As the saying goes, when players on a team don’t perform 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. 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 152.4 passing yards a game on the season, at a 55.8 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.
Ohio State wide receivers DeVier Posey and Dane Sanzenbacher combined for 17 receptions. Tressel used Sanzenbacher, a possession-type receiver, on shorter pass plays; he finished with 64 receiving yards. Posey, whose size (6-foot-3, 205 pounds) and speed bothered Jackson all night, gained 101 yards and a touchdown on mostly downfield passes.
“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.”
The Ducks’ defense was not without other fallibilities. Ohio State converted on 11 of its 21 third-down attempts, including a crucial 24-yard pass from Pryor to tight end Jake Ballard on third and 13 in the fourth quarter.
Three of Oregon’s seven penalties were defensive, including a 15-yarder by Brandon Bair that kept an 8:03, 19-play scoring drive alive. But the Ducks did hold Ohio State to 3.0 yards per carry as a team, and 153 total yards rushing.
All of which came at the expense of Pryor’s aerial assault.
“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 20 minutes in the Ducks’ locker room following the game. It was the second time since his season-long suspension on Sept. 3 for punching Boise State defensive end Byron Hout following the Ducks’ loss to the Broncos.
“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.”
Blount credited James Harris, Oregon’s assistant athletic director of student-athlete development, for helping him and holding him accountable as he completed various benchmarks toward reinstatement. He was formally reinstated to the team on Nov. 9.
Blount was also asked if he considered his punishment fair.
“It is what it is,” he said. “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. His third-quarter fumble from the 18-yard line, with the Ducks behind 19-17, was kicked out of the end zone for a touchback. Oregon never recovered from the shift of momentum.
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