Pryor Silences Critics ... Sort Of

It took more than a half, but eventually Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor proved that he's not all hype. The Buckeyes totally routed Minnesota Saturday 38-7 in Columbus.

Pryor and his coach, Jim Tressel, spent last week under continual assault from all corners. Part of it was just another expression of the college football world's Buckeye Fatigue Syndrome, but most of it was the natural consequence of OSU's dreadful performance last week. The Buckeyes turned the ball over five times in a loss to Purdue.

Saturday was a different story. Eventually.

For most of the first half Pryor looked like he'd heard the criticisms of him and decided to prove them all right. Until OSU's third possession of the second half Pryor was skittish at best, nightmarish at worst. At halftime he had connected on just over 40 percent of his passes. Suddenly it all seemed to come together for him and he began to chew up Minnesota's defense, both on the ground and through the air.

It must be noted that Minnesota did a lot to help Ohio State win this game. The Gophers turned the ball over four times, seemingly always at the worst possible moment. Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber had to play almost the entire game without his go-to wide receiver, Eric Decker. Decker left with an ankle injury in the first quarter.

Without Decker, Weber struggled to find any open receivers. He was replaced in the fourth quarter by MarQueis Gray, who led the Gophers to their only points of the afternoon.

The win takes some pressure off the Buckeyes, whose string of consecutive Big Ten titles remains in jeopardy. Pryor's second-half performance, however, is cause for optimism. Next week's game against New Mexico State should provide a chance for Pryor to gain more confidence and shut the critics up a little more.

The Gophers now sit at 4-4 and would seem to be in jeopardy of missing the postseason. They face Michigan State next week and travel to Iowa in the season closer. Sandwiched between those two games are instant winners against South Dakota State and Illinois, though, so they still have a good shot at six wins. Decker's injury is cause for concern, however. The Gophers don't have much offense without him.

In a fitting twist of irony, Pryor may have saved his own starting job and cost Adam Weber his. The Gopher faithful had to have liked what they saw from MarQueis Gray. They will certainly want to see more.