Terrelle Pryor is under fire at Ohio State, so one of his best friends jumped to his defense – although it may not have come out exactly the way he wanted.
Receiver DeVier Posey, who has become one of Pryor’s favorite targets, made the case that too much is expected of Pryor, who turned the ball over four times in the Buckeyes’ shocking 26-18 loss at two-touchdown underdog Purdue last week.
Posey said that all eyes were on the acclaimed quarterback from the time he set foot on campus.
“From his first pass, (people said) he’s really not that good. But I really feel that’s kind of hard for a guy like that, you know what I mean? There’s only one Tim Tebow in this world and I don’t really know what people want from (Pryor),” Posey said. “He’s going to get better. He really can’t do much worse.”
Those were hardly words of consolation, either for Pryor, now a sophomore, or Ohio State fans.
Posey went on to say Pryor will improve, although he was a bit unsure of when.
r, he’s going to be a great player. It’s going to happen in time,” he said. “He’s further along than (Ohio State Heisman Trophy winner) Troy (Smith) was, than (ex-Texas QB and current Tennessee Titan) Vince Young was, and I just feel like if people are patient, and he’s patient (he’ll be great). … He’s not going to be great tomorrow. But if he works on it, eventually in a year or two, or even maybe by the end of this year, he’ll be a great player.”
Such a timeline may not work for Ohio State fans.
—
SAY CHEESE: Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez intercepted a pass in 1984 to help West Virginia beat Penn State – and Joe Paterno, of course – for the first time in 27 years.
Before the game, Rodriguez’s girlfriend – and now wife, Rita – had a request for JoePa during warmups.
“She went up to coach Paterno during warmups and said, ‘In the spirit of good sportsmanship, would you mind taking a picture with my cheerleaders and myself?”’ Rich Rodriguez recalled this week. “He was like the biggest celebrity she had ever met.
“We still talk about that, still laugh about that. Whenever we see each other, he still gives Rita a big hug and laughs.”
Rita Rodriguez cherished the picture and said she saw it last year when she was moving into the family’s house in Michigan and was trying to find it to share with reporters this week.
—
nce 1985, Iowa landed at No. 6 in the initial Bowl Championship Series rankings. Coach Kirk Ferentz knew he’d be asked about it this week, so he had an assistant do some research about the teams ranked 6-10 in last year’s first BCS poll.
What Ferentz discovered was that three of those teams – Oklahoma State, Georgia and Texas Tech – didn’t reach a BCS bowl. Ohio State, which opened 9th, went to the Fiesta Bowl, and Florida went from 10th to a national title.
Ferentz said he planned to share that information with his team in hopes of keeping things in perspective with so much football left to be played.
Iowa (7-0, 3-0) has another big road game coming up at Saturday at Michigan State (4-3, 3-1).
“A conclusion there is you could go up, you could go down or you might stay the same,” Ferentz said. “So that’s about all I took out of that whole thing.”
—
ON THE REBOUND: Penn State TB Evan Royster appears to have finally recovered from the flu-like illness that slowed him earlier this season.
After running for 137 yards on 23 carries last week against Minnesota, Royster is itching for a bigger workload this weekend at Michigan, especially with the status of backup Stephfon Green in doubt because of a chronic right ankle injury.
“It looked like he was hurting pretty bad,” Royster said this week. “I wouldn’t mind taking a couple more carries.”
on, Royster got off to a slow start when defenses were keying on the run against Penn State’s struggling offensive line.
Plus, Paterno said Royster didn’t have the same “spring in his legs” after being set back by illness.
Line play has improved, though, and Royster is better, leading to better results on the ground. Royster is averaging more than 100 yards the last three games.
“I feel great now. I was pretty sick early in the season, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse,” Royster said.
—
UPON FURTHER REVIEW: Minnesota had two overturned calls go Penn State’s way after video reviews last week, which fueled a Nittany Lions TD late in the first half. Coach Tim Brewster has never been a big fan of instant replay, and Saturday’s experience further frustrated him.
The flow of the game, he argued, is interrupted.
“You have a timeout before a kickoff, you have a kickoff, then you have another timeout,” Brewster said. “A lot of those things I think take away from the game. … It’s really unfortunate that, you know, the game has been so review-oriented at this particular point.”
—
y night showdown.
“I think that will be one of the major things in the football game,” Spartans coach Mark Dantonio said. “It seems to always fall into that category. It’s very difficult to win the football game if you turn it over.”
—
QUICK-HITTERS: Players of the week: Indiana QB Ben Chappell and Michigan State WR Blair White, Purdue DE Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue K/P Carson Wiggs. … Possible marketing ties: Northwestern’s leading rusher is Arby Fields. … Gate crashers: Observers said the crowd at Ross-Ade Stadium was split evenly between Ohio State and Purdue fans last week until the Boilermakers took a halftime lead; by the end, thousands of students had flooded in to party after the huge upset. … In 1905, Purdue students took a cannon to Illinois to celebrate a victory – except Illini fans grabbed it. The teams (and fans) battle again on Saturday, with Purdue holding a 29-26-2 edge in the Cannon series. … The loser (and maybe the winner) of Indiana (4-3) at Northwestern (4-3) will have a tough time making it to a bowl game.
—
AP Sports Writers Dave Campbell in Minneapolis; Luke Meredith in Iowa City, Iowa; and Larry Lage in Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Associated Press Writers Genaro Armas in State College, Pa.; and Tim Martin in East Lansing, Mich.; contributed to this report.
Add A Comment