In what has become a familiar scene, the Ohio State defense dominated the spring jersey scrimmage, 78-24, on a sunny but chilly Saturday morning.
The defense has now won three consecutive jersey scrimmages.
“It was a nice, cool day in the ‘Shoe. A little wind blowing around,” coach Jim Tressel said.
“Days like that the Big Ten championship will be determined. That’s probably the most lopsided jersey scrimmage score that I’ve seen.”
The scoring system awards points for sacks, turnovers, first downs and other note-worthy plays.
Sophomore defensive tackle John Simon scored the only touchdown of the game. Junior quarterback Terrelle Pryor fumbled a shotgun snap, and the lineman recovered the ball in the end zone.
The offense failed to score a touchdown and had five turnovers, but senior kicker Devin Barclay and sophomore punter Ben Buchanan each had one field goal.
Pryor was just five for 16 passing for 49 yards while wearing a black no-hit jersey. It’s hard to judge his performance, as Pryor was not allowed to use his speed to run for yardage.
“It’s a little bit difficult to get into the flow as a quarterback when half the time the whistle is blown earlier than the play would have ended normally,” Tressel said.
Despite the blowout, senior defensive lineman Cameron Heyward said the defense still has work to do.
“There’s still a bunch of things we have to learn and just get better at,” Heyward said. “I think the heart’s there and the toughness. We’re moving in the right direction though.”
Tressel didn’t seem to worry about the offense just yet.
“I don’t know if I’m ready to be a little disappointed [with the offense],” he said. “I guess you could be encouraged that maybe we’ve got some guys that can get to the passer.”
Senior wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher agreed.
“I don’t think it’s cause for concern,” he said. “It’s definitely a wake-up call for the offense that we need to get stuff going, but I wouldn’t panic.”
The lone bright spot for the Buckeye offense was the running game, especially running back Jaamal Berry. The redshirt freshman ran 17 times for 76 yards before rolling his ankle late in the game.
“I thought he looked pretty good,” Tressel said. “Looked to me like he’s got an ability to burst.”
The winner of the jersey scrimmage gets to wear the scarlet jerseys throughout practice until the next jersey scrimmage in August.
“The offense had been talking about how they’re going to get the scarlet jerseys back,” Heyward said. “But we weren’t ready to give them up.”
The Buckeyes will have another week of practice before the annual Spring Game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
