And he might go all the way ... not

Greetings from sunny C-bus:

Cameron Heyward's highlight reel interception had those of us wondering if the Miami Hurricanes were on the road to a comeback emitting a huge sigh of relief ... bullet dodged ... and Heyward might still be panting. The entire defense was trying to clear room for the big man who was trying to score ... or perhaps he just wanted to get tackled to end the struggle. Clearly, Heyward is built for bursts of speed; he's no 100 yard dash sprinter by any means. But for those season-end rewards, the interception will prove useful.

The player of the game - Terrelle Pryor. He proved himself worthy of the Heisman-hype on the big stage. His all-around game was not perfect but it had plenty of highlights and more importantly, no mistakes. Pryor led all rushers with 113 yards on 20 carries for a 5.7 yard/carry average and 1 TD. Pryor also had a workmanlike 12 of 27 for 233 yards and 1 TD. Posey had 4 catches for 105 followed by Sanzenbacher and Saine with 3 catches each and Saine had a TD. Herron had 66 yards on 14 carries. The rushing game was disappointing, particularly from Saine who had over 100 yards a week ago, yet seemed stuffed on every carry this week. At the same time, Saine the receiver was unwrapped for all to see.

Surprice of the game - 4 INTs from Jacory Harris. Harris had nearly the preseason hype of Pryor and had about the same experience level, yet Harris seemed to have not matured his game to Pryor's level. Harris seems to still believe, as young QBs often do, that a ball thrown harder into coverage is somehow a better pass than one thrown out of bounds. Four INTs hampered an otherwise talented Miami offense. Hankerson is a talented receiver - and one that Tressel apparently recruited - yet he had to battle for nearly every catch.

Passing the test - the Buckeye secondary. I thought the question mark coming into the season for the Bucks would be the secondary. The loss of Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russel concerned me - both were experienced and sure tacklers. But Devon Torrence and CJ Barnett looked every bit as capable and frankly more athletic. Torrence had a huge game with 7 solo tackles and 1 assist. He was a ball hawk. Add to Torrence's play the huge hits by CJ Barnett (ankle injury to be determined) and I was breathing easier. Chimdi Chekwa has often been criticized by this reporter for his pass interference calls - his seeming inability to turn his head on tight coverage. But I take it all back if Chekwa's 2 INTs are any measure of the rest of his season. Sure, both were the result of being in the right place at the right time, but I will take a DB with his eyes on the ball every play. He has shown strong improvement this season after two games.

Defensive tackle leader - no surprise, Ross Homan with 10 overall. But it seemed like he had a quiet game.

Surprise offensive player(s) - the O line. Much-maligned last season, the O line has given TP a lot of freedom to run or to pass. They allowed just one sack this week and the 2 offensive tackles were lauded by Jim Lachey during the radio call of the game for shutting down Miami's talented DEs - Vernon and Ojomo - for most of the game. Now, I'm not going to give them too much praise - the lack of an overall running game gives me the jitters.

Praise to the D line - wow. That D line set the tempo of the game. And I also credit Moeller and Hines for being as disruptive this week as last week, given a much different schemed opponent. Heyward, Simon, Williams, Larimore - all were man handling the Miami O line. Heyward was double teamed on almost every snap. Nathan Williams made a statement early - welcome back from your injury Nathan. John Simon flat out loves to bull rush. Larimore was blocking up that middle running lane on nearly every snap. The huge true freshman Johnathan Hankinson - Big Hank - is the first true nose tackle the Bucks have had in a while. You see glimpses of greatness in an 18-19 year old kid. He's a true wide-body but he can move.

Failing grade - special teams. Okay, this was not a reach and props to the blocked FG and to what was nearly a back-to-back runback TD by Jordan Hall. Sadly the turf monster reached up and grabbed Jordan Hall's shoe to stop him after a 47 yard return. But there is no excuse after last week to have not worked through kickoff return coverage. Then to give up a punt. Puleeze. On the kickoff, it was a lack of discipline. Guys out of their lanes, missing coverage and assignments. On the punt, it appeared as though the Bucks overran it. But that's not an excuse.

Worry of the season - RichRod might have something (or someone) in Denard Robinson. He reminds me of Troy Smith his junior year. But hopefully a real defense comes up with some solutions.

Next up - the OU Bobcats. The Marching 100 might be the highlight of the game for OU as they lost to Toledo yesterday 20-13 on 4 turnovers and seven penalties committed. The game is at noon Eastern - weather so far appears nice for next Saturday.

No let up Bucks ... GO BUCKS from JennyBucks!