College Football Wrap-Up

Time to get Jaamal Berry some carries
Out of all of the things this season, I believe this from Brandon Castel's 10 Things we learned. I have been saying this all pre-season and every game.
Another guy who has shown he can be factor for the Buckeyes offensively is tailback Jaamal Berry. The redshirt freshman has looked good as a kick returner this season, but it’s time to get him some more carries out of the backfield. The speedster out of Florida is averaging a team-high 9.4 yards per carry this season. He only has 11 carries, all of them late in the game, but that’s almost a first down every time he touches the football. Herron and Saine are good backs, but neither is a star. They combined to rush for 75 yards against Ohio on 21 carries while Berry had 23 yards on his four carries. That’s not saying he can average 9.4 yards a carry for the season or that he is better than Saine or Herron right now, but he can make plays and he brings a different element to the position.


Solich Impressed by Pryor’s Progress
OU Coach Calls Pryor “Dream QB”By Brandon Castel

COLUMBUS — Frank Solich didn’t get a chance to see much of Terrelle Pryor when he visited Ohio Stadium two years ago. After Saturday, he’s seen about all he ever cares to.
“I thought Pryor had a great game doing what he does best, that's controlling his offense, making throws that need to be made, running the way he’s capable of running, scrambling and picking up first downs and big plays while scrambling,” said Solich, who led Ohio University to the MAC East championship last season.
“So that in itself was something going in that we knew we had to control that we were not able to do that.”
Pryor was just a freshman when the Bobcats nearly stunned the Buckeyes in Columbus back in 2008, but there would be no upset bid this time around. With Pryor leading the way for the offense, No. 2 Ohio State overwhelmed their neighbors from Athens 43-7 in a truly one-sided affair.
It was the OSU defense that set the tone with five turnovers and a safety, but Pryor completed 76 percent of his passes against the OU defense thanks in large-part to a school-record 16 straight completions.
That alone was enough to catch the eye of Solich, who grew up in Cleveland before attending the University of Nebraska, where he was an All-Big Eight fullback and co-captain of the Huskers’ 1965 team.
“He was talented when he arrived, and I think they have honed that talent. I think the staff has done a great job getting him to get better game after game. He's shown that improvement now this year,” Solich said of Pryor’s steady improvement.
“He always was good, but he can hurt you in any way. I think that's a tribute to him and his work ethic, developing what he needed to develop in the off-season to make himself even better than what he was, and what he was really good.”
Although Columbus and Athens are just 70 miles apart on route 33, Solich had not been given a close-up look at Ohio State’s 6-foot-6 quarterback until Saturday. Like the rest of the country, he watched from afar as Pryor grew from a mistake-prone freshman in 2008 who cost his team a big game against Penn State, to the calculated field general who has defeated four top-12 teams in the last seven games.
It wasn’t until he saw it for himself from the sideline Saturday, however, that Solich realized just how much Pryor has progressed as a passer since he arrived at Ohio State with all that hype two falls ago.
“It's hard when you're not working with a guy every day and we didn't play him last year so you just see clips of him, but you've got to be impressed with his ability to throw the ball,” Solich said.
“He hit a lot of seam routes against our zone coverage. He stood in the pocket well, he's mature in terms of standing there, taking a hit and throwing it and knowing when to scramble. He's everybody's dream at quarterback.”
With Solich watching helplessly, Pryor completed 22 of his 29 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns in just three quarters of work. He also ran the ball eight times for 25 yards and another score where he scrambled outside the pocket and beat the Ohio safety to the corner of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown.
“He's just one of those guys who makes plays, somehow or another,” OSU offensive coordinator Jim Bollman said.
“One time we were looking to throw one deep and there was nothing there and he pulled it down and ran for a huge run. Whenever he has the ball in his hands, he made some great throws, great plays in that aspect of the game, and certainly last week and this week running the ball.”
For the season, Pryor is completing 63 percent (51-of-81) of his passes (up from 57 percent last year) for 715 yards. He has just two turnovers in the 117 plays he’s been directly involved in, including none against 12th-ranked Miami last week. But his two interceptions against Ohio are still stuck in his craw.
“We got better from a team standpoint but those two picks are unacceptable, but we're over that,” Pryor said.
“(Tressel) knows I was very pissed about that. I was mad. I was mad after the first one. That was just a stupid, stupid throw. The second ball I kind of got hit as I let it go. I still should have got down to my check-down. I think I played stupid on those two passes. I played very dumb.”
That is some harsh criticism for a quarterback who has the Buckeyes averaging over 41 points per game through three contests in 2010. He ranks second in the Big Ten in passing yards—behind Northwestern’s Dan Persa—and is tied for the conference lead in touchdown passes (6) with Persa and Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi.
Those numbers aren’t good enough for Pryor when he turns the ball over, and neither are the 16 straight completions.
“But as we've been saying all along, Terrelle is a film guy, he's a study guy, he'll be happy when he has 29 straight and that's all we've called,” Tressel said.
“That's just his nature and that's why you love working with him because he loves to work.”


