Ohio State beat Wisconsin 33-14 Saturday. At first glance, the score would appear to reflect a dominating performance over a good Wisconsin team (and several announcers on half-time and post-game shows said just that – “Ohio State pummeled Wisconsin”. Obviously, they didn’t watch the game.) In reality, the Wisconsin players must be scratching their heads wondering how the Badgers could have almost completely dominated the Buckeyes yet still lost by 17 points.

Look at some of the stats:

First downs -

Wisconsin 22 – Ohio State 8

Total Yards -

Wisconsin 384 – Ohio State 184

3rd down conversion –

Wisconsin 6 – Ohio State 3

Fourth down conversion -

Wisconsin 3 – Ohio State 0

Time of Possession -

Wisconsin 42:47 – Ohio State 17:13

Those same college football analysts who watch only highlights and read stats will have you believe that Ohio State shut down Wisconsin running back John Clay but holding him to 59 yards rushing. But Clay seemed to move the ball at will often bulldozing for 5-6 yards a carry. Wisconsin probably just didn’t use Clay enough.

The biggest stat that will really make your head spin was generated (or not generated) by Terrelle Pryor was his passing stats- 5 of 13 passing for 87 yards and one pick. This guy was the top recruit in the nation and he absolutely can’t throw the ball. He’s terrible. I’d love to see high school tapes of the guy because I bet all he did was run wild over little children and pass to wide open receivers. Pryor is cursed by being such a gifted runner and a man among children at the high school level. He’ll never play QB at the pro level. If he wants to play pro ball he should switch to receiver. He will be forced to do so. I guarantee it.

I need to watch the USC game because it appears that a team that can cover receivers man to man well enough to put a spy on Pryor should be able to shut him down completely.

They may not even need to do that. Pryor made one good pass all game. If I were an opposing coach, I’d give him the one touchdown pass; let him self-destruct on passes more than 60-70% of the time; play to stop the run and assign a spy to Pryor to contain his rushing. You can see why Tressel started Pryor as a freshman: the guy is at least a four year project. He lacked experience against tough opponents. Tressel is thanking god that OSU is in the Big Ten Conference which ranks slightly above the MAC in competitiveness.

This is why Ohio State will never win the big games. Against Wisconsin, yeah, they were able to get a lucky pick six. I have to give Ohio State credit on the second one as the defender actually made a good play to get it. Sure their special teams came up with a nice return. But against a top ten team, they may only get one of those breaks.

The bottom line is their offense will actually have to carry the load. When that time comes, the offense will not be able to carry it. It simply lacks the personnel and especially so at the quarterback position.

See also – Buckeye’s Big Win a Bogus Result

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