Ohio State, Pryor Win in Spite of Tressel

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Welcome to the heartland, home of the Big Ten, a league that doesn't deserve its own TV network and should respectfully reject a Rose Bowl bid on the basis of stodginess and cowardice. Ever wonder why the best talent routinely heads southward and westward? You should have seen the final minutes of the conference's unofficial title game Saturday evening, when two prominent head coaches laid down, played for overtime and reminded us why college football in these parts is maddeningly prehistoric.

There was Ohio State's Jim Tressel, the sweater-vested genius who writes self-help books about life, unable to help himself. Armed with a two-touchdown lead with 11:32 remaining in regulation, he watched the Buckeyes allow a 99-yard kickoff return for a score and have their own interception and touchdown return nullified by an offsides call. So what did Tressel do with 2:37 left and the score tied at 24-24? He shut down all creativity, went ultra-conservative in his own end and punted. In the process, he didn't utilize the running and passing talents of Terrelle Pryor, who might be one of the dynamic weapons in the college game if Tressel wasn't stuck in the 20th century and had a clue how to develop and utilize a two-way quarterback.

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"BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!'' exploded the Ohio State fans, voicing loud disapproval for the author of "The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life.''

It's a bit more understandable why Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, needing to move the ball about 40 yards in the final 50 seconds, also went soft. He was using a redshirt freshman quarterback, James Vandenberg, who had played spectacularly at times in his first college start but also had tossed two interceptions. This was a charming team displaying heart and character in a hostile environment, the legendary Horseshoe, delivering yet another profile in overachievement in a season of high drama and crazy comebacks. Still, if Vandenberg hits two mid-range passes, a 17-point underdog pulls off a classic upset.

Instead, as an anticlimactic hush muzzled the delirium, they flipped a coin at midfield and went to the extra period. And all of Iowa shrieked as Vandenberg was picked off by Anderson Russell, prompting Tressel to pound the ball into the line three times, gain nothing and watch Devin Barclay kick the winning 39-yard field goal in a 27-24 victory. Thousands of Ohio State students swarmed the field, recalling a scene years ago when so much humanity squeezed onto the same field in a post-game celebration that police started shooting band members and media -- myself included -- with pepper spray. The fans weren't booing anymore, thrilled to be off to Pasadena, but Tressel still knew what was coming in the interview room.

Why the conservatism, Mr. Close to the (Sweater) Vest?

"We knew coming into the series that we didn't want to turn it over and give them a chance to beat us in regulation,'' said Tressel, admitting that a second-down running play up the middle was done for "control'' purposes. "If we could pop something, so be it. Otherwise, we were going to take it into overtime.''

But what if Ohio State hadn't won? Wouldn't fans and media be demanding the hide of a coach who has trouble winning big games? "In any tough game, we want to minimize mistakes. That's how you win,'' said Tressel, relaxed enough to crack jokes along the way. "We were on the 29 1/2-yard line in our end. If we happen to slip up on the 27, it's a turnover. I'd rather have my offensive guys mad at me than me go, phew, I'm glad we didn't have to go through that.''


In other words, marshmallow thinking.

But the Buckeyes survived anyway, sending Tressel to the Rose Bowl for the first time as Ohio State's head coach after ill-fated journeys to national championship games and other BCS bowls. Pryor had texted Tressel during the week, informing him that the team's goal was to send him to Pasadena. "I kept texting him, 'We're gonna get you one. You ready to get this?' '' Pryor said. "He texted me back: 'Let's do it.' ''

Pryor was relieved and happy, a far cry from his mood weeks earlier, when he was clueless, hapless and hopeless. When he arrived here, Pryor thought he grasped the scrutiny, the expectations, the ungodly burden of quarterbacking the football team at Ohio State, an athletic factory like few others, right down to the double smokestacks behind a 102,000-seat stadium that oozes of privilege and sells an $8 game program thicker than some textbooks. But what teenager ever could understand it all? Especially when he is blessed with so much raw talent -- sprinter's legs, a cannon arm and a sculpted 6-6 body -- that his every waking hour becomes a comparison to Vince Young? For a time there, when his poor play was accompanied by a bizarre eyeblack tribute to Michael Vick and a public defense of the dog murderer, he clearly was the most beleaguered player in college football. "Everyone kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me, whatever,'' said Pryor, regretfully.

