Pryor is on hold until after the Miami game, and perhaps longer. Tressel said that's been a longtime strategy of the OSU communications department. But at this point, it's just another shred of doubt about Pryor waiting for an answer.
She's right about almost everything. Note the word "almost." The ongoing campaign for a Pryor Heisman has had everything but a commercial with him saying, "I'm Aaron Pryor, and I approve this message."
From The Plain Dealer
Already told you about Doug Lesmireses' game story, so Starting Blocks will move on to Bill Livingston's Pryor commitment to the Buckeyes' quarterback (which includes one of the best lines SB has read in a long time: "a 65-yard spiral, tight as the budget of a have-not baseball team").
Other PD stories:
An OSU-Marshall report card from Lesmireses.
Valade's best and worst moments of the game.