PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -It didn’t just seem like Ohio State owned the ball in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes really did.
They set a game record for time of possession at 41 minutes, 37 seconds. By comparison, Oregon controlled the ball for a scant 18:23.
“Time of possession I was not worried about,” first-year Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. “I was worried about Terrelle Pryor.”
The Ohio State quarterback was 23 of 37 for a career-high 266 yards, one interception and two touchdowns despite being sacked four times. He was also the Buckeyes’ leading rusher, with 20 carries for 72 yards. He was named the game’s offensive MVP.
Pryor said he was excited when coach Jim Tressel said the passing game would take priority.
“The offense did a great job to help out the defense because our defense, they’ve been carrying a lot this year sometimes,” he said. “We’re just glad we got out there and tried to help them out as much as we could, and we did pretty good.”
with their wide-open offense.
“The plan was to make him throw the ball, but when he threw it that good, the plan didn’t go well,” said Oregon end Kenny Rowe, named the game’s defensive MVP. “He slipped away a couple of times. He runs pretty hard. He’s got a good stiff-arm too.”
Kelly was impressed by the physicality of the 6-foot-6, 235-pound Pryor, whom he had seen in high school in Pennsylvania.
“He looks like a defensive lineman,” Kelly said. “He’s an impressive player when you see him up close. He certainly beat us on how he threw the ball.”
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KICKIN’ IT: Ohio State kicker Aaron Pettrey saw his first action in two months as he played the final game of his career.
The redshirt senior injured his right knee on a kickoff in a win against New Mexico State on Oct. 31 and missed the Buckeyes’ final three regular-season games.
Devin Barkley took over during that stretch, and then he kicked field goals of 19, 30 and 38 yards Friday.
But Pettrey handled the kick after Ohio State’s opening touchdown and came on again after an interception late in the second quarter, kicking a 45-yard field goal that sent them into halftime leading 16-10.
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BY THE NUMBERS: Ohio State ran 89 plays, third-most in Rose Bowl game history, to Oregon’s 53.
The difference of 36 was the second-most in the game’s 96 years, trailing only Michigan’s 90-24 edge over Stanford in the first Rose Bowl in 1902.
Ohio State’s Devin Barkley kicked three field goals, tying a record shared by four others. Oregon’s Kenny Rowe recorded three quarterback sacks, tying a record.
The Buckeyes started quickly, notching 10 points in the first quarter, making just the fourth time in 64 Big Ten Conference appearances that a team from the league scored twice in the first quarter.
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