Even LeBron James, who would have been an Ohio State receiver if his basketball skills didn't demand another career course, felt compelled to rush to his defense. "I'm trying to mentor him and get him through 'life in the spotlight,' which I've been through," said James, nicknamed "The Chosen One'' by Sports Illustrated while still in high school up the road in Akron. "Being that No. 1 guy, how do you adjust to it and how do you get through it and still perform at a high level? Sometimes, it can be very difficult on a young athlete. I'm trying to be that guy who can really help him get through a lot of situations which he's never seen before but now he's seeing and understanding. Let's be real. If any of us were the quarterback at Ohio State, and you've got all these people around you, you're sort of like a superstar," he said. "And you start maybe thinking too much maybe of yourself and losing your head a little bit and losing focus."

Weeks later, Pryor hardly is a superstar or even a finished product, largely because Tressel is afraid to release the reins. Yet there he was, clutching a full-stemmed rose. Winning a title in America's most annually disappointing conference isn't the prize it once was, with Michigan fading away under an inept Rich Rodriguez and Ohio State whiffing badly in too many big games. But for Pryor, who was besieged by demands last month that he be benched or moved to receiver, this was a sweet moment. He has survived his inner hell -- the low point being a loss at Purdue, then 1-5 -- and he'll begin the new year with a chance to shine and become what many anticipated as a western Pennsylvania prep phenom.

"Purdue to Pasadena? Stuff like that happens,'' Pryor said. "College football can be a scary thing. So many teams are good, and they jump on you, and next thing you know, they win. But looking back, maybe that was the best thing that happened to us and opened our eyes some to the big picture. Now, we're playing how we always will play. We had a little screwup, but we picked ourselves off the road and we're running again.''

Or, in his case, handing the ball and watching others run with it. While Pryor did little more than manage the game -- rushing eight times for 44 yards, hitting 14 of 17 passes for 93 yards -- running backs Brandon Saine and Dan Herron combined for 200 yards on the ground. Wasn't he stifled by the conservatism? "We felt like we could run the ball,'' said Pryor, who said his injured ankle felt fine. "I felt good and I could move around well, but Coach Tressel said that we needed to protect the ball in our house.''

When his team needed him most, he delivered a cool, efficient, 79-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter -- including his darting 19-yard run on 3rd-and-10 -- that answered Iowa's surprising resilience. The Hawkeyes were supposed to droop like a wet cornstalk without starting quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who had ankle surgery last week, but Vandenberg was a passing revelation. It was hard not to pull for Iowa, much better coached than Ohio State thanks to Ferentz, who really should be a head coach somewhere in the NFL. But obviously, Tressel needed it more. A loss would have put him on the local hot seat, drawing more attention to Pryor next year in his junior season.

His story is a tribute to his perseverance. Pryor's career hasn't progressed into instant stardom as expected, yet he's a winner who is going to the Rose Bowl. It reached the point where some felt he was better off at Michigan, despite Rodriguez's setbacks, because the spread offense there is more conducive to his abilities than Tressel's old-school system. At one point, Pryor's high school coach, Ray Reitz, was critical of Tressel. Even his friend and favorite receiver, DeVier Posey, slipped and said, "He's going to get better. He can't get much worse.''

"I can speak for all the quarterbacks in the country. It's a hard thing to take sometimes, when you hear your name and people saying you can't do this or that. I got humbled to the ground,'' Pryor said. "We're not always going to have the greatest games and things like that. I mean, this world is based around sports. When you come here, we put ourselves in that situation."

Earlier this month, he said he wished he "had headphones on'' while playing. But on a day of poise and patience, the best thing we can say of Pryor is that he didn't make a mistake when Vandenberg made three. And that's why he was beaming when Jeff Throop, Rose Bowl president, made the official invitation to the Buckeyes.

"Thank you, appreciate it,'' Tressel said.

Then the coach looked at the assembled media and said, "You guys are dumbfounded, shocked that we made it.''

A little annoyed, actually. When a man plays for a tie and overtime, it's not the most valiant way to win. The Ohio State players were kind of subdued in the interview room when senior offensive lineman Jim Cordle enlivened the scene, firing water on his teammates and yelling, "We did it, baby! We won! You guys are so boring.''

Maybe it's because the coach is so boring.