Heisman Watch

Denard Robinson
QB | MichiganNext Game: 9/25 vs. BGSU
Massachusetts put quite a scare into the 100,000-plus strong at Michigan Stadium, but the Wolverines had enough firepower to stave off what would have been a shocking upset. Robinson accounted for 241 yards passing and 104 yards on the ground with three touchdowns to lead the way for Michigan in a 42-37 win.
WEEK 3 VS. MASSACHUSETTS
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
248.9 241 2 1 71.4
RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
104 1 6.1
2010 SEASON
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
158.6 671 4 1 69.7
RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
559 4 7.6

Kellen Moore
QB | Boise StateNext Game: 9/25 vs. ORST
Wyoming never really stood a chance, and the Broncos turned on the style points before the first half was over in a 51-6 rout. Moore passed for 370 yards and two touchdowns as Boise State racked up 648 yards on offense. Another prime-time opportunity awaits with a visit from Oregon State on Saturday.
WEEK 3 AT WYOMING
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
185.6 370 2 1 66.7
RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
-1 0 -0.5
2010 SEASON
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
156.8 585 5 1 63.2
RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
-20 0 -5.0


Terrelle Pryor
QB | Ohio StateNext Game: 9/25 vs. EMU
He might not be pleased about the two interceptions he threw, but Pryor had little else to be unhappy about in Ohio State's comfortable win over Ohio at home. Pryor and the Buckeyes picked apart the Bobcats with ease, as he completed a school-record 16 consecutive passes and scored three touchdowns.
WEEK 3 VS. OHIO
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
152.9 235 2 2 75.9
RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
35 1 4.4
2010 SEASON
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
15.6 715 6 2 63.0
RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
165 2 4.6


Ryan Mallett
QB | ArkansasNext Game: 9/25 vs. ALA
The numbers were always going to be there for Mallett in Arkansas' high-octane offense. But leading a winning drive against a conference foe in a hostile environment is the stuff of which Heisman candidacies are made. The Razorbacks' win over Georgia set the stage for a titanic clash with Alabama on Saturday.
WEEK 3 AT GEORGIA
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
190.4 380 3 0 63.6
RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
-4 0 -2.0
2010 SEASON
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
186.5 1081 9 2 70.0
RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
-3 1 -0.3


Week 3 Polls
AP Top 25
RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Alabama (53) 3-0 1492
2 Ohio State (5) 3-0 1435
3 Boise State (1) 2-0 1333
4 TCU 3-0 1280
5 Oregon 3-0 1238
6 Nebraska 3-0 1175
7 Texas (1) 3-0 1164
8 Oklahoma 3-0 1114
9 Florida 3-0 1044
10 Arkansas 3-0 903
11 Wisconsin 3-0 803
12 South Carolina 3-0 739
13 Utah 3-0 703
14 Arizona 3-0 663
15 LSU 3-0 654
16 Stanford 3-0 606
17 Auburn 3-0 600
18 Iowa 2-1 482
19 Miami (FL) 1-1 472
20 USC 3-0 414
21 Michigan 3-0 291
22 West Virginia 3-0 258
23 Penn State 2-1 198
24 Oregon State 1-1 75
25 Michigan State 3-0 45
Dropped from rankings: Houston 23
Others receiving votes: Air Force 44, Nevada 41, Pittsburgh 40, Florida State 40, Fresno State 35, Missouri 30, Oklahoma State 22, Clemson 14, North Carolina State 14, Georgia Tech 14, James Madison 8, Kansas State 4, Arizona State 3, California 3, Northwestern 3, Notre Dame 1, Temple 1, Texas A&M 1, Houston 1
Complete Rankings »


USA Today Poll
RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Alabama (55) 3-0 1470
2 Ohio State (3) 3-0 1410
3 Boise State 2-0 1291
4 Texas 3-0 1251
5 TCU 3-0 1188
6 Oregon 3-0 1181
7 Nebraska (1) 3-0 1135
8 Florida 3-0 1092
9 Oklahoma 3-0 1060
10 Wisconsin 3-0 884
11 Arkansas 3-0 846
12 LSU 3-0 801
13 Utah 3-0 693
14 Auburn 3-0 655
15 South Carolina 3-0 612
16 Arizona 3-0 610
17 Stanford 3-0 541
18 Iowa 2-1 463
19 Miami (FL) 1-1 418
20 Penn State 2-1 335
21 West Virginia 3-0 315
22 Michigan 3-0 255
23 Michigan State 3-0 125
24 Missouri 3-0 123
25 Oklahoma State 3-0 103
Dropped from rankings: Houston 23, California 24
Others receiving votes: Nevada 58, Florida State 56, Oregon State 53, Pittsburgh 30, Georgia Tech 24, Clemson 17, Northwestern 15, Air Force 15, Boston College 12, Fresno State 7, Houston 7, North Carolina State 7, Temple 5, Texas A&M 4, Kansas State 4, Texas Tech 2, Virginia Tech 2,