PASADENA -­- Isn't this what he was supposed to do? Wasn't Terrelle Pryor rated the best prep football player in the land a couple of seasons ago? Didn't everyone contend when Ohio State picked up Pryor it picked up a national championship? Or at the least a BCS bowl game win?

It hadn't worked that way. Until Friday night. Until the first evening of 2010.

Until Buckeye coach Jim Tressel let the big kid free, allowed him to throw the ball as well as run it, gave him the chance to use the talent no one doubted he had.

The final game of Pryor's sophomore season became the first game of his new maturity. That it happened in the 96th Rose Bowl Game, before 93,963 fans, on one of those glorious southern California midwinter days, only made it more enthralling.

"I was trying to prove to everybody that I was a quarterback,'' said Pryor of some tougher times. "I've gotten a lot better.''

Gotten good enough Tressel changed his plan of attack, giving Pryor the go-ahead to pass, and after throwing exactly 17 times each of the Buckeyes' final three regular schedule games Terrelle threw 37 times, completing 23, two for touchdowns, in the Rose Bowl.

Gotten good enough that along with his 92 yards scrambling and key third-down plays, he was chosen offensive player of the game.

Gotten good enough, Ohio State (11-2) grabbed the football and virtually never gave it up, a reason the Buckeyes shut down Oregon and beat the Ducks, 26-17.

That was the first time in the last seven games - ironically, since one here against UCLA which uses the Rose Bowl stadium as its home - Oregon failed to score at least 30 points. Only the third time in 13 games the Ducks (10-3) failed to reach 30.

That flash-dash-where-did-he-go Oregon attack went nowhere. Because it couldn't. There was only one football, and most of the time, more than two-thirds of the time, Ohio State had it.

One drive, in the second quarter, the Buckeyes had the ball 19 plays for 8 minutes 3 seconds. They gained 67 yards and finished with a field goal, which almost didn't matter as much as the fact the Oregon offense had to stand on the sideline.

"It was surprising to us,'' said Oregon coach Chip Kelly. "We felt watching their last couple of games they didn't throw it very much and were rather conservative. They came in and opened it up, and obviously Terrelle beat us.''

Obviously.

The Buckeyes had the ball 41 minutes 37 seconds, but Kelly said "TOP? I wasn't worried about time of possession, I was worried about TP, Terrelle Pryor.''

He is 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, has sprinter speed, bench presses more than 300 pounds and plays basketball well enough to have been chased by major schools in that sport. Pryor, from Jeannette, Pa., considered Penn State, even considered Oregon but enrolled at Ohio State.

"I just thought Ohio State was the best program,'' said Pryor.

It was the best at the Rose Bowl.

Oregon was favored, but the Ducks only flapped their wings. Ohio State shadowed Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, whose sleight-of-hand and speed-of-foot usually keeps the opposition off balance. Not this time.

"We can put pressure on you,'' said Tressel, "and if you put pressure on the quarterback, especially, in Oregon's system, especially as good as he is, it's going to give you a lot better chances.

"For us, it was playing our assignment football. We felt like if we could keep someone in (Masoli's) face, and make him make quick decisions, it would play into our hands.''

Hands and feet. And head. Pryor used all three. Several times on long third downs he connected for firsts. Of 21 third downs, the Buckeyes were successful 11 times converting to firsts.

"We felt this was a pivotal game for Terrelle,'' said Tressel. "The end of the first half of his career. We have ongoing discussions as to how we're progressing. I felt like we needed to progress a little bit more. I think we did.''

Indeed. The big cat was let loose and on the same field where Vince Young of Texas showed his versatility in the BCS title game of 2006 against USC.

"I was very excited when coach Tressel said we were coming out to win it,'' Pryor said. "We're just going to keep getting better.''

Asked how much better he can get, Pryor, was both humble and honest. "For myself, ‘'he said "the sky's the limit. But I can't do anything without my teammates. I thought I could have a game like this at any time.''

He had it at the right time, and it was winning time.