QB/WR Terrelle Pryor ('10 Rose, '11 Sugar MVP)

[Mrstickball]

Statistically, he didn't have too bad of a day vs. Miami throwing the ball when compared to top-25 teams:

Average (pryor to Miami):

11.3 pass completions/game
18.7 pass attempts/game
146.2 yards/game
0.8 pass TDs/game
0.3 INTs/game

11.1 rush attempts/game
43.6 rushing yards/game
0.3 rushing TDs/game

On average vs. top-25 teams, he's averaged 189.8 yards a game and 1.1 TDs. Keep only top-15 teams, and he drops to 0.75 TDs per game against teams.

The man had 346 yards of offense against a top-15 team with no turnovers. Did he have some miscues? Sure. But >150 yards more than his average! If he did all of his damage passing (something like 20-27 for 346yds, 2TDs and 0INTs), no one would care.

He's still developing. You aren't always your best in your 2nd game against a top-15 team that should (so far) rightfully be there. Lets see how he does against Wiscy and some other decent to great programs later in the year before arguing about his development. Personally, if he's pretty much picked off from where the Rose Bowl was, stat wise, and only gets better, he will be an unstoppable beast by the end of the year, and will have a VY Rose Bowl 2005-06 type performance ready for the NC game.

 

[TheIronColonel]

we win the premiere out of conference game of the season, people bitch because he had a below average passing game (still better than almost any game of his career) and people complain that he will never be an elite passer

Am I glad that we won? Yes. Am I worried that we're going to struggle against teams that can stop the run? Yes. There's no reason to believe that he's able to reliably sustain drives passing the ball. He's done it in exactly 1 game in his career. He's missing a lot of short (easy?) throws, resulting in drives ending or failing to put 7 on the board. That's really concerning. We really need to have a well rounded offense if we're going to play for (and win) a national title.

Now, that being said, am I unhappy with TP? Oh hell no. You can't be unhappy with a guy who just won the Rose Bowl and has the W/L record that he's got. Frustrated? Yeah, from time to time. Why? I get frustrated because he's so inconsistent, but it's obvious how good he can be. Even if he were consistently mediocre, I'd be happy. Right now, you don't know what you're going to get from him. Sometimes he just kills teams, and sometimes he puts up numbers that make you scratch your head (e.g. completing less than 50% of his passes, but having 9.2 YPA on the day).

He has all the ability in the world. We've seen it in glimpses and flashes. The reason that people get frustrated is because we want to see him become everything that he can become. Do I want him moved? No. Do I think he's a bust? No. In a strange sense, I look at him the same way that I look at the kids I teach: I can see how much potential they've got, and I want them to achieve their full potential. That's it. I think, for most people, that's it. We all know that if he reaches his full potential, he's going to be unstoppable (in a literal sense - there's no defense in CFB that's going to keep him down). He just hasn't, and we're all just dying inside because we can see the potential.

Anyway, if he stays on this course for the rest of the season, he'll put up 3120/845 yards passing/rushing with 26/6 TDs passing/rushing. Even with the complaining, do you think that any of us are going to be upset with numbers like those? Uh, no. Troy Smith won the Heisman trophy with 2542/204 and 30/1. TP's season could easily eclipse those numbers.

Just some perspective from a "hater" (which is the wrong word to use, but that's how people view it).

 

[SEREbuckeye]

we lose to Purdue in a complete bomb of a game, people want to move him WR

we win the premiere out of conference game of the season, people bitch because he had a below average passing game (still better than almost any game of his career) and people complain that he will never be an elite passer

my point is that some people will always move the bar higher and higher and will never be satisfied with his performance, and that is ridiculous to me

On the flip side, Pryor has a great game (ie Oregon) and people are ready to anoint him the greatest OSU QB ever.

There has to be a happy medium - cant drink every drop of the TP Kool-Aid. He's good and getting better, but he's not a premier QB yet until he can put it all together in big games. Hes a solid leader but lets be honest, there is work to do.

Besides, why does Pryor have to have a "big" or "bust" label just yet? He just began his Junior season - he still has 1 to 2 years left. How about evaluating him in 1 to 2 years. Why do we have to have a label now? Is him being said to be something somehow going to make us a better or worse team? No.

 

[BuckNut65]

He has all the ability in the world. We've seen it in glimpses and flashes. The reason that people get frustrated is because we want to see him become everything that he can become. Do I want him moved? No. Do I think he's a bust? No. In a strange sense, I look at him the same way that I look at the kids I teach: I can see how much potential they've got, and I want them to achieve their full potential.

People get frustrated with him because they lack patience. Everyone expects this magical light bulb to go off and see the next coming of Joe Montana. It doesn't work that way. There has been noticeable improvement and by all accounts he is a extremely hard worker so he is willing to do what is necessary and will get better. That is all you can ask of someone....especially a kid.

Maybe the "light bulb" will never go off and he never will reach his potential. It happens all of the time. I just wish everyone would worry about judging him AFTER his career is up rather than 2 games into his junior season.

 

[TheIronColonel]

I know some people are judging him; I'm not. I'm just trying to explain from where the frustration comes. I agree with all of the points that you made.

 

[Meyer]

Kid is still getting better, even throughout this year and during the bowl practices. You can't deny that he's made great steps forward, even from the Oregon Rose Bowl game. Is it good enough to win us a National Championship???? I guess we'll find out. I think it could be, but who ever really knows these kind of things??

He wasn't perfect but he was more than good enough to win the game. If we had scored those 3 times in the red zone no one would be saying anything.

 

[Buckeye doc]

If you don't think Pryor's passing has improved, just go back and watch the Rose Bowl (which many were saying was his best passing game to that point). I'm no expert (shocking admission I realize ) but his throwing motion and patience in the pocket have improved dramatically. Of course he can (and will, I believe) get better. I think if he stays a fourth year he will put himself on the list of all time great college quarterbacks. I would like to hear opinions on the game slowing down for Pryor (i.e. has it yet?). I assume this is 'the lightbulb going on' people are looking for.

 

[SEREbuckeye]

If you don't think Pryor's passing has improved, just go back and watch the Rose Bowl (which many were saying was his best passing game to that point). I'm no expert (shocking admission I realize ) but his throwing motion and patience in the pocket have improved dramatically. Of course he can (and will, I believe) get better. I think if he stays a fourth year he will put himself on the list of all time great college quarterbacks. I would like to hear opinions on the game slowing down for Pryor (i.e. has it yet?). I assume this is 'the lightbulb going on' people are looking for.

So, all he has to do is stay onme more year to be on the best-all time list? You mean, a kid that has gone 1-1 in BCS Bowls has already warranted himself to be on the list with some of the most prolific QBs of recent like Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Troy Smith, Craig Krenzel, and Ken Dorsey?

Please, with all due respect, take the blinders off because he will need to do MUCH more than stay a fourth year.

 

[GeorgiaBuck2]

Just watch the rest of his games the rest of the year and we'll find out. It's pointless to argue over something that hasn't happened yet. Give him a chance to prove himself before giving ultimatums.

 

[PlanetFrnd]

Just watch the rest of his games the rest of the year and we'll find out. It's pointless to argue over something that hasn't happened yet. Give him a chance to prove himself before giving ultimatums.

This.

Game two of a true junior season, people... let's just sit back and enjoy 2010...

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I think a NC and a Heisman may be necessary for this.

One or the other puts him in the discussion...both gives it to him.

 

[martinss01]

Now, that being said, am I unhappy with TP? Oh hell no. You can't be unhappy with a guy who just won the Rose Bowl and has the W/L record that he's got. Frustrated? Yeah, from time to time. Why? I get frustrated because he's so inconsistent, but it's obvious how good he can be. Even if he were consistently mediocre, I'd be happy. Right now, you don't know what you're going to get from him. Sometimes he just kills teams, and sometimes he puts up numbers that make you scratch your head (e.g. completing less than 50% of his passes, but having 9.2 YPA on the day).

don't take away the role miami's d had in those stats. they played hard. i personally was impressed by the push their d line got on a consistent basis. their corners and safeties also had a very solid game.

 

[Buckeye doc]

So, all he has to do is stay onme more year to be on the best-all time list? You mean, a kid that has gone 1-1 in BCS Bowls has already warranted himself to be on the list with some of the most prolific QBs of recent like Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Troy Smith, Craig Krenzel, and Ken Dorsey?

Please, with all due respect, take the blinders off because he will need to do MUCH more than stay a fourth year.

I agree, I didn't make that clear. No, of course he would not get in that discussion merely by staying for a fourth year. I meant to imply that if TP continues to improve as he has thus far, he would have an incredible senior year as well as a great year this year.

I don't feel I have blinders on. He may not progress as much as I am saying (and hoping) he will. He could get injured. Our run game may not come together enough to take any pressure off of him. Any of those issues and many I haven't thought of could derail his career at tOSU. But I am (uncharacteristically) being optimistic based on the growth and improvement I have seen in a couple years.

 

[BB73]

don't take away the role miami's d had in those stats. they played hard. i personally was impressed by the push their d line got on a consistent basis. their corners and safeties also had a very solid game.

Miami also played a lot of man coverage, which TP hasn't seen that often. Most teams want to play zone against tOSU in order to minimize the potential for huge runs by TP. Miami's man-to-man hurt TP's completion percentage, just recall the tight coverages on Zach Boren and Stoney when they'd run short routes to the outside. But it was also a factor in allowing him to go over 100 yards rushing. Most teams won't have the athletes to play tOSU in man coverage most of the time. But hopefully he'll see more of in practice situations before he faces it as the primary defense again - although that might not happen until a bowl game.

 

[CalvinistBuck]

I get frustrated because he's so inconsistent, but it's obvious how good he can be.

To a great extent, this is the theme of Dan Wetzel's piece today.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-pryor091110

Wetzel often looks for sensational angles in his columns; but, he is a good writer. To be sure, he's more skilled at commenting on the human condition than he is at analyzing a particular sport. Nonetheless, I appreciated these remarks coming from a national columnist:

Put it this way, the Buckeyes didn't really play that well Saturday (allowing two touchdowns on special teams, stalling in the red zone) and they absolutely controlled the 12th-ranked Hurricanes. It was a strange, disjointed game; one Ohio State could've won by 50 had it been firing on all cylinders.

Ohio State is ranked No. 2 and deserves every bit of it. There is talent all over the field. Speed too. The Buckeyes have all the athletes you need; forget that reputation for lumbering.