By: Bill Blanton (BuckeyeCountry.net) -

For two season’s, Ohio State Buckeye fans have been waiting for Terrelle Pryor to live up to his No. 1 high school player ranking. He finally did Saturday afternoon 120 miles from his hometown in Jeanette, Pa. leading the Buckeyes past Penn State 24-7.

No. 16 Ohio State (8-2, 5-1 Big Ten) delivered a stellar defensive performance getting excellent penetration from their defensive line keeping Daryll Clark in check all day long. Cameron Heyward was the disruptor for the front four with 2 sacks and 11 tackles.

Clark would finish the game just 12-28 for 125 yards and one interception. Clark also carried the ball 11 times for 20 yards. The Silver Bullets kept the Penn State running game contained all day limiting the Nittany Lions to 76 total yards rushing. Evan Royster was the leading rusher with 36 yards on 13 carries.

The win put the Buckeyes back in the driver seat for their fifth straight Big Ten Championship and a potential first trip to the Rose Bowl under Tressel.

Ohio State’s matchup with Iowa at the Horseshoe in Columbus should determine the outcome of the Big Ten Championship next week at 3:30pm (ABC).

Pryor looked completely poised and confident, converting several clutch plays to help Ohio State score the game’s final 17 points to silence the crowd of 110,033.

Pryor got the scoring started in the first quarter after a Ray Small 41 yard punt return gave OSU great field position. On a second down play from the 7 yard line, Pryor ran to pay dirt to give OSU A 7-0 lead.

Penn State countered with a 71 yard drive on 12 plays capped by Clark’s 1 yd touchdown run that tied the game at 7-7.

Devin Barclay’s 37 yard field goal gave Ohio State a 10-7 lead at halftime.

Ohio State broke the game open in the third quarter when Pryor connected with Devier Posey down the left sideline for a 62-yard touchdown pass with 1:47 left in the third to extend the lead to 17-7.

After Ohio State’s defense delivered a three-and-out, Ray Small delivered another great punt return gaining 45 yards to the Penn State 47 to end the third quarter.

Pryor led the Buckeyes again on a 10 play 47 yard drive with two third-down conversions before rolling right and finding Brandon Saine for a 6-yard touchdown pass on another third down play to give Ohio State a 24-7 cushion which held up for the final score.

Pryor finished 8 for 17 passing for 125 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 50 yards on five carries with one touchdown.

The Ohio State offensive line may have been the unsung hero of the game. The Block O’s delivered their best performance of the year leading the OSU rushing game to 228 yards and kept Pryor off the turf by providing excellent pass protection throughout the game.

Ohio State outgained Penn State’s offense 353-201. They also controlled the time of possession keeping the ball 34:02 to 25:58 and didn’t turn the ball over.

Ohio State Game Notes

Saturday’s game was the first-ever regular season matchup between coaches who total 600+ career wins between them: Joe Paterno (391) and Jim Tressel (225); the meeting between Bobby Propecia buy cheap Bowden (377 at that time) and Frank Beamer (214) last October 25 had only 591 career wins between the coaches.

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