By William Bowman
UNIVERSITY PARK -- About a half-hour before kickoff at Penn State on Saturday, shockwaves went through Beaver Stadium when word started to trickle out about what happened a thousand miles away in Iowa City.
Northwestern upset Iowa 17-10 in a noon kickoff, handing the Hawkeyes their first loss overall and in the Big Ten. That put even more importance on the Penn State-Ohio State game, considering that left all three teams -- Iowa, Penn State and Ohio State -- with one loss heading into the 3:30 game.
Iowa won in Happy Valley last month, giving them the tie-breaker over PSU. With Ohio State's win over Penn State on Saturday, next week's OSU-Iowa game is the de facto Big Ten title game. The winner is in the driver's seat to win the conference title and represent the Big Ten in the BCS Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
The Buckeyes have won outright or shared the last four league titles. They shared it with Penn State in both 2005 and last year, but coach Jim Tressel said all that talk was premature.
"To come in here and win is hard, any time," said Tressel. "But not as hard as what's next. There's always something else and everything is a little harder than the last thing."
The Buckeyes should be favored next week at home, and the Hawkeyes likely will be without quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who was injured Saturday. A win next Saturday would set up a game at Michigan Stadium in two weeks against the sinking Wolverines.
MILESTONE: Saturday's game was the 300th in the history of Beaver Stadium, which is in its 50th season on the east side of the PSU campus.
The first game at Beaver Stadium was Sept. 17, 1960, a 20-0 Penn State win over Boston. The Nittany Lions have had perfect home seasons 15 times since the stadium opened, but they have lost at home twice this year.
Penn State has won 241 of 300 games at the stadium, a winning percentage of better than 80 percent. The Nittany Lions won 32 of 35 entering Saturday's game, losing only to No. 4 Michigan in 2006, No. 1 Ohio State and earlier this year to Iowa, ranked No. 4 in the BCS rankings.
The crowd was announced at 110,033, the fourth largest in stadium history.
WELCOME HOME: Saturday marked Terrelle Pryor's first trip back to Pennsylvania since the former prep phenom from Jeannette spurned Penn State for Ohio State.
One of the nation's top recruits after leading the Jayhawks to both the PIAA football and basketball titles, Pryor was looking to bounce back from a tough performance against the Nittany Lions last year in Columbus.
And while his statistics weren't off the charts, Pryor was at his best when his team needed him the most, particularly in the second half, leading the Buckeyes to a pair of TDs that sealed the Buckeyes' second consecutive victory at Penn State.
On six different occasions Pryor converted on third down, including three times on Ohio State's back-breaking drive that bridged the third and fourth quarters. On those six plays, Pryor accounted for 83 yards, including 47 through the air and another 36 on the ground. He converted five first downs and a touchdown.
"He was prepared," Tressel said of his sophomore. "Every time we talk about being poised and patient, he gives me this I know' look. But he was certainly poised and patient today."
Pryor finish 8-of-17 for 125 yards through the air, while rushing for another 50 yards on five carries.
FIELD POSITION: One of the reasons for Penn State's conservative approach on offense had to do with its poor field position for the entire game. On their 13 drives, the Nittany Lions' average starting field position was their own 22, while Ohio State's was its own 36. Eight of Penn State's drives started inside the 22, and four started inside the 15. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, started three drives in Penn State territory, scoring touchdowns on two of them.
