Isaiah Prince drew the ire of many Ohio State fans and the media following his team's shocking 24-21 loss at Penn State two weeks ago, and deservedly so. The first-year starter and true sophomore didn't exactly do his part in keeping J.T. Barrett's jersey clean against the Nittany Lions.
Ohio State RT Isaiah Prince allowed 14 QB pressures vs Penn Statethe highest number we have recorded for an individual single player.
— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) October 26, 2016
Such a statistic is not great for someone considered one of the five best available offensive linemen on a top-10 team. But Prince played much better this past Saturday against Northwestern and caught the eye of Pro Football Focus. The football analysis site named him to its Team Of The Week along with Penn State's Paris Palmer.
According to PFF, Prince narrowly outscored Palmer 84.0 to 83.4 as the Buckeyes beat the Wildcats 24-20. Penn State thumped Purdue 62-24:
Offensive tackle – Isaiah Prince, Ohio State 84.0 and Paris Palmer, Penn State 83.4
What a difference a week makes as Prince bounced back from one of the worst games of the season against Penn State to show well in the run game this week, while not allowing a pressure on 35 dropbacks. Palmer had a similar turnaround as he had his worst game of the season the previous week against Ohio State but he was an asset in the run game against Purdue and allowed only one hurry on 28 attempts.
Obviously, Northwestern's pass rush and front seven isn't on the same level as Penn State's and Prince played against the Wildcats at home and not in hostile Beaver Stadium. But not allowing a pressure is not allowing a pressure.
Eleven Warriors Xs and Os guru Kyle Jones said the biggest thing he noticed with Prince between the two outings was confidence.
"You could just see he looked uncomfortable in Happy Valley,” Jones said. “A guy that size should have no issues with the physical part of the game at this level. All upstairs.”
Urban Meyer said Ohio State doesn't have a better option than Prince at tackle due to the knee injury to JUCO transfer Malcolm Pridgeon and lack of development of the guys behind him on the depth chart.
Prince and the entire offensive line will get tested again on Saturday night. Nebraska is tied for fifth in the Big Ten with 19 sacks through eight games.
