Terrelle Pryor might 'dominate' in a different offense, but he should start with Ohio State's

For the second year in a row, Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor began the season as the media's pick for Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. And for the second year in a row, he ended the season relegated to the honorable mention section of the all-conference team – this time, despite finishing as a top-15 passer nationally in a top-20 offense that averaged 39 points per game, won a share of the Big Ten title and is headed for a BCS game for the sixth year in a row.

On paper, Pryor arguably made the long-awaited leap into a top-shelf quarterback as a junior, yet Big Ten media and coaches alike still snubbed him to honor a pair of "gritty" upperclassmen, Northwestern's Dan Persa and Wisconsin's Scott Tolzien, and Michigan's electric up-and-comer, Denard Robinson.

Is Pryor, king of hype as the No. 1 recruit in the nation a victim of high expectations next to an unheralded two-star like Tolzien? Probably. But as he told the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, the Ohio State offense doesn't do him any favors when it comes to style points, either:

"I'll put it like this: You put me in any of their offenses — any of them — and I'd dominate," Pryor said, when asked about the attention afforded the likes of Newton, Robinson and Persa. "I'd dominate the nation. What those guys do, that's what they're supposed to do in their offense.

"They carry the ball 30 times a game. I carry the ball maybe five times. There are times I didn't even run the ball in a game. [Pryor averaged 10 carries per game, with a low of three (all sacks) in a 38-10 win vs. Indiana. – ed.] You put me in any of their offenses, where I can run the ball and have a choice to throw, I would dominate college football."

And thus we return yet again to the great "chicken or egg?" theme of the Pryor era at Ohio State: Is the Buckeyes' inherently conservative mentality preventing the would-be Cam Newton of the North from fulfilling the transcendent potential promised by the scouts? Or does the offense's relatively close-to-the-vest approach reflect Pryor's own limitations? We asked the question two years, we asked it again last year, and – despite a tentative glimpse of what the offense can look like at full speed in last year's Rose Bowl – we're still asking at the end of Year Three.

Pryor's answer, obviously, is "It's the offense, stupid," and it's hard to disagree.Which isn't to suggest that it's a bad offense – besides, you know, the 11-1 record and No. 6 ranking, OSU went over 35 points in nine of 12 games this year and was one of only 11 teams nationally that averaged 200 yards rushing and passing – only that you're right when you compare his consistently solid production in the Buckeyes' tailback-heavy approach to a Pryor doppelganger like Newton or Colin Kaepernick in an offense designed to emphasize the quarterback as a runner and passer and wonder, "What could Terrelle do with that?" So why does his insistence on an untapped well of dominance ring so hollow?

Maybe "it's the schedule, stupid," on two fronts. One: Not counting Ohio U., Ohio State played four defenses this year – Miami, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa – that finished in the top 40 in total or scoring defense, and only topped 24 points/400 yards against one of them. Those were also the games Pryor handled the ball as a runner or passer more than any others, and his four lowest-rated passing games, by far.

Two: Not counting Ohio U., Ohio State played one team this year, Wisconsin, that finished a) Ranked or b) With better than a 7-5 record. Against the Badgers, Pryor was responsible as a runner or passer on 46 plays – two-thirds of the Buckeyes' offensive snaps for the game and nearly matching his season high of 48 plays at Iowa – and turned in easily his worst effort of the year in a primetime, 31-18 loss that eliminated the Buckeyes from the national championship discussion. His 89.7 pass efficiency rating in Madison was the second-lowest of his career, trailing only a 75.3 in the Fiesta Bowl loss to Texas at the end of his freshman year.

In his team's biggest games, then, given the opportunity to run and pass in the national spotlight, Pryor was very, very far from "dominant," even within the offense that he runs. In fact, the only times this season that label applied were against the likes of Eastern Michigan, Indiana and Purdue. And the only time it applied before this season was in the Rose Bowl win over Oregon, which sparked so much of the preseason optimism this summer after a generally disappointing sophomore campaign that saw his completion percentage and overall efficiency ratio plummet to near the bottom of the conference.

This year, all of those numbers were back up dramatically, with virtually no drop-off in Pryor's contribution to the running game. He was a more mature, consistent quarterback from the beginning of the season to the end. But he was not a dominant one when his team needed him to be and gave him a chance to be. Against Wisconsin, he was barely competent.

In the Sugar Bowl, Pryor will be opposite another celebrated quarterback, Ryan Mallett, who can match him for hype for the first time this season. Maybe the stage and a solid month of game-planning for Arkansas will rekindle the latent, explosive talent on display in Pasadena last January and set off one final round of speculation going into his senior year. (Pryor has repeatedly affirmed his return next fall, and did so again Wednesday.) Until further notice, though, the speculation about dominating in another offense should wait until he dominates by the standards of the one he's actually in.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

Source: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Terrelle-Pryor-might-dominate-in-a-different-o?urn=ncaaf-293794

Steven Delisle James DeLory Jason Demers Chad Denny