I too think Pryor has matured but he's not quite there yet. He still hesitates to commit to running. When the coverage is there or the blitz is coming, run and run now. Why does Tressel still seem to be forcing TP as a pocket passer when he seemed to do more damage by rolling out. Was he recruited because he was a great pocket passer in high school? Redzone results need to be changed to TDs if they want to compete with the likes of Alabama & Florida. The defense won that game more than Pryor and the offense. The Buck's special teams performance was unacceptable. Add to that Pryor's "Hail Mary" throw that was remarkably caught and Oregon's fumble out of the end zone and that could've been a very different game.

When Ballard went up I got visions of Gonzo in the Big House in '05....

I say le the Heisman talk figure itself out for Pryor. If he plays well every week and his team wins that stuff will take care of itself

Just a small little tid bit...The Bucks have now won the last 2 Rose Bowls they played in...Lets just hope the next one is not in another 10-12 yrs.LOL

yeah, lets hope.

Of course, if we're playing for National Titles, it could be a little bit of a drought. But Pasadena is gorgeous and the people are hospitible and we play well there normall

Pryor threw about 4 stiffarms, not just one.

I thougth the Special Teams play was absolutely pathetic, especially the kick off coverage with a close second coming from the punt team coverage. It seems that a large portion of Oregon's points came as a result of allowing them to start their possession at the minimum of the 40 yard line or better way too often.

On the plus side, I agree Pryor played his best game to date and I was plesantly surprised that the OL finally took control of the LOS in game against a worthy an opponent particularly during the vital closing minutes.

Scarlet_Fever wrote: The second bad throw was on 3-13. He just heaved it up into coverage to avoid a sack. If Ballard hadn't made the catch of the night that may have turned out way different.

Actually that was a GREAT read by Pryor. They showed the view from right behind Pryor, and just before he wound up to throw the ball you see Ballard starting to break open.

oldtriple wrote: I thougth the Special Teams play was absolutely pathetic, especially the kick off coverage with a close second coming from the punt team coverage. It seems that a large portion of Oregon's points came as a result of allowing them to start their possession at the minimum of the 40 yard line or better way too often.

Whoa there. Our field goal special teams were a perfect 4 for 4. Other than that, your post is spot on.

Had the Bucks missed even 1 kick, which most college teams do, then Oregon is going for it on 4th and one late at our 25 down either 5 or 7 points.

Hesston wrote: next years Heisman favorite?

Ummm......NO


Ingram is the preseason favorite

The rest of my preseason Top 5 are:

2.Dion Lewis
3.Jeremiah Masoli
4.Jacory Harris
5.Ryan Williams

Keep an eye out for Johnny Brantley from UF

Jacory Harris? Really?

He has impressive numbers but turns the ball over way too much and didn't do ANYTHING in the bowl game vs. Wisconsin

LJ wrote:Actually that was a GREAT read by Pryor. They showed the view from right behind Pryor, and just before he wound up to throw the ball you see Ballard starting to break open.

I disagree. He may have saw Jake but he wasn't totally alone when he caught it. To me it looked a little more like Pryor just heaved it out there hoping it was close enough to the sidelines as to be incomplete and avoid a sack. I didn't leap for joy but sat and thought, WOW, what a great CATCH and Pryor got lucky. But I'll admit it was about time the Bucks got a lucky on a play like that.

Captain Cavalier wrote:

LJ wrote:Actually that was a GREAT read by Pryor. They showed the view from right behind Pryor, and just before he wound up to throw the ball you see Ballard starting to break open.

I disagree. He may have saw Jake but he wasn't totally alone when he caught it. To me it looked a little more like Pryor just heaved it out there hoping it was close enough to the sidelines as to be incomplete and avoid a sack. I didn't leap for joy but sat and thought, WOW, what a great CATCH and Pryor got lucky. But I'll admit it was about time the Bucks got a lucky on a play like that.

Maybe you should watch it again. Ballard was jogging out into a route and as soon as Pryor scrambled he turned it on. Pryor saw he was breaking open and threw up a duck. It was a great read, bad throw. Watch as the ball is coming, Ballard has at least 3 steps on the defender and the one coming over the top only had time to react because of the duck. It was a great read.

darbypitcher22 wrote: NCF,

just curious as to what is "as well as they can"?

Tonight's effort was enough to get a 9 point win against an opponent nobody gave us a chance of beating....

The schedule next year is not easy:

9/4 Marshall
9/11 Miami
9/18 Ohio
9/25 Eastern Michigan
10/2 @ Illinois
10/9 Indiana
10/16 @ Wisconsin
10/23 Purdue
10/30 @ Minnesota
11/13 Penn State
11/20 @ Iowa
11/27 Michigan

The Miami game will give us a real good test of where we stand; visits to Madison and Iowa City will be our two toughest road tests next year

Of course, you want to have a schedule like this to have a shot at the National Championship game.

