Ohio State 20, Iowa 17. Terrelle Pryor didn't go into much detail about the game plan he loved so much this week, but whatever it was, it certainly didn't catch anyone by surprise, least of all Iowa's defense. For almost three-and-a-half quarters, Pryor looked like the same guy who showed up for last month's loss at Wisconsin – that is, the inconsistent, indecisive underachiever critics have kicked throughout his career.Then, after Iowa turned his second interception of the afternoon into a go-ahead touchdown for a 17-10 lead with 12 minutes to play, he turned into the hero.
Of course, the real hero of almost any Ohio State win is the defense, which showed its backbone again today: The Hawkeyes finished with a measly 279 yards and went nowhere fast with the game on the line on their final two drives in the fourth quarter. But when Pryor took the field after serving up the pick that gave Iowa its late lead, he was well on his way to another week – and really, given the stakes, another offseason – of prime goathood. Instead, he completed three passes on the subsequent possession to set up a long field goal that cut the deficit to 17-13.
And after the defense stoned the Hawkeyes to get the ball back, Pryor made arguably the two biggest plays of the game: The first, a 14-yard, do-or-die scramble on 4th-and-10 that kept the drive alive in Iowa territory, followed two plays later by a 24-yard strike to Dane Sanzenbacher that set the Buckeyes up at the Hawkeye two-yard line. Boom Herron took it in from there for the go-ahead touchdown, and the defense finished it off.
The play before Pryor's clutch fourth-down scramble, receiver DeVier Posey dropped a wide-open touchdown pass from Pryor with no one around him in the end zone on 3rd-and-10, which seemed like as good a moment as any for Ohio State to concede that today wasn't its day, and 2010 isn't it season. On the next snap, with another high-profile road failure looming like the Sword of Damocles, Pryor went off-script, reversed field and let his athleticism carry him past the sticks. It was his most "Leap"-worthy moment of the season, and up there with the best of his career in big games.
The game plan he was so excited about before the game gave him chances to run, and to get the ball downfield. But the Buckeyes wouldn't still be in the thick of the murky Big Ten race going into the final weekend of the season if their quarterback wasn't faster than everyone on Iowa's defense. Pryor's not always great, and at this rate, may never be stacked next to the hype. But today he was resilient, and that and raw talent can still get you within whispering distance of the Rose Bowl.
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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
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