Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor Returns to Form for One Game, Gives Buckeyes Hope

After dealing with a long week of criticism from almost everyone in college football, Terrelle Pryor took out his frustrations against the overmatched Minnesota Golden Gophers. And he looked pretty good in doing so as well.

Pryor threw for 239 yards, ran for 104, and accounted for three of Ohio State's five touchdowns.

Granted it was against a Minnesota team that was clearly overmatched from the second quarter on, but there are still promising signs.

One thing that people have to like about yesterday's game was Pryor's sudden realization to step into his throws and throw it off of the front foot.

As a result, his throws had more velocity and he was able to deliver the ball in good spots, especially on two long touchdown passes to WR DeVier Posey.

In addition, Pryor seemed to run with more of a purpose, running at full speed more often than before.

The combination of more determined running and better footwork was a good combination for the Buckeyes, along with the usual great contributions by the defense and special teams.

Pryor will still need to work on his decision-making, as he did throw an interception early in the game.

But if he can maintain his overall improvement on throwing the ball, decision-making will come as the next step.

Pryor had been the target of enormous criticism after a shocking loss to Purdue in which he looked utterly awful for many parts of the game.

He told the media last Wednesday that he had been humbled by the experience and vowed that he would emerge as a better and more relaxed QB because of the loss.

All week, he had received advice from Cavaliers F LeBron James and C Shaquille O'Neal, and Miami Hurricanes QB Jacory Harris to try to encourage the highly-touted sophomore who has been in the center of a firestorm since the start of this season.

Pryor has been embattled all year long from the eye black incident to questions about his mental makeup and being the focal point of one of the most talented teams in the country as a true sophomore.

He has played extremely tense in recent weeks and tried to force a lot of things to try to make plays. With all that came questions about the offense, what the identity was and if backup Joe Bauserman should be starting instead.

After the Purdue loss, the firestorm intensified and the entire team came to Pryor's defense.

But as they say in sports, winning cures everything. And at least for one day, Pryor played very well, granted the opponent was overmatched.

The real test to find out if he is legit will be if he can sustain it for the November gauntlet starting in Happy Valley Nov. 7.

With another overmatched opponent in New Mexico State coming to the 'Shoe, Pryor and the offense will have another opportunity to improve their overall execution and generate momentum for the stretch run.

Pryor's maturity and newly-found humbleness will be put to the test and we will find out if it is genuine.

But for now, he is still learning what it takes to play at such a high level for so long. If Saturday was any indication of what to expect in the future, Pryor could be on his way.