Loading ...A Big Day for the Big Ten
With the new decade beginning, the Big Ten had a chance to give itself a new image as a conference that can compete on the same field as the SEC and the Pac-10. Today, they did just that with wins by Penn State in the Capital One Bowl and Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. With these two victories the Big Ten was able to restore most of its credibility, even though in the Outback Bowl Auburn outlasted Northwestern in overtime.
In Orlando, the Capital One Bowl had a sloppy field that fit the style of play of Joe Paterno’s team. The Nittany Lions were able to use their smash mouth running game and their solid rush defense to turn LSU into a one dimensional team. Jordan Jefferson struggled to make the big throws down the stretch despite the success of his two main receivers Terrance Tolliver and Brandon LaFell. Lafell had questions of whether this game should be played on these conditions, “That was by far the worst field conditions I’ve ever seen in my life. For them to say this is the best bowl outside the BCS, I would expect to play on the best field outside the BCS.” Daryl Clark did not mind the sloppy field conditions at all as he lead his team down the field with his senior leadership towards the game winning field goal and ultimately the victory.
Coming into the Rose Bowl, loads of questions surrounded the Ohio State program as a whole. There were questions about whether Terrelle Pryor could win a big game and if the Buckeyes could go out to California and put up a good performance. Well, both things came true for Ohio State. Terrelle Pryor was able to make plays not only with his legs, but also with his arm. He completed 23/37 passes for 266 yards and 2 touchdowns while also running for 72 yards on 20 carries. Every time the Buckeyes needed to make a play on offense, Pryor would come up with the big throw that every Buckeyes fans had waited two years to see. Despite the big running plays from Oregon’s rushing attack, it was the Ohio State defense who made Jeremiah Masoli uncomfortable all night long. This is a win that Jim Tressel can build on, snapping a 3 game BCS bowl losing streak and will allow Pryor to have something to build on for his junior year. Pryor said that he “just wanted to come out and show [he could] be a complete quarterback.” Well, he did just that up in Pasadena.
