Unhappy Valley: Buckeyes dominate Lions

Ohio State 24, Penn State 7.

I expected the defensive lines to dominate the game today between Ohio State and Penn State. Turns out I was only half right.

If there’s a better defensive line in the country other than Ohio State, I haven’t seen them. The Buckeyes front four is nearly unblockable. They’re athletically gifted, they’re fast, they’re nasty, and by going two deep, they are too much for almost any offensive line to handle.

That certainly was the case Saturday against Penn State. The Bucks finished with only two sacks but were constantly in the backfield and kept the running backs and Daryll Clark from getting to the second level, thus freeing up the linebackers to make plays in space behind them.

For me this continues to be the story of the year for the ‘09 Buckeyes. I wrote earlier in the year that this Defensive Line might be as good as the ‘02 championship line with Will Smith, Simon Fraser, Kenny Peterson, etc. The ‘09 version isn’t quite as deep as ‘02 but they have the possibility of ending the year as a better starting four. My guess is we lose the entire line this year (except for John Simon) to either graduation and/or the NFL so enjoy them while you can.

Three huge surprises for the Buckeyes tonight- first was that Coach Tressel and his staff outcoached Team JoePa, particularly on offense. Tressel did a masterful job of taking the pressure off Pryor with quick passes, dump offs and enough variety in formations to keep Penn State off balance. I can’t even remember the last time the end around actually worked and there were at least two successful bubble screens that I saw. It obviously didn’t hurt that Ohio State averaged 6.6 yards rushing on 1st downs in the 1st half alone.

The setup on the bomb to Devier Posey in the 3rd Quarter was also brilliant. Prior to that pass, Ohio State had 17 first down plays, 16 of which were runs. The Penn State cornerback got lulled to sleep with the run game and then the Buckeyes went bomb over the top (and the safety help took a bad angle). Absolutely brilliant.

The second huge surprise of the afternoon was the play of the Ohio State Offensive line. I expected the Ohio State offensive line to get mauled all game long and yet nearly the opposite happened. The Buckeyes didn’t allow a sack, rushed for 225 yards and more importantly got almost 5 yards per carry. A stunning turn of events for a line that has just plain sucked for most of the year. I give a lot of the credit to Tress for the schemes and playcalls, but the O-Line came to play tonight so mega props to them for that.

Third surprise was Ray Small. Small has been the classic story of trapped potential. Flashes of brilliance, various stints in the coaches’ dog house and a verbal tete a tete with the Small family. All of that in the past, Ray single-handedly changed the complexion of the game with an 18 yard average on punt returns giving Team Tress the all important field position edge. He also contributed positively on offense with a catch and run. Well done Ray- keep it coming, we need you.

Here are a few other interesting stats from the game:

*Coming into the game, Penn State hadn’t given up 200 yards rushing to any team this season. The most previously given up was 163 net yards to Iowa.
*Neither Quarterback hit the 50% completion mark. Terrelle Pryor only threw 8 completions on 17 attempts. On the other side, Daryll Clark threw 12 completions on 28 attempts. Both QB’s threw for exactly 125 yards.
*Terrelle Pryor has now gone two straight games without throwing an interception. He has only one other game this season without an interception and that was against Illinois. Baby steps to be sure, but he’s clearly making better decisions.
*Terrelle Pryor has averaged 8.2 yards per carry over the last three games and has scored a rushing touchdown in each of the last four games. I repeat- he has scored a rushing touchdown in each of the last four games.
*Ohio State has now gone 20 straight games without allowing an opposing rusher to get 100+ yards. That’s excellence.

More to follow on this watershed game for both programs.