Elliot Stabler wrote:

Hesston wrote: next years Heisman favorite?

Ummm......NO


Ingram is the preseason favorite

The rest of my preseason Top 5 are:

2.Dion Lewis
3.Jeremiah Masoli
4.Jacory Harris
5.Ryan Williams

Keep an eye out for Johnny Brantley from UF

After Harris and Masoli disappointed people that put them on their lists early this year, they won't be in the top 5 to start for next year. They'll be sleepers to look at, but turnover prone QB's don't make Heisman candidates.

Yeah Masoli with his whole 81 yards passing really played himself into the Top 5 favorites for the Heisman next season.

That pass to Ballard was actually a good read, just a poor throw. With all the hang time on that pass, it allowed the defenders to get there.

On TP's pick, it was actually a decent read. He did have Posey with some daylight but he didn't see the safety coming hard over the top to make a play on the ball. if that safety isn't there, it's another big Pryor to Posey connection.

I'm a defensive guy and I LOVED how we kept the Great "Masoli" in check for the most part! Love it!

LJ wrote:

Captain Cavalier wrote:

LJ wrote:Actually that was a GREAT read by Pryor. They showed the view from right behind Pryor, and just before he wound up to throw the ball you see Ballard starting to break open.

I disagree. He may have saw Jake but he wasn't totally alone when he caught it. To me it looked a little more like Pryor just heaved it out there hoping it was close enough to the sidelines as to be incomplete and avoid a sack. I didn't leap for joy but sat and thought, WOW, what a great CATCH and Pryor got lucky. But I'll admit it was about time the Bucks got a lucky on a play like that.

Maybe you should watch it again. Ballard was jogging out into a route and as soon as Pryor scrambled he turned it on. Pryor saw he was breaking open and threw up a duck. It was a great read, bad throw. Watch as the ball is coming, Ballard has at least 3 steps on the defender and the one coming over the top only had time to react because of the duck. It was a great read.

Wasn't if funny how the play-by-play guy comments before the play that they hadn't thrown to Ballard yet and he mostly stayed back to block and the very next pass goes to him?

I've watched the video a couple of times. Ballard did have a step or two. It looked to me that by throwing it high, Pryor put it at a place where no-one could reach it except Ballard. If Ballard had mis-timed his jump, of course, the top cover guy might have had an easy interception. But as it was, the top cover guy had no play on the ball.

Zipping it in wouldn't have worked unless Ballard cut to the inside. Perhaps he would have had time to do that if Pryor had thrown it there.

But I could be wrong, perhaps Pryor floated it high like that just because he was throwing off his back foot. He fell down as he was throwing it. The ball did have a perfect spiral on it.

I'd like to think TP lofted it up there because Ballard is 6'6 and the tallest defender in the neighborhood was 5'10. But it also just could have been him throwing off his back foot.

Why does everybody think that schedule is joke?

Its a lot better than teams in the Pac 10/SEC will play

LJ shut the hell up you damn idiot.

Cleveland Buck wrote: 1. Pryor played the best game of his career. He threw some balls late and threw some ducks, he's not there yet, but I was pleased.

2. The defense played very well. Not great, there was some sloppy tackling and the line stop getting any push up front for the middle part of the game, but to hold Oregon to 17 points and 260 yards is impressive.

3. I couldn't understand why Herron got so many carries. He was awful. Saine wasn't much better, but how many times do you need to see Herron run right into Boren's rear end to know that you ought to try someone else in there?

4. Loved the defensive playcalling. Liked the offensive playcalling for the most part.

5. The special teams outside of the field goal unit were horrible. They couldn't return a kick or cover one. Barclay was pitiful on kickoffs. Low line drives to the ten or fifteen yard line will always be easy to return. With a typical Tressel special teams unit, Oregon might not get to ten points.

6. Five BCS Bowl wins. Only USC has more. Florida can (probably will) match them tonight. Can't complain about that.

Do not agree with #3 at all.

Completely agree with #5.

Tiernan wrote: Catch by Ballard will go down in OSU bowl history as one of the greats. That play at that moment was huge and saved the game IMO.

I doubt it is remembered like you make it sound like it will, but you are 100% right. It was a HUGE catch and should go down in Buckeye folklore.

you'll see that catch on Buckeye highlight tapes/films for years to come. It certainly was a huge catch

Here's a Rose Bowl thought:

I wonder why so many of Ohio State plays were un-necessarily reviewed by refs in the booth, but the few that should have been reviewed that occurred in Oregons favor weren't?

It doesn't matter, but a thought none the less.