As the saying goes, when players on a team underperform to their potential on game day, they may have read too many of their press clippings. Listed and detailed accomplishments get into players’ heads, and they become overconfident about their talents and impacts on the game.
Perhaps the reverse was true for the 96th Rose Bowl game, a 26-17 victory for Ohio State over Oregon. Perhaps the Ducks read too many of the Buckeyes’ press clippings.
Ohio State was supposed to be big but too slow to counter spread offenses and quick defensive players. On offense, the Buckeyes were supposed to play for three yards and clouds of dust on every down. The middle of the field was supposed to be worn down, defensive players battered and bruised.
A funny thing happened on the way to Pasadena. Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel, long an icon for conservative football strategy, dug deep into his playbook for the forward pass. The pass set up the run, and Oregon’s defensive players were left battered and bruised for 41 minutes and 37 seconds of game time. No Rose Bowl team had ever held the ball for that long on offense.
“It was surprising to us,” Oregon head coach Chip Kelly said. “We felt watching their last couple of games where they didn’t throw it very much and were rather conservative, they came in and opened it up.”
Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor entered the game averaging 152.3 passing yards a game on the season, at a 55.6 percent completion rate (144 of 258). He left with 266 passing yards (with two touchdown passes and an interception), at a 62.2 percent completion rate (23 of 37). Pryor had thrown 51 passes in the Buckeyes’ final three games combined, completing 31 of them.
“Nobody expected him to pass as much,” cornerback Cliff Harris said. “Obviously, we didn’t take his arm (for) as good as we should have. We didn’t think he could play that good.”
“We were a little bit run-heavy conscious, and we were trying to man up their receivers a little bit more,” cornerback Talmadge Jackson III said.
Jackson spent his Friday afternoon on an island against receiver DeVier Posey, whose size (6-foot-3, 205 pounds), speed and athleticism made life difficult for the 5-foot-10, 182-pound junior. Posey led the Buckeyes with 101 receiving yards on eight catches, along with the go-ahead touchdown.
Harris found himself paired up with the Buckeyes’ Dane Sanzenbacher, a possession-type receiver who caught nine passes for 64 yards.
“A couple of times I looked at the (Ohio State) sideline and saw someone try to switch up the play, to put him (Sanzenbacher) on my side,” Harris said.
The Buckeyes did test Oregon down the field with Posey and tight end Jake Ballard, who caught a 24-yard pass on third and 13 in the fourth quarter en route to Posey’s touchdown pass. Pryor’s longest completion was a 46-yarder to running back Brandon Saine on a wheel route, with almost all the yards coming after the catch.
“They ran pretty basic routes, in terms of, like, hitches, out routes…nothing was too complex,” Jackson said. “They kept their passing game pretty simple. There was a lot of short passes, lot of slants, lot of outs.”
Though Ducks defensive end Kenny Rowe did tie a Rose Bowl record with three sacks in the game, Pryor was able to escape pocket pressure and turn it into long running gains.
“We had pressure on the quarterback and Kenny Rowe had an amazing game. Right at the end of the game, they just went to Pryor’s legs,” defensive tackle Brandon Bair said. “That’s his weapons.”
Ohio State kept pushing the Ducks to the sidelines with the running game once the nine-point lead – and eventual margin of victory – was firmly established.
“Down the stretch, when they’re just running out the clock and they bring a guy around the edge…that’s just a hard guy to stop,” Bair said. “We looked like we were chasing rabbits out there for a while.”
Pryor, Saine and running back Brandon Herron combined for 159 rushing yards, below the team’s season average of 198.9 yards per game. All told, the Buckeyes averaged exactly three yards per carry on the ground. Any clouds of dust on the field were kicked up by Pryor’s and his receivers’ feet.
“We thought they were just going to power us since they come from the Big Ten. They play power football,” Harris said. “It was just a frustrating feeling, but that’s how the game goes sometimes.”
Blount speaks to reporters
Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount spoke to reporters for several minutes in the Ducks’ locker room following the game. Blount had spoken with reporters just once after his season-long suspension was effected on Sept. 4 for punching Boise State defensive end Byron Hout following the Ducks’ loss to the Broncos the night before.
“What happened? A mistake. Just a mistake,” Blount said when asked about the incident. “I didn’t know when I’d play my next game (after the suspension). It just bothered me to not be able to get back on that field.”
Asked about the fairness of the punishment he received – and the program which enabled him to return to the team, Blount responded, “It is what it is. Nothing I can do about it now.”
The senior from Perry, Fla. rushed for 36 yards on five carries and a touchdown against the Buckeyes.
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