ESPN’s Mark May might not think so, but Ohio State freshman quarterback Terelle Pryor is clearly ready for the big stage of college football. Pryor certainly proved that last night in the Buckeyes’ 20-17 victory over Wisconsin.

Forced to pass in those final six minutes with OSU trailing, 17-13, Pryor threw to Brian Hartline for 19 yards, again for 27 yards, and finally hit Ray Small for 13 yards. On the long one to Hartline, who fumbled to teammate Brian Robiskie after the last of a night of savage Wisconsin hits, Pryor went to his third receiver. Coach Jim Tressel loves that kind of poise.

Pryor also made plenty of mistakes, “young” plays as he said. In the first half, he once threw deep for Brandon Saine, covered the way the tabloids cover Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears. Wisconsin plucked it like a ripe grape.

He got turned the wrong way on a maximum blitz and had nowhere to put the ball. The result was a 16-yard sack, the second such huge loss he has absorbed in three games.

This is what good teams do to young quarterbacks. They mix it up. They hit him where he thinks they ain’t. They burst the bubble. He seemed caught in an agony of indecision at times, pump-faking, not finding open receivers, then eating the ball for losses.

In the last 90 seconds of the first half, deep in his own territory, Pryor could not find wide receiver DeVier Posey over the middle, although he was as open as a drive-thru window late. The three-and-out gave Wisconsin time to drive for the field goal that gave the Badgers a 10-7 halftime lead.

He could not get it into the end zone in the third quarter from first-and-goal at the 2. A field goal gave Ohio State a 10-10 tie.

The stage had dwarfed the freshman. What did you expect?

How could anyone reinflate a popped bubble?

He trotted onto the field, 80 yards from the touchdown he needed to steal the game. Camp Randall Stadium was rocking, seesawing from side to side on its foundations, as the Buckeyes reeled.

“Big drive,” Tressel told Pryor.

Big finish, too.

Pryor has been outstanding in his development so far and what’s even better is that he’s a fierce competitor. He’s motivated by what guys like May say about him, but not in a detrimental way. (At least not yet anyway.)

People expecting Ohio State to eventually take a step back, forget it. This kid is going to have the Buckeyes competing for a national title for the next couple years. Would have loved to see what he could have done with a full game against USC. OSU still might have lost, but I doubt it would have been the massacre it wound up being.

Down 20-0 to Iowa State at halftime, No. 16 Kansas appeared destined to become the latest upset victim in college football. But the Jayhawks amassed 35-second half points to rally past the unranked Cyclones, 35-33.

It was over when… The Jayhawks defense forced Cyclones QB Austen Arnaud to throw four straight incomplete passes in the final minute of the game.
Gameball goes to… Todd Reesing. The QB pulled the Jayhawks out of a ditch when he threw for two TDs in the third quarter, the second of which put Kansas on top.
Stat of the game… 319. Reesing racked up 319 total yards Saturday, the fourth straight game in which he surpassed the 300-yard mark.

Here’s an interesting stat from this series: Three of the Jayhawks’ five largest come-from-behind victories have been against Iowa State, including a 26-point rally in 1992. Ouch, Cyclones.

After crushing Arkansas 38-7 in Fayetteville on Saturday, Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators officially bounced back from their upset loss to Ole’ Miss last week. But for three quarters, the Gators didn’t look that great, which allowed the Razorbacks to hang around until the fourth when UF blew it open. And as Pat Dooley of The Gainesville Sun writes, maybe Tebow and the rest of the Gators are focusing too much on how they’re winning and not winning itself.

The body language Tebow was using after a huge score in a must-win game kind of summed it up for the Gator Nation, where negativity lived all week.

Yeah, we’re winning but we should be winning by more. Did you see that pass that was picked off? What was I thinking? The penalties, man the penalties. The offense just isn’t where it should be.

And it wasn’t for three quarters, which is why Arkansas stayed around and stayed around and Florida fans grew more and more nervous with every passing gaffe. But Arkansas isn’t as good as Ole Miss, so eventually Florida hit some big plays and blew it open.

And isn’t that what we should all be focusing on?

Doesn’t 38-7 on the road feel a lot better than 31-30 at home?

So I am going to be Mr. Positive today. You win by 31 and beat the point spread and it’s a good day no matter where you live.

Mr. Positive saw a Florida team come out here on the road on a day that started with rain and wind and chill, a day that ended in the brilliant sunshine that only a victory can bring.

So lighten up and enjoy it. That includes you, Timmy.

Forget everything that’s happened anyway.

The season starts this week.

Dooley brings up a good point. Too many times we as fans or the media get wrapped up in perfection. We know that one loss could mean that a team’s national title aspirations go up in smoke. But upsets happen, especially nowadays in college football where the talent is more spread out than ever. It’s too bad that style points mean something in college football because all Tebow and the Gators should have to worry about is winning. (Same goes for every program in the nation.)

Coming into the 2008 College Football Season, the Penn State Nittany Lions weren’t considered a national championship contender. They weren’t even considered a legitimate contender in the Big Ten, with many ranking them behind Ohio State, Wisconsin and even Illinois in the conference.

But PSU remains undefeated on the season after beating Purdue 20-6 on Saturday and even though they’re still flying under the national championship radar, teams better start taking notice. Not only do the Lions have one of the best offenses in the nation (they were averaging close to 50 points a game coming into this weekend), but they also flashed a little defense in their victory over the Boilermakers.

Penn State doesn’t have a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback like Oklahoma, Missouri or Texas – three teams currently ranked ahead of them in the polls – but so far Daryll Clark has proven that he’s an excellent fit for Joe Paterno’s new spread offense. And while he doesn’t have unworldly size and athleticism like fellow Big Ten back Chris “Beanie” Wells of Ohio State, RB Evan Royster is a workhorse that can grind out tough yards like he did Saturday against Purdue when he rushed for 141 yards and a 7.8 YPC average.

It was interesting to see PSU win like it did against the Boilermakers because it was unlike any of its previous victories this season. They didn’t light up the scoreboard or win with flash; they just kept moving the ball methodically on offense, didn’t turn the ball over and played solid defense. They proved today that they could win without relying on the big play, which should only serve them going forward.

The next three weeks will prove whether or not Penn State is a true contender or not. They’re at Wisconsin, home against Michigan and then travel to Columbus to take on OSU through the rest of October. That’s a daunting three-week task.