Buckeyes 20, Badgers 17

I asked for it, and you delivered. I was unable to watch the game myself, but I have two loyal readers very ably delivering their thoughts on the win over the Badgers.

From Nelson Slagle:
OSU opened with 6 play 71 yard drive and closed with 5 minute 80 yard drive for winning TD. Pryor was 4-5 for 70 yards and ran for 45 yards in 9 carries on those 2 drives. In rest of 52 minutes between those drives OSU had 2 filed goals on two 10 play drives with 54 yard run be Beanie Wells being most of offense. The other 6 times OSU had ball they ran 20 plays and Pryor lost 25 yards rushing mostly on 4 sacks!! OSU defensive line was pushed around by Wisc. Defensive line got beaten and put little pressure on QB. On Wisc final TD for a 17-13 lead in the 4th Qtr they ran 9 of 10 times during 63 yard drive.When dust settled, stats were almost identical. OSU rushed for 183 yards (168 in 22 carries by Beanie Wells) to 179 for Wisc and passed for 144 vs 147 for Wisconsin. Both completed 13 passes, each had 2 turnovers.Wisc 2nd longest home winning streak currently in Division 1 college football ended at 16. Also broke Wisc 11 night game win streak.

From Tom Bruszak:
The Good
Offense
Terrelle Pryor is the man. The kid looked like VY on that last drive. He made mistakes in the game, holding onto the ball to long or running when he should have tossed it, but those split second decisions will come with more playing time. Beanie was amazing. The first score of the game was awesome as he basically stiff armed the safety and carried him into the endzone with him from the five yard line in.
Defense
Ross Homan had his best game of the year, no, his entire OSU career thus far. Jenkins once again remains the best player on the defensive side of the ball. I will be the first to admit that coming into this year, I felt strongly that he was over rated. I am eating my words this year. Thad Gibson is a beast. Forced a fumble and really applied much needed pressure. If the DT’s played as hard as Gibson and Wilson, we would be set.

The Bad
Wisconsin’s scoring drive in the fourth quarter that put them up by four. All they did was run it up the gut, going I right 10 base every play. Watching our defense unable to stop it was painful. I've heard that Ohio State returned two highly touted senior linebackers this year. But, ever since Youngstown State, Ive not seen them? Willing to buy an APB for #1 and good ol' #33 as I think they have been abducted.

The Ugly
Brian Hartline, Brian Robiskie and hell, any wideout not named Sanzenbacher. Hartline dropped three balls that were put right at his chest, including one that saw Brian do his best Ryan Hamby imitation in the end zone. Hartline and Robiskie have been HUGE disappointments this year and that continued Saturday. At this point, Tress really should consider given Posey and Sanzenbacher more playing time. It was nice to see Saine FINALLY line up at WR, though he needs to learn to run a route better as evidenced by the pick Pryor threw on the deep ball to him. Saine really didn’t adjust to the ball at all and let the DB get position on him. I have also come to the conclusion that Ray Small is the next Albert Dukes. I don’t think Small is the speed burner people think he is and it’s safe to say that his junior year is shaping up to be like the first two: bad, bad, bad. Maybe that big hit he took in his freshman year against, I think, Minessota still haunts him. He looked good up until that point, but ever since, he runs timid routes, looks scared at times and is missing that third and fourth gear.

Under the Radar Player of the Game
Jim Cordle and Mike Brewster. Ever since Steve “Mr. False Start” Rehring went down, it’s been nothing but roses for the O-Line. Alex Boone continues to suck as he sends out his resume for his future career as a bouncer at a strip club in Zanesville , but Cordle and especially Brewster have played very, very well. It’s truly nice to see an Ohio State offensive lineman actually trying to throw a block

My final URPOG is not an actual player, but he is now my official hero. For three quarters of Saturday’s game, the OSU faithful at Dave and Busters had to endure seven drunk and highly obnoxious young men from USC. In between their pathetic attempts to pick up any young woman wearing scarlet and gray, they chanted “OSU Sucks” and “35-3.” It was at the end of the third quarter that a solution to the problem presented itself.

As it turns out, when an off-duty cop takes out the clip from his gun and starts putting the bullets on the bar and then pulls out his ID card and shows it around that even morons get the hint. Time elapsed from the time the first round was placed on the bar until the time those seven kids ran for the door: 30 seconds.