Ohio State/Wisconsin: What We Learned

Ohio State played another game under the bright lights of (regional) national television last night, for once a game that lived up to preseason hype. A back and forth, hard-fought battle between two perennial Big Ten powers came down to the wire, as Ohio State's Malcolm Jenkins finally sealed the Buckeye victory with a less than a minute to play in regulation.

Buckeye fans everywhere woke up this morning and had an extra-large glass of Terrelle Pryor kool-aid with their scrambled eggs. After watching TP march the team down the field and score the game-winning touchdown with 66 seconds left in the game, these fans think they've learned a lot about not only Mr. Pryor, but also the entire team as a whole.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, however, let's take a lot at what we did learned last night:

- Terrelle Pryor is a leader.

This one may seem pretty obvious. Some have said they could tell Pryor was a leader after his first two starts, but I believe one couldn't really tell how influential Pryor really was against Troy and Minnesota—it's Troy and Minnesota, the players can get by on their own.

Against Wisconsin, however (who has been the thorn in Jim Tressel's side over the past eight years), and AT Wisconsin no less, Ohio State does not get a win without exceptional leadership from their young quarterback. It's that simple.

We had heard Pryor has an exceptional competitive spirit, and we saw it Saturday night —arguably to a fault. Ohio State stumbled after taking yet another early lead, yet Pryor got his team refocused and back in the game.

Holly Rowe noted during the game that Pryor was much less vocal on the sidelines than Evridge was on the Wisconsin sideline, but when the Ohio State offense got on the field, Pryor kept his head cool. He led by example, his offense trusted him the whole way, and as a result Ohio State got the big win.

- Terrelle Pryor is the quarterback Ohio State needs, but he is still a freshman.

After the USC debacle, Ohio State fans (myself included) called for a Quarterback change, and Jim Tressel immediately granted our wish—Pryor started the following game against Troy, and has only secured his spot since then.

Pryor brings a much different look to Ohio State's offense, a much more explosive offense than Boeckman ever could have supplied—it's nothing against Boeckman, it's just a fact. This new-look Pistol formation is what Ohio State needs—having two extremely potent runners (and a competent passer) in the same backfield creates a huge problem for opposing defenses.

Even if Pryor were to simply hand the ball off to Wells on every single play, the other team would need to think about Pryor, and that kind of defensive uncertainty helps Ohio State in a big way.

Ohio State's offense has struggled at times this year, but with Pryor in the backfield, the rest of the team plays with more confidence, even when Pryor makes mistakes— which has happened, and will continue to happen.

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