Rose Bowl Bound!

The Ohio State Buckeyes seemed to have things going their way midway through the fourth quarter against Iowa with a 24-10 lead,but a furious Iowa comeback combined with overly conversative play calling by Jim Tressel shockingly sent the game to overtime...
But the Buckeye defense ruled the day in the extra session causing losses on each of the Hawkeyes first three plays and forcing a bomb to the end zone to attempt to salvage anything.
The incompletion led to three OSU run plays and Devin Barclay drilled a 39 yard field goal for a 27-24 Buckeye win and with it,the Big Ten's BCS bid that will most likely be to the Rose Bowl.....
Ohio State has clinched the Big Ten BCS bid,but will need to defeat michigan next week in Ann Arbor to win the championship outright....

Buckeye Leaves

1) The Buckeyes either knew Terrelle Pryor's physical condition was limited and wanted to protect him or the play calling was right out of the 1920's.
Vanilla might be too exciting of a term for the calls of this day....

2) The OSU run game did do its job with over 200 rushing yards,Brandon Saine going over 100 alone and Boom Herron just missing the plateau,but I still didn't see the dominant performance from the offensive line that the numbers indicate.

3) Watching the game the first time,I was struck by just how biased Matt Millen was towards Iowa QB James Vandenberg,but watching the tape brought one thing to mind-Ohio State has now made two frosh passers look terrific in Vandenberg and USC's Matt Barkley.
Could it be that the consistent defense of drop five,rush four is just the recipe to make a young signal caller comfortable??

4) Under Jim Tressel,the tight end has always been more of an extra blocker,but the Buckeyes may have missed the boat with Jake Ballard.
The huge tight end could have been a solid intermediate pass catcher and it seems to me that was a wasted opportunity.

5) The guy that I didn't think played well was corner Chindi Chekwa,who seemed to be generally the player chosen to pick on on most of Iowa's big passing plays....

6) Ohio State had several chances to put things away after gaining a 24-10 lead in the fourth quarter,but the big swing was the Hawkeye kickoff return for a TD.
The Horseshoe was rocking after the Brandon Saine run,but you could feel the crowd and the Bucks lose momentum after that..

7) I like Jim Tressel a lot,but nothing concerns me more than his "Four Cornersesque" 3 runs and a punt stuff late in games.
It is only slightly more exciting than this..

I know clock management is part of winning games,but playing not to lose will bite you sooner or later....

8) It is too bad that Ross Homan has struggled so much with injuries in his career,because he makes me think that he could have been right up with the top linebackers ever in Columbus,if not for injuries...

9) It had to kill Jim Tressel to watch what could have been the dagger to the heart on a interception return for a TD by Brian Rolle be called back for an offsides penalty.
For a coach like Tressel that is all about mistake free football,that was one that would have dwelled for a long time had Iowa pulled this one out.

10) I was impressed with the dominance in the Iowa overtime possession by the OSU defense.
The Doug Worthington sack that led to Iowa having nothing left but a weak hail mary,could have been the most important "quiet play" of the year...

11) Here is hoping that michigan isn't looked past this week.
Ohio State has clinched the BCS bid and a share of the title,but a win over michigan means the outright Big Ten title and no bowl (again) for the wolverines.
That is plenty to play for in my opinion.

Photo Credits
Coleman:Amy Sancetta-AP Photo
Herron:Mark Duncan-AP Photo