Ohio State Buckeyes - 2010 Rose Bowl Champs!

Final Score - Ohio State 26 -- Oregon 17

Today's win was all about strong defensive play and Terrelle Pryor coming out to play like we had hoped when we recruited him. I love it when the "experts" are wrong and I am going to enjoy reading their mea culpas the next few days.

Random post game thoughts:

• Pryor improved over the last half of the year and it appears his progression continued during Bowl practice. The amazing thing is he still limited his throws to 5-10 yards, avoided the middle third of the field and he really didn't throw long. Even so he went 23/38 for 266 yards with 2 TDs and 1 Interception. It was Terrelle's best performance and something he can build from for next season.

• The defense held the high powered Oregon offense to 260 yards and most significantly limited their time of possession to 18:23 and 12 first downs. I expected the defense to stop the Ducks but I was impressed with both Masoli and James. The Oregon offense is impressive and broke a few long runs but ultimately it was held in check.

• Ohio State's special teams performance was decided mixed. The Bucks were 4/4 for field goals with both Barclay and Pettrey getting into the act. Thoma finished his career on a strong note with 3 punts for an average of almost 44 yds per kick which was definitely unexpected. On the other hand, our kickoffs were consistently short and our coverage teams continually put our defense in a bad situation by giving up 171 yards on 4 kickoffs and 28 yards on 1 punt. I think the starting position on our kickoffs had to be close to the 40. Without this the game is a laugher.
  

• Statistically this game wasn't close. Time of Possession - 42 minutes to 18. Yards - 419 to 260. First Downs 26 to 12. In fact it is a bit disappointing the game was so close but the Buckeyes left the door open by stalling in the red zone 4 separate times and settling for field goals instead of touchdowns. Then we had to kickoff again ....

Looking at my my predictions:

• OSU Offense Line vs Oregon Defense Line - Prediction - OSU ; Actual - OSU - As I said I thought we'd dominate here. Pryor had all day to throw and we could run pretty well even given the "8 in the box" strategy they used all game. The capper was in the 4th quarter when we methodically moved the ball down the field to score our last TD and then again to run the clock out to end the game.
  

• OSU WRs vs Oregon DBs - Prediction - Even ; Actual - Even - Posey and Sanzenbacher had 17 catches for 169 yards so I was a bit pessimistic here. Still we really didn't try to stretch the defense and you have to give credit to Oregon for limiting OSU to the short pass.

• OSU Backfield vs Oregon D - Prediction - OSU ; Actual - OSU - Our running backs never got into the game like I expected but they didn't need to due to the way Terrell Pryor played. Honestly I would have liked to see them run the ball down their throat a bit more but you can't argue with the results.

• Oregon Offensive Line vs OSU Defensive Line - Prediction - OSU ; Actual - OSU - The Ohio State defensive line played as expected and I feel they dominated the line play. Still the scheme Oregon runs gave the Buckeyes fits all night when they didn't stay on assignment.

• Oregon WRs vs OSU DBs - Prediction - Oregon ; Actual - Even - This really never became an issue as Oregon really stayed with their running game. One related comment ... He's been a good player but it wouldn't have been a Buckeye game without senior Anderson Russell dropping an sure interception. I've never seen a player have more opportunities to make a big play and literally drop the ball.
  

• Oregon Backfield vs OSU D - Prediction - Even ; Actual - Even - OSU "held" Oregon to 179 rushing yards and 5.4 yards per attempt but Oregon has been has a great offense that tends to rely on the run. The Buckeyes really never were threatened by the passing game but I came away very impressed by the Oregon running offense. A lesser D couldn't have stood up to the pressure.

Special Teams - Prediction - Oregon ; Actual - Even - OSU was perfect on field goals while Oregon missed an important one late in the game. Thoma was as good as I've seen on his punts which was a nice surprise. However the kickoff coverage continues to be abysmal. The short kicks and players not staying in their lanes gave Oregon a huge advantage in field position after each of our scores. This was so bad that it could have cost us the game and I'm sure is going to get a lot of focus in the offseason.

Coaching - Prediction - Even ; Actual - OSU - When I made this comment yesterday I didn't realize how prescient it would was. The Buckeyes came out with a new short passing game and executed it to perfection. Oregon did the same scheme as in the past and while they had success they were ultimately stymied by the defense. The Buckeye naysayers that have been calling for an offensive coordinator will have to hold their tongue during the offseason.

My Comments from Prediction (the pat myself on the back section)
"This game is going to be highly dependent on which quarterback performs better."

"He (Pryor) is as healthy as he has been since the start of the season and he could be a surprise."

"I look for the Buckeyes to win in the trenches on both sides of the ball and I expect that Masoli won't be able to take advantage of the OSU secondary."

Yeah yeah I know I'm going to sprain my arm patting myself on the back but honestly I nailed it. The only thing I missed was I predicted a the Buckeyes to win 31-17 and they missed it by 5. I guess no one is perfect.

The Future
With this performance I expect the Buckeyes to finish at #5 in the country and the only regret is that we don't have a playoff because this team certainly is playing good enough to beat anyone. It certainly is a good way to start 2010 and with this win and the number of players coming back I expect the Buckeyes to be ranked no worse than #3 going into next season.

It's a great day to be a Buckeye!