Ohio State vs. Michigan highlights, wasn’t that fun?

The absence of college football for the first time in months has left me with little to do today. I figured I would spend some time looking at highlights from The Game to brighten the day. As always, lexco44 brings it strong with a great highlight montage on youtube.

Here are my thoughts, in chronological order:

• Say want you want about Orhian Johnson, his closing speed at :56  is extremely impressive. Robinson is one of the fastest players in football, and he clearly isn’t used to people catching up to him from behind like that, as evidenced by him dropping the ball upon being hit. As I mentioned in my DB review, Johnson is one of the most physically gifted players on the team. If he can get the mental part of the game down, he has the chance to be special.
• On the very next play of the clip  at (starts at 1:05), Pryor evades pressure and rolls out of the pocket beautifully, however, it seems pretty clear that Pryor was locked in on a blanketed Posey when he made the throw. I could be mistaken, but it seems fortunate for Pryor that Washington stepped in front and made the catch.
• At 1:14, Pryor goes WAY out of his way to avoid the hit. I am all for a healthy Pryor, but on that play (and some others) the lengths he goes to avoid contact are a bit much in my opinion. That being said, whatever he needs to do to stay healthy is fine with me.
• The throw at 1:20 is a perfect example of the progress Pryor has made as a quarterback. He throws it with confidence because he has confidence in Sanzenbacher to be where he expects him. I don’t know if Pryor has that level of confidence in his other receivers at this point. I have said it before, but it takes two to tango in the passing game, and Pryor’s lack of consistent targets are at least a part, if not a large part, of his ‘bad’ games.
• The pass at 1:33 made me extremely nervous live. However, Pryor showed great touch and anticipation with that throw.
• The pass at 1:40 is another perfect example of Pryor’s progress. He senses the pressure almost immediately, steps up in the pocket perfectly, keeps his eyes downfield and finds a wide open Posey across the middle who does the rest. Very nice play all around.
• Pryor’s steps up in the pocket with great form on his next two throws (1:47, 1:52).
• Watch Berry’s block on the kick return at 2:09, it’s something that you may have missed and is worth checking out.
• At 2:43 there is great blocking, but Pryor also shows excellent pocket presence and patience before deciding to run. Earlier in his career on similar plays, more often than not he would panic and run right into one of the oncoming rushers (or at least it seemed that way).
• 3:05 is one of the worst holding calls I have ever seen. Truly, truly awful. If it weren’t bad enough on its own, it also ruined an historic run by Boom, which is a shame.
• I know the phrase is overused, but I honestly laughed out loud at the ‘play’ Tater made at 3:09.
• I think Tressel says “take a knee?” at 3:30, any other guesses?

Obviously, these are highlights and are meant to show the positive and avoid the negative. Still, you can’t help but feel a twinge of optimism after watching them. Maybe that’s just me though.

Happy Saturday everyone.