Sunday, November 21, 2010

Buckeyes stay alive in Iowa

The Ohio State survived miscues,spotty play calling and a sold out Kinnick Stadium with a fourth quarter game winning drive to nip the Iowa Hawkeyes 20-17 in Iowa City.
Boom Herron's run with under two minutes to lifted Ohio State to the win and kept their BCS and Big Ten title hopes alive with the win.
Ohio State still needs to beat michigan and could use some help in the form of a Wisconsin loss next week,but a Buckeye win gives them a piece of the crown no matter what the Badgers and Spartans do.

Buckeye Leaves

1) The happiest person in Columbus tonight has to be DeVier Posey,who dropped a touchdown pass that would have given the Buckeyes the lead with just under five minutes to go and forced OSU to go for it on fourth and ten.

2) Terrelle Pryor came through on that fourth and ten with a season saving fourteen yard scramble and he played well on the final drive,but other than that his day was not strong.
A poor throw turned a possible touchdown into an Iowa interception late in the first half and a poor decision handed Iowa three points off great field position from another Pryor pick...

3) In hindsight though,the Posey drop turned out to be the best thing for the Buckeyes as the winning drive took roughly three extra minutes off the clock that would have given Iowa more time to tie or win the game.
That said,at the time,you take the points and worry about the stop when it comes...

4) What a catch by Dane Sanzenbacher at the Iowa two on the winning drive.A leaping catch over defenders and able to barely graze the grass to stay in bounds.
Sanzenbacher's grab certainly deflated the Hawkeyes as you could see their DB's shaking their heads in dismay.

5) Jim Tressel went against his conservative nature in going for it on fourth and ten right after the Posey drop.Terrelle Pryor made it happen,but I thought for sure that Tressel would punt and try to pin them back with OSU having all three timeouts..

6) Jermale Hines was called for a helmet to helmet hit,but that wasn't the only hammer like hit that Hines dealt out through the day.Hines might have found himself with an NFL future as a special teamer with hits like that.

7) Underrated stat of the day-Iowa's final two possessions-six plays and two Buckeye sacks-that is stepping up in the clutch.

8) Boom Herron's game winning touchdown was the tenth game in a row that he has found the end zone.
Herron has often been a target of barbs from us in the past,but one cannot argue with that number.

9) Defensively,I thought the star was Brian Rolle,who seemed like he was involved in every play and finished with 10 total tackles on the day and three for losses.

10) Finally,a quick tip of the cap to Mike Adams,who kept Adrian Clayborne from harassing Terrelle Pryor.Clayborner made plays but they were downfield and not rushing Pryor in the pocket.

Photo Credit=Marvin Fong-Cleveland Plain Dealer

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