Kelly says Ohio State’s Pryor was ‘the difference in the game’

By: Rob Moseley (The Register-Guard) -

LOS ANGELES — On Monday, the Oregon football team will reunite for a meeting in Eugene.

It will be the first day of the winter quarter at the university, and three days since the Ducks dropped a crushing, 26-17 decision to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

Based on the team’s mood in the locker room Friday, that won’t be nearly enough time for the disappointment of defeat to pass.

“Not getting our seniors a win,” junior linebacker Spencer Paysinger said after the game, “is hard for me to swallow right now.”

Oregon coach Chip Kelly remained in Southern California on Saturday to recruit. He had begun reviewing the Rose Bowl but hadn’t made it all the way through the game by the time he participated in a teleconference with reporters Saturday evening.

It didn’t take a full viewing to find telling indications of the game’s eventual outcome.

For instance, Kelly noted, on Oregon’s third play of the afternoon, after gains of 10 and 13 yards, a defensive lineman blew past the UO line and sacked Jeremiah Masoli for a nine-yard loss.

“We got beat in the one-one-one matchups, our front against their front,” Kelly said. “That was the difference on offense.”

“They really moved the line of scrimmage tonight,” said tailback LaMichael James, who had a seven-game streak of 100-yard rushing games snapped. “No disrespect to our offensive line, because those guys do a great job. They were just really big and strong.”

In the second quarter, a face mask penalty gave the Buckeyes a third-down conversion after the Ducks had tied the score. That was the rare third-down conversion among Ohio State’s 11 that didn’t involve a big play by quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

“He was the difference in the game,” Kelly said.

The Ducks got consistent pressure on Pryor, but didn’t always make the play when they got into the backfield. They covered well early on, but allowed Pryor to find open receivers when plays broke down.

Still, Oregon trailed just 19-17 and was poised to take the lead for the second time when LeGarrette Blount fumbled an exchange with Jeremiah Masoli and Ohio State regained possession.

It’s fair to wonder, Masoli said later, whether Blount’s extended stint with the scout team rather than the No. 1 offense due to his suspension this season affected their timing together.

“But there’s no excuse for it,” Masoli said. “It’s both of our faults.”

And it had a huge impact on the game.

“You punch one in there, we’ve got 24 now, and we’re moving,” Kelly said. “That hurt.”

Still, said tight end Ed Dickson, one of 11 seniors who played in their final college game Friday, “We’d been there before. Bad things happened, and we’d bounced back.”

The final nail was a missed field goal of 44 yards by Morgan Flint with 5:10 remaining and the Buckeyes up 26-17. By attempting what would have been a career-long field goal by Flint, Kelly passed up the chance to go for it on fourth-and-one.

“You needed two scores,” Kelly said Saturday. “If you go for it on fourth down and don’t get it, you get no scores.”

Ultimately, the Ducks ended up with no scores by choosing to kick, as Flint’s attempt drifted just to the right. Confident in his leg swing, Flint said later the issue might have been with his alignment.

“Before I looked up, I thought for sure it was in,” Flint said.

Ohio State killed the rest of the clock, capping a night on which the Buckeyes dominated time of possession.

The loss dropped Oregon to 10-3 for the season, one of the best records in school history but not what the Ducks hoped for after recovering from their traumatic opener at Boise State.

A hiccup at Stanford aside, Oregon was headed in the right direction throughout the remainder of the regular season, until being outplayed on Friday.

“We just got off-track,” Kelly said.

At Monday’s meeting, they’ll begin the process of getting back on course.