Ohio State's Swagger
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- With his team's 36-24 win over Miami safely in hand and just over a minute and a half remaining on the game clock, Terrelle Pryor took a knee, got up and started raising his hands toward the screaming student
What was he feeling at that moment?
"Relief," said Ohio State's third-year quarterback. "This is the first time [in my career] I've won a Week 2 game."
His teammates echoed similar sentiments. For four years, they've been haunted by the ghosts of nonconference meltdowns, from BCS championship losses to Florida and LSU to the pair of early season defeats against USC Pryor was referencing. Last year's Rose Bowl win over Oregon offered some salvation, but even the normally button-lipped Buckeyes had to admit there was something special about silencing "The U" and its patented, Florida-born-and-bred "swagger."
"If I could just say," boasted OSU linebacker and South Florida native Brian Rolle, "our defense 'outswagged' them."
Granted, no one would mistake the 2010 'Canes for the 2002 squad against which Jim Tressel's program notched its double-overtime BCS championship victory. But Randy Shannon's 12th-ranked team came to Columbus looking to prove it's at least headed back in that direction. Neither team looked championship-ready here today, but the Buckeyes certainly appeared a whole lot closer.
Led by a fast, suffocating defense that intercepted four Jacory Harris passes and limited the 'Canes to one offensive touchdown (the first they'd allowed on the season), No. 2 Ohio State looked to be in every way the better team. Its one notable flaw: allowing Miami to return both a kick and a punt return for touchdowns in the first half, the first time since at least 1936 an Ohio State opponent had done such a thing. ("I'll be sure to put that in my memoir," joked Tressel when told of the fact afterward.)
The Buckeyes are far from a finished product, and no one offers reminders of that more constantly than their star quarterback. Even in this, his third year as starter, the 6-foot-6, 233-pound signal-caller has moments that make the stadium cringe, like right before halftime when, with the clock ticking down under 10 seconds, he attempted to beat it to the sideline rather than spike the ball or use OSU's final timeout. (He made it with two seconds to spare, setting up a Devin Barclay field goal.)
Pryor completed just 12 of 27 passes, but the Buckeyes would never have won this game without both his athleticism and his vastly improved decision making. Time and again, with Miami's speedy pass rushers collapsing around him, Pryor stepped off and took off, notching a career-high 113 rushing yards on 20 attempts. And those 12 completions produced nearly 20 yards per play.
Down 10-3 early in the second quarter, Pryor helped change the momentum in the blink of two plays, hitting receiver DeVier Posey downfield for a 62-yard pass, then following it up with an 18-yard touchdown strike to running back Brandon Saine.
Later, following a Chimidi Chekwa interception deep in Miami territory, Pryor hit Dane Sanzenbacher for a 15-yard strike, then executed a perfect option pitch to Dan Herron for a score that pushed OSU's lead to 20-10.
Those still waiting for Pryor to morph into Vince Young may be left waiting forever. It's not going to happen. But there are worse things to have than a veteran QB who accounts for 346 yards, avoids turnovers (he had none on the day) and can make plays with his feet.
"Part of passing is deciding when not to pass," said Tressel. "If they're going to play man-to-man and edge rush you with speed and so forth, if [Pryor] can step up, they're dead. I don't know how many of his 113 yards rushing were on passing plays, but I think some of them were. So that's a pretty good job passing."
The Buckeyes don't necessarily need Pryor to put up Denard Robinson-like rushing numbers, because their defense simply doesn't give up a lot of points.
Miami's Harris spent most of the night fending off pass-rushers like 6-5, 288-pound beast Cameron Heyward (who, in the game's most important play, picked off a pass deep in OSU territory and rumbled 80 yards, breaking Miami's back), Dexter Larimore, Nathan Williams and Jon Simon. Veteran linebackers Rolle and Ross Homan, along with safeties Jermale Hines and C.J. Barrett, helped snuff out Harris' underneath throws and wrap up his receivers. Corners Chekwa and Devon Torrence each had pass breakups in the end zone.
"Defensively, we flew around," said Tressel. "Our guys up front are relentless and those linebackers are active and the DBs, even if you might catch a few on them, they'll hit you."
What is that we're detecting from the Senator's mouth? Is that ... swagger? It seems to be going around the Buckeyes' locker room these days.
Two years ago this week, then fifth-ranked Ohio State went to Los Angeles and got hammered by Mark Sanchez's top-ranked Trojans, 35-3. In interviews afterward, the Buckeyes players' looked not just defeated but beaten down, not from one loss but from the cumulative effect of yet another big-stage blowout and the accompanying criticism. It's taken two years and a new crop of players to bury those demons and transform Ohio State into a legitimately confident contender.
Going back to last November, the Buckeyes have now beaten four top 15 opponents (Iowa, Penn State, Oregon and Miami) in their past six games. That kind of success tends to have an effect.
"Our confidence level is very high right now," said offensive lineman Michael Brewster. "This game meant a lot. We haven't done well the past few years on the big stage, and now we've done well the past couple of games. So I think this will pay off big down the road."
Many big games remain if Ohio State hopes to earn its ultimate redemption on the biggest stage of all. Coincidentally, the BCS championship game returns to Glendale, Ariz., this January, which is where the Buckeyes first drew the nation's ire with their 41-14 beatdown against Florida following the 2006 season.
However, Arizona was also the site of Tressel's biggest triumph, the stunning Miami upset, now nearly eight years ago. The way he speaks about this team, it's clear Tressel feels this has the makings of a similarly special season.
"As long as we continue to grow," Tressel cautioned, "we've got a chance."
And as long as they continue to grow their swagger
Bush has forever cemented legacy by forfeiting Heisman Trophy
si.com
In 11 years on this beat, the 2005 season was by far the most memorable I've covered. I'll never forget watching Matt Leinart's 61-yard pass to Dwayne Jarrett from the sideline of Notre Dame Stadium. I'll never forget watching from the press box above the L.A. Coliseum as Reggie Bush ran off 260 yards against UCLA. And of course, I'll never forget watching Vince Young scamper to the end zone literally just a few feet in front of me to clinch the BCS championship.
It's a good thing I have such a sharp memory, too, because one by one, the events of that season are being erased from the record books.
That Leinart sneak to deliver USC victory at Notre Dame? It never happened. Neither did any of the Trojans' other victories that season. And now, five years after the fact, it turns out Bush was not in fact the Heisman Trophy winner in 2005.
Bush's decision Tuesday to forfeit his Heisman -- the first such occurrence in the award's 75-year history -- allowed him to avoid the indignity of having it taken for him. It's no coincidence that Bush's statement came on the same day members of the Heisman Trust met, reportedly to vote on said decision. Bush gets to save face a little by saying he did so to preserve "the dignity of this award," while pledging to "work with the Trustees to establish an educational program which will assist student-athletes and their families avoid some of the mistakes that I made." (Note that he still has yet to specify, admit to, or apologize for any of his alleged "mistakes.")
We knew this day was coming one way or the other. Whether it wanted to or not, there was no way the members of the Heisman Trust could ignore their own published policy that "the recipients must be in compliance with the bylaws defining an NCAA student athlete."
That doesn't make it any less clunky.
I'm not a fan of rewriting history. Bush obviously deserved to pay a price for violating NCAA rules -- certainly more so than the current USC players now being penalized by his actions -- but what happened, happened. Vacating victories and forfeiting trophies five years after the fact does not wash the memories from our brains or the images from YouTube.
Hopefully, the Heisman Trust will not rewrite history even further by making the mistake of handing over Bush's forfeited trophy to someone else. That's not meant to disrespect Young, every bit as dominant a college player as Bush and a deserving runner-up. Had the Heisman vote that year been held after his epic 467-yard Rose Bowl performance, there's little doubt he, not Bush, would have won the award originally.
But it wasn't. And he didn't. And unless we're all going to pile into a DeLorean and travel back to 2005, Bush still won the Heisman Trophy, whether or not it remains in his physical possession. The envelope was opened, his name was called, and he gave a speech. We watched it. We remember it. Boxing the thing up and mailing it to Nashville won't change that.
No less than Young himself agrees. "Reg will continue to be the 2005 Award recipient and I will continue to be honored to have been in the 2005 Heisman campaign with such a talented athlete," he tweeted Tuesday night.
Bush's legacy was tarnished well before Tuesday's news, but this part will ultimately become the most lasting reminder of his scandal. USC will one day recover from its sanctions, but Bush will never get back his trophy. USC will one day return to being a clean, winning program, but Bush will always be the first player in history who had to give back his Heisman.
But he did win it. Not somebody else. The record book may no longer reflect it, but our tarnished memories will.
C.J. Barnett likely out for season
Ohio State sophomore strong safety C.J. Barnett likely will miss the rest of the season following knee surgery.
Barnett, who started the first two games for the Buckeyes, suffered a right knee injury late in the third quarter of Saturday's 36-24 win against Miami.
Coach Jim Tressel confirmed Tuesday that Barnett needs surgery and likely will miss the rest of the year.
The 6-foot, 190-pound Barnett moved into the starting spot following a preseason injury to Orhian Johnson and performed well in the first two games, recording several hard hits and a pass breakup that likely saved a touchdown against Miami.
"We really hate to lose him," Tressel said, "because I thought he was playing very physical and he was really starting to learn the game."
Tressel expects Johnson, who has recovered from a pulled calf muscle, to step into Barnett's place.
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