By: Dennis Dodd (CBSSports.com) –

Congratulations, Ray Reitz. You said what a lot of us are thinking.

Terrelle Pryor’s former high school coach suggested this week that maybe Ohio State coach Jim Tressel isn’t using his quarterback quite right. Reitz says that now he sees “a robot” when watching the former No. 1 prep prospect in the country. Pryor should be running more, Reitz added.

Whatever, it’s clear Pryor has regressed as a sophomore to the point that LeBron James feels compelled to mentor him.

Just what the Buckeyes quarterback needs after a four-turnover game, advice on how to dribble between his legs.

As you can imagine, Reitz’s comments haven’t gone over well in some precincts of Buckeyeland. First, The University has to sit back and take it this week from Cincinnati which is ranked ahead of Ohio State for the first time — what, ever? Then came Reitz, Pryor’s coach at Jeanette (Pa.) High School but now in Latrobe, Pa.

“I’ve got people e-mailing me and telling me to shut up,” Reitz told WWL. “I wasn’t throwing Jim Tressel under the bus. I just said they weren’t using him right.”

Reitz isn’t the only one. Pryor came to Ohio State because he wanted to play in a pro-style offense. In his freshman season, he led the Big Ten in pass efficiency and laid the groundwork for a breakout sophomore season. Hasn’t happened.

In Pryor’s second year, Ohio State’s offense has morphed into more of a spread, a spread that doesn’t seem to suit Pryor’s talents. He looks indecisive. He has thrown twice as many interceptions (eight) as he did as a freshman, on six fewer passes.

He looks worse.

Against Purdue last week, Pryor turned it over four times and became a piñata for those who are wondering just when his breakout is coming. It doesn’t help that Michigan (Tate Forcier) and USC (Matt Barkley) have budding freshman quarterbacks ahead of where Pryor is now.

The situation is also aggravated by the fact that No. 18 Ohio State, 5-2, is out of the national championship race after that embarrassing loss to the Boilers. The Bucks still control their Rose Bowl destiny but you’d hardly know it heading into Saturday’s game against Minnesota.

“I came here to be a quarterback and for the rest of the season we are going to be pretty darn good,” Pryor told reporters this week. “I love the offense here and it is just going to keep getting better and better here.”

For the record, Tressel said he will not replace Pryor with backup Joe Bauserman against the Gophers. Scoreboard, Terrelle. You’ve beaten out Bauserman, who spent three seasons in the minor leagues. Joe Bauserman, who the school says was third in the team bowling competition.

So … who is T-Pain? Is he a Troy Smith clone? Is he supposed to be more like Vince Young? Or is he just an athlete playing quarterback? Critics are suggesting he should be replaced or moved to receiver.

Part of this is on Pryor himself.

“Remember when he didn’t sign?” Reitz asked. “Some people perceived that as arrogance.”

Pryor dragged out his college signing until March 2008 after purporting to take an extra look at Oregon and Penn State. He picked Ohio State, declaring that it was the best fit to prepare him for the NFL. Seems that he could have reached the Cialis Online Without Prescription league and been just as successful playing for Rich Rodriguez at Michigan. Didn’t West Virginia’s Pat White get to the NFL.

Part of this is on the Ohio State coaches who haven’t found a comfort level for their centerpiece. That left an opening for Reitz to have his say. Now he has to keep his head down.

“I don’t think I can go in Ohio now,” he said.

Five on the clock

Bizzaro conference races: Every team in the ACC Atlantic Division has at least two conference losses. … Virginia — Virginia — is the only undefeated ACC team in league play and leads Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Miami in the Coastal Division. … Pittsburgh leads the Big East. … Temple is tied for the MAC East lead. … Idaho leads the WAC.

Which team doesn’t belong? Pretty much all of the above. Maybe it’s parity gone mad, or a whole lot of bowls are going to make room for a whole lot of new teams. The Big 12 North Division is such a mess that WWL ran across this possibility this week:

Colorado, 2-4, visits current division leader Kansas State this weekend, and still could conceivably win the division in a tiebreaker and go to the Big 12 title game at 5-7. If it somehow pulled the upset, that’s where it really gets weird. Colorado would be Big 12 champ, but would require a waiver from the NCAA to go bowling. If approved the Buffs would then have a spot reserved for themselves in a BCS bowl. Bet the commissioners never thought of that one.

It’s a long shot that all this could happen, but so was that tiebreaker in the Big 12 South.

Dan Mullen: His dog is named Heisman. He used to sit next to Tim Tebow on team flights. Hell, he made Tim Tebow (and vice versa). But this is what Mullen…..

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