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Pryor, Buckeyes turned in a gutsy performance
Monday, October 06, 2008
Terrelle Pryor kept a perfect record as a starter. Chris "Beanie" Wells kept things loose.
That's all Ohio State (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten) needed to stay at the top of the class in the conference with a 20-17 win over Wisconsin on Saturday night, Oct. 4. The Buckeyes moved up to No. 12 in the poll Sunday.
"A lot of people have been questioning our mental toughness," Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "This is one of those wins that will definitely stick in my mind forever."
It certainly should after the performance of Pryor, the poised freshman who moved to 3-0 as a starter and is the type of playmaker the Buckeyes need to compete with the likes of Southern California, which embarrassed Ohio State last month.
Facing the most important game since that debacle, the duo scored Ohio State's touchdowns: a 33-yard run by Wells and a game-winning 11-yard scamper by Pryor.
Beating Wisconsin (3-2, 0-2) on the road — the first opponent to do so since Iowa on Nov. 12, 2005 — was a huge indicator of how far the Buckeyes' budding star has progressed.
"Terrelle didn't have everything go his way, but he kept hanging in there," said Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel, who improved to 3-3 against the only conference foe that had a winning record against him. "We made enough mistakes to make it hard on ourselves."
Pryor was at the center of most of the mistakes, but his athleticism propelled the Buckeyes when it counted against the Badgers, who squandered a 19-point lead in a loss to Michigan the week before.
Wisconsin, which fell out of the Top 25, never took a lead bigger than 17-13 off P.J. Hill's goal-line run with 6:31 left. That gave Pryor time to atone for an early interception and the four sacks he took trying to make plays.
"Even on the last drive, things went wrong," Laurinaitis said. "As a young kid, you can get frustrated. But there's a reason why he's here at Ohio State."
»Heart rates back to normal with win Buckeye Persicope on B2
»Tough road win gives Buckeyes a shot of confidence OSU notes on B6
