By: James Crepea (TheLantern.com) —
The stars of Ohio State’s offense were clearly frustrated following Saturday’s 16-3 victory against Purdue.

The Buckeyes’ offense, which failed to reach the end zone, was inconsistent at best and terrible at worst.

Blame for the lack of production was put on the offensive line and on the struggles of freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

“I guess you could say he’s (Pryor) struggling to a certain extent,” running back Chris “Beanie” Wells said.

Pryor finished the game passing 10-for-14 for 97 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, adding 14 carries for 27 yards.

Pryor was critical of his own performance, calling it terrible.

“There was no way to run the option, they were taking over the whole thing,” Pryor said. “They were all over the place when we were running.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself to do great and I just think I did bad today. Bright side is we won, that’s all I care about.”

Coach Jim Tressel shared the predictable sentiment, saying a conference win is always important. However, he did recognize that the offense needs to improve in a number of areas, especially when in the red zone.

“Score touchdowns,” Tressel said of what his team’s offense needs to do to improve. “I hate to say that. We had first and goal twice on the nine and didn’t get in, not that that’s the easiest place to get in from, but we have to be able to gain a little bit more on first down.

“We were getting two (yards), or we got one on second down and had some penetration that knocked us backwards when we were in there … you’ve got to break some tackles and complete some tackles and we just didn’t get that done.”

OSU had to settle for two Ryan Pretorius field goals, the first from 24 yards and the second from 22 yards, after failing to score touchdowns once inside the red zone. Pretorius missed a 38-yard kick in the second quarter, and Aaron Pettrey kicked the third Buckeye field goal.

As for why the offense could not get the job done Saturday, Wells said the passing game needs to be more explosive. Generic Cialis
OSU finished the day with 97 passing yards, well below its Big Ten-worst average of 151.3 yards/game.

“We have to pass the ball,” Wells said. “Me being a running back you don’t expect me to say that, but that’s the truth, we have to pass the ball.

“Not even just to give me more room, Just to … have a better game plan. You can’t just go in there just running the ball because eventually they’re going to stop you.”

OSU’s talented wide receiver corps was without a standout performer on Saturday. Freshman DeVier Posey led the way with two receptions for 28 yards and senior Brian Robiskie also had two catches for 19 yards. Wells had two receptions for three yards.

“We have great wide receivers with Robiskie and (Brian) Hartline and all the young guys, and we’ve got to start using those guys,” Wells said. “We’re just not getting the ball to our playmakers.”

Wells was still nursing a foot injury and was unsure if he would play Saturday after coming down with the flu on Wednesday, which caused him to miss practices and lose five pounds.

“There were times when I was fatigued out there,” Wells said. “That’s why I kept coming in and out, short of breath.”

Wells narrowly fell short of another 100-yard rushing game, ending with 22 carries for 94 yards, but reaching the 100-yard mark was less important to Wells than helping the offense reach the end zone.

“It’s good to get the win, but we just wanted to do it the right way and today I don’t feel like we did that,” Wells said.

The Buckeyes will need the offense to produce as they head to East Lansing to take on the Michigan State Spartans (6-1, 3-0) on Saturday.

“They’ve won six in a row and they’ve got a veteran team,” Tressel said. “They’ve got a great leader in Javon Ringer and (Brian) Hoyer, the quarterback, and defensively they’re tough.

“Yes, we do know those guys, that coach over there, and we know they’ll have them tremendously prepared and we’re going to their house … and we know we’ll have our hands full and we need to be ready for it.”

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