The Buckeyes traveled to Iowa City to meet the Iowa Hawkeyes with a share of the Big Ten title on the line. Iowa gave the Buckeyes everything they could handle forcing the Buckeyes to score the go-ahead touchdowns with only 1:30 left on the clock in order to win 20-17. Terrelle Pryor finished 18/33 for 195 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions in one of his least polished performances of the season.
The officiating in the game was absolutely atrocious. My statement here is not intended to imply that I believed the officiating was simply favorable to Iowa. I felt the officiating was actually horifically inconsistent on the basis of the safety of the players. The hit to Corey “Philly” Brown late in the first half that injured him was clearly a facemask, and possibly unsportsmanlike conduct for celebrating over the down player. Nothing was called. Late in the third quarter, though, Jermale Hines hit an Iowa receiver and, admittedly, led with the helmet and deserved to have a flag thrown on him. However, in the context of the officiating to that point in the game, that call was unacceptable. Even worse, Jermale Hines later hit on Adam Robinson, late in the fourth quarter, might have warranted a helmet-to-helmet flag that was never thrown. I can’t say for certain, but it was worrisome that Robinson was down for several minutes. Clearly the safety of the players was unimportant. Thank you very much Big Ten.
I don’t give a rats behind if you want to call holding on the Buckeyes on every stupid play. I’d rather you officiate in a fair manner, but I recognize that sometimes officials miss things, or don’t see things correctly. But when your refs fail to call clear safety fouls that occur right in front of their faces, that shows a complete disregard for the values of the officiating profession. You want to get a bunch of players killed, keep calling the rules the way you are.
As for the game itself, the Buckeyes again came out of the gate in the first half in a completely uninspired fashion. The running game didn’t have much success against the talented Iowa defensive line. Adrien Clayborn gave the OSU linemen trouble, but didn’t make as big of an impression as last season. Unfortunately, with the troubles with the running game you would hope the passing game would take off. Pryor was unable to make too much happen with his arm, forcing a couple of throws he shouldn’t have.
As the first half continued, it was clear that Pryor was trying to make too much happen. One throw that was clearly forced, but an absolutely beautiful and athletic play, lead to OSU’s first points. Pryor found a receiver – I believe Fragel Rock – near the goalline with a underhanded pass as he was falling forward. Fragel wasn’t able to punch the ball into the endzone, and Tressel decided to kick the field goal rather than going for the touchdown. The score put the Hawkeyes up only 4 going into the half, but left the fans – and Pryor – feeling like they should have gone for the touchdown.
Other plays that Pryor tried to make were not so advisable. On one play late in the first half, Pryor tried to float a pass to a covered receiver as he was falling backwards. There was no reason for Pryor to try to get that pass off as it floated above the field simply begging to be intercepted. Luckily, the pass fell nearly untouched to the turf. On the last drive of the half, Pryor tried to find Taurian Washington deep going into the endzone. The decision was good, as Washington was wide open, however Pryor didn’t put the ball in the right spot in the endzone. The pass was picked off and ended a possibly promising scoring drive.
The third quarter was substantially better than the majority of the first half. The Buckeyes managed to score a touchdown on a great pass to Ried Fragel after a very solid drive that made it seem like perhaps the Buckeyes had turned the corner on the game. However, Iowa had other ideas. A field goal knotted the game up at 10. With the game on the line, Pryor began to feel the need to make something happen. After a couple unsuccessful drives on both sides, Pryor started the feel the pressure. On a third down play, under a little bit of heat from the Iowa defensive line, Pryor stepped up and tried to hit Sanzenbacher over the middle. The ball was thrown behind Sanzo, was tipped by his defender into the arms of another defensive back. On the next play, Iowa put the ball on the one yard line, and scored the go-ahead touchdown on the very next play.
Dan Herron was completed negated in this game as he carried the ball 13 times for 43 yards through the first 3 quarters. Iowa’s defensive line was simply overpowering the OSU blockers and trying to force Pryor to throw the ball. With a competent secondary, it was making the passing game tough for Pryor and eliminating his options.
Ricky Stanzi, though, was having a very good game. As is typical, Inconsistent Rick was surprisingly consistent in a game that Iowa needed him most. With Adam Robinson back, but not running well, Stanzi’s throwing in the short passing game helped them immensely to move the ball against the Buckeye defense. As a whole the defense was doing ok for themselves, but were struggling to get enough pressure on Stanzi.
With time getting short, the Buckeyes began to put together a drive following the Iowa touchdown. Trying to calm down the troops and make something happen, Pryor’s decision making seemed to improve from what he had done in the previous drives. The Bucks advanced the balls down the field, but a long 3rd and 14 that bounced out of Philly Brown’s hands and forced the Bucks to kick a field goal. Barclay sank the 48 yarder – the longest of his career – to pull within 4 with 7 and a half left to go in the game.
Iowa was forced into a 3 and out on their very next drive. A great sack by John Simon on first down set up the stand that forced the Hawkeyes to punt. The Iowa punter, Ryan Donahue, got a 53 yard punt to put the Buckeyes deep in their own territory needing a big drive. Some good play calling, including a well run quarterback draw, began to move the Buckeyes down the field with impunity.
Three straight passes from the 50 yard line ended in incompletions. The worst was a beautiful long bomb from Pryor to a wide open Posey. The ball hit Posey in the hands in the endzone, but squirted through forcing a 4th and 10. Luckily, Pryor was able to scramble the 10 yards for the first down on the next play to preserve the drive.
Pryor found a wide open Sanzenbacher on the right side of the field. Sanzenbacher made an almost Anthony Gonzalez like catch and managed to come down inbounds with control of the ball. The play survived review, giving the Buckeyes the ball on the 3 yard line going in. Two straight running plays for Boom Herron led to a go-ahead touchdown with only a minute and a half left for Iowa to make something happen.
Iowa returned the kick to near the 35 yard line. Two straight pass plays were incomplete for Stanzi, including one where he was almost brought down. Cam Heyward made the play of the game when he sacked Stanzi on third down. The play forced Iowa into a tough 4th and 21. A solid pass from Stanzi got most of the yardage back, but the receiver was unable to get the first down. With the ball in Iowa’s territory, the Buckeyes played it conservatively and nearly ran the clock out. On 4th and 2 with seconds on the clock, Dan Herron gave the Buckeyes the first down and finished the game.
Pryor ended the game 18/33 for 195 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. He also gained 78 yards on 15 carries. Not his greatest game, but it was enough to get the job done. Stanzi finished 20/31 for 195 yards and 1 touchdown – a great performance for Stanzi. I came away very impressed by Stanzi’s performance in this one.
Niether team was particularly solid on the ground. Dan Herron finished with 19 carries for 58 yards and a touchdown. Iowa’s leading rusher was Marcus Coker with a good 9 carries for 70 yards and a touchdown. Adam Robinson only gained 27 yards on 9 carries before getting injured (possible concussion?) late in the game.
The win brings the Buckeyes to M*ch*g*n Week! The Buckeyes will next face the Wolverines on November, 27th at Noon. That game will be played in Columbus, Ohio.
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