Heisman-hopeful Pryor coming to town

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said Tuesday he’s been seeing Minnesota’s senior quarterback Adam Weber in his sleep this week.

If that’s the case, the No. 10 Buckeyes’ Heisman-hopeful quarterback Terrelle Pryor must be throwing off the Gophers’ circadian rhythm leading up to Saturday’s 7 p.m. contest at TCF Bank Stadium.

“With Terrelle Pryor, obviously he’s given a lot of people nightmares,” Minnesota interim head coach Jeff Horton said. “If you look at his maturation from when he was a freshman to where he is now, he’s come light-years.”

The 6-foot-6-inch, 233-pound junior is the complete quarterback. He can throw. He can run. He even has a receiving touchdown this season.

Horton called Pryor — who has 21 total touchdowns in 2010 — one of best dual-threat signal callers in the nation. If it was not for the emergence of Auburn’s Cam Newton and Michigan’s Denard Robinson this season, that might be a knock on Pryor.

Luckily for the Gophers, their defense should be at full strength with the return of linebacker Mike Rallis, who didn’t start but had seven tackles in Saturday’s 33-21 loss to Penn State. Although the Gophers have had trouble tackling all season, Rallis is athletic enough to contain Pryor, Horton said.

But defensive end D.L. Wilhite said there’s no way to stop Pryor, so Minnesota will simply need to slow him down — something they’ve struggled to do this season against other running quarterbacks like South Dakota’s Dante Warren and Northwestern’s Dan Persa.

“[Pryor is] going to make some plays every game. We’ve just got to do our best to contain him,” Wilhite said. “He’s one of the best, probably one of the fastest quarterbacks in the nation, so it’s going to be a different challenge.”

What makes Ohio State’s offense all the more difficult is that the Buckeyes have two of the best wide receivers in the Big Ten. Senior Dane Sanzenbacher and junior DeVier Posey both rank in the top 10 in receiving yards in the conference.

If the Gophers try to stop Pryor from running, he can throw it deep to sure-handed receivers. If they play tight coverage, Pryor could find big running lanes.

“You’ve got to know your responsibilities,” senior safety Kyle Theret said about defending Pryor. “But it is a fine line because if you go deep … he can run a little bit.”

Against a more-experienced Minnesota defense last season, Pryor destroyed the Gophers in a 38-7 win. As just a sophomore, Pryor ran for 104 yards and a touchdown and threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns, both to Posey.

“You’d hope on Halloween maybe somebody else would show up in Ohio State uniforms,” Horton said. “But they’re the ones that are showing up, so we’ve got to be ready to go.”

Planning to attack

Ohio State’s offense is as scary as any that Minnesota has seen all year, but its defense is no treat either.

The Buckeyes rank No. 3 in the nation in total defense (234.5 yards allowed per game), so the Gophers will have to catch them by surprise if they want to keep it interesting.

“When you play an Ohio State team, you have to be in attack mode,” Horton said. “You’ve got to go right at them right from the start. I think if you sit back and wait for something to happen, sit back and hope they make a mistake, you’ve got no chance.”

Offensive coordinator Thomas Hammock took over play-calling duties with Horton’s interim promotion, and on Saturday, he called a more aggressive game — more deep passes earlier in the game — than Horton had through the first seven games, which is a benefit Athletics Director Joel Maturi likely didn’t realize when he fired Tim Brewster.

“With coach Ham being able to mix it up, they don’t have a lot of tape on how he calls a game,” Weber said. “That will be an advantage for us. We don’t really have a pattern yet, so we’ll probably be able to catch them off guard.”

Injury update

Senior fullback Jon Hoese is listed as doubtful after injuring his hamstring on a fourth-down run in Saturday’s loss to Penn State. Sophomore Ed Cotton is listed as the starter, and Hoese will be re-evaluated later this week.

Left tackle Ed Olson is listed as the starter but suffered an ankle injury Saturday. Dom Alford saw extensive time in Olson’s place Saturday and could fill in similarly this week.

Backup nose tackle Austin Hahn will miss “several weeks” with a knee injury, and defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman has been reinstated after a one-game suspension for violating team rules.