Blog Ten Gameday: Ohio State Snuffs Penn State’s Title Hopes

Terrelle Pryor scores the first of his three touchdowns on the day

Ohio State 24  Penn State 7  Final

Well the Big Ten may not have an official championship game, but following Ohio State’s victory in Happy Valley on Saturday the conference will have one next week in Columbus.  That’s because Terrelle Pryor and the Buckeyes went into Beaver Stadium and showed the Nittany Lion faithful why they should really be upset Pryor chose Ohio State over Penn State.

Because he’s pretty damn good.

On Saturday it was Pryor who looked like the senior captain quarterback while his counterpart Daryll Clark played more like a sophomore who wasn’t quite sure what to do yet.

Pryor’s final stat line doesn’t look all that amazing, finishing with 175 total yards (125 passing and 50 rushing) and three touchdowns, but he accounted for just about half of Ohio State’s offensive output yardage wise, and 18 of their 24 points.  Though it’s arguable that Ohio State’s true offensive MVP today was Ray Small and his punt returns that continually set up Ohio State scores.

As for Clark, he finished the day with 125 yards passing — just like Pryor — but completed only 12 of his 28 pass attempts and had more interceptions (one) than touchdowns (none, duh).

All in all the Ohio State defense kept the Penn State offense frustrated all day and only allowed the Lions to pick up 201 yards of offense, and held them scoreless for the final 42 minutes of action.  The key was absolutely stopping the Penn State run game in its tracks.  Evan Royster managed only 36 yards on 13 carries and the Nittany Lions averaged only 2.5 yards per carry in the game.

So now Ohio State gets to return home to take on an Iowa team next week that may be without Ricky Stanzi, with the winner of that game wrapping up a trip to the Rose Bowl.  Who would have thought that a few weeks ago after the Buckeyes lost to Purdue?

Not me, that’s for sure.