Drew Thurman (4:30 pm)

Everyone knew that this game against Wisconsin was going to be a tough one. It was an extremely weird game to me, and I almost felt like we stole a win from the Badgers. Regardless the Buckeyes got the victory, and took another step forward in my opinion. Anyways, let's look at the units...

Offense:

There is no doubt that many of you probably felt the frustration about our offense that I did early in this game. After a great opening drive where we looked like world champions again, the offense continued to miss opportunites. We had great field position time and time again, and found ways to misuse the chances we had been given.

A lot of this had to do with starting a freshmen quarterback on the road. I am not downplaying Pryor's importance or talent, but he finally looked like a freshman on Saturday. Pryor held on to the ball, was very indecisive, and made a couple of sacks way worse than they should have been. I understand that he caught a few bad breaks (his hand, dropped balls, and a Sanzenbacher KO), but this was the most rattled Pryor has looked. With that said, Pryor made up for his mediocre start with a very impressive closing drive. You may be able to credit that drive to Beanie's comments to Pryor. This is what he said:

"I said, 'It's a man's world right now, and he's taking a step into manhood right now,''' said Wells, who had a 33-yard TD run in the first quarter. 'He said he was ready.''' (ohiostatebuckeyes.com)

It obviously had an impact, as Pryor led the offense on an 80 yard drive taking up five minutes and 18 seconds. The drive was capped by an 11 yard touchdown by Terrelle Pryor himself. I really feel Pryor grew up a lot in this game, and this is so evident by his final drive. He really is a special player.

Another special player in this game was obviously Beanie Wells. Without him, we really would not have had a chance to win. His 168 yards and a touchdown carried the Buckeyes to victory. His two longs runs helped put up 10 of the 20 points the Buckeyes scored in the game, and Wisconsin really did not have an answer for him.

Overall, the Buckeyes offense did just enough. Quite honestly if this offense cannot put up more than 17 points in a game, they do not deserve to win. Outside of Beanie, this offensive still has a lot of work to do. They had almost the exact amount of offensive output as the Badgers (327 yards to 326 yards), and this offense is way better than that. Hopefully Pryor and the wideouts can get more in sync like they did on the last drive, and not put do much pressure on Beanie's shoulders.

Defense:

The defense's performance in this game has been a hot topic on a lot of boards, and I really do not understand why. (1) On the road (2) in a hostile atmosphere (3) against a good team, our defense gave us every chance to win. It is quite obviously that our defensive line is not the best, but we have known this since week one. Even still, this defense did a lot of things well. First, they limited the big play. Outside of the 35 yard pass at the end of the first half, the Buckeyes kept the Badgers in check. This is especially impressive when you realize that they had to deal with two 230 pound running backs. Unlike Beanie on the other side of the ball, Clay and Hill were never given the chance to break one long. 

Second, let's give some credit to the Wisconsin play calling. Wisconsin strayed from the vanilla play calling after the first few drives, and really kept the defense on its toes. They mixed in a lot of short passes, a variety of touches for David Gilreath, and even some two back formations with Clay and Hill. Even still the defense held them to 17 total points in the game and forced two turnovers. The defense played a lot better than anyone has given them credit for. What did we expect, to hold them scoreless? Maybe many don't realize the difficulty the Buckeyes have had in the past against the Badgers!   

Finally, I was very impressed especially with the linebackers in this game. Homan and Laurinaitis both had 10 tackles in the game, and really were physical throughout. I understand this is the style of offense we play better against, but the defense at least is starting to get some attitude back! 

Special Teams:

This is the best the special teams has looked all season long. First, Ryan Pretorius was 2/2 kicking field goals with a long of 34 yards. Neither one of these field goals were extremely difficult, but they were both big makes. On top of that, AJ Trapasso punted the ball the best he had all year. After a poor opening punt, Trapasso had 3 huge punts including a 67 yarder. His punts helped us win the field position war for much of this game, and it was nice to see him performing well again.

Finally, the return game looked a little sharper. Small did have a very nice 19 yard punt return, but his fumble did stop Buckeye nation's hearts. Overall though, the punt returns started to look better. On kick returns Maurice Wells really provided a spark in Herron's absense. His 35 yard return was the biggest victory the Buckeyes have had in the kick return game in quite sometime. With that said, Saine looked terrible again. There is way too much talent on this team for an injured, under performing player like Saine to be returning. Hopefully we see someone else there. 

Overall:

This game was going to be a tough one for the Buckeyes regardless, and coming out with a victory was huge. Wisconsin had the nation's second longest home winning streak and Bret Bielema had never lost at home, and still the Ohio State got the win. This team needed a victory coming out of Camp Randall, and they got one. Beanie looked strong, Pryor matured, and the defense did its job. To me this was a huge win despite of how sloppy it was. Now for Purdue...Go Bucks!

Other Reactions:

*Herron and Sanzenbacher both got rocked. Scary stuff as a fan!

*Robiskie may have had the biggest play of the game when he recovered Hartline's fumble!

*I am not sure why they chose to throw deep to a running back!

*Sabino is a blast to watch on special teams! He has big things ahead in his future.

*My predictions so far:

YSU: 42-10 (Actual 43-0)
Ohio: 45-7 (Actual 26-14)
USC: 12-28 (Actual 3-35)
Troy: 31-10 (Actual 28-10)
Minnesota: 33-16 (Actual 34-21)
Wisconsin: 23-17 (Actual 20-17)

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