Time is on Pryor's side, and soon opponents will run and hide

MADISON, Wis. -- Get them now, people. I'm talking to you, Big Ten