>n’t blame Pryor for this loss.  The fumble was a fluke and the interception was what happens with a freshman in a desperate situation trying to make a play.

The defense played pretty well, holding Penn State to 13 points, 7 of which resulted from a turnover putting the Nittany Lions in good field position.  But the offensive line is a boat anchor for this team.  Just like the defense was doing it all with smoke and mirrors back in 2006 and got exposed against Florida, the offensive line has been doing what they are doing this year with the same smoke and mirrors.  The line is fundamentally unsound.


I don’t think its talent.  These guys are big, fast, and were all highly recruited by schools everywhere.  I think it’s coaching.  One of the local radio hosts said he had spoken with an assistant high school coach who had seen some OSU practices.  He said that the coaching staff at OSU had eschewed blocking sleds.  I don’t know if that’s true.  Perhaps it was a practice or two where they did not use them.  But if it is true, how do you prepare an offensive line without the tools of the trade?

The results are clear as they can be.  Doug Datish is playing in the NFL.  Kirk Barton is playing in the NFL.  But these guys were not exactly setting the world on fire when they were at OSU.  Chris Wells is a once every 25 years running back, but is wasted by this offensive line. 

Another coaching note:  When Justin Zwick became ineffective due to lack of a running game, Tressel had no problem going with Troy Smith who brought his own rushing ability to the game and it made a difference.  The same was true when Todd Boeckman was benched because of his lack of mobility in the face of an incompetent offensive line.  Football is a tough game, even for fifth year seniors like Boeckman and you have to swallow hard and move on.

But the converse should be true for Pryor.  When you have Penn State putting 8 guys in the box and selling out to stop the run, you have to make them pay for that.  Pryor made them pay a few times with good throws to Sanzenbacher and Robiskie, but I thought the better plan would have been to rotate Boeckman in and out like they did with the USC Trojans.  PSU simply wasn’t getting a great deal of pressure on Pryor.  He had time to throw.  But he doesn’t (yet) have the comfort level doing that.  If Boeckman had come in for a few plays he would have had that same time to throw, and he is a better pure passer than Pryor.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying bench Pryor.  I’m saying use all of your weapons.  If the rejoinder to that is that PSU would have simply backed four of the eight men out of the box whenever Boeckman came in, then great.  Run Chris Wells at them and wear them out. 

This isn’t rocket science people.  I understand that every game for Pryor is a valuable learning experience, and that his true pay off is down the road.  But with players leaving college earlier and earlier for the NFL, each season needs to stand on its own. 

This game was lost by the coaching staff for the two reasons stated above.  1) Consistent inability to effectively and fundamentally build a sold offensive line out of some pretty good athletes; and 2) Inflexibility in the offensive game plan in the failure to use all of the team’s many assets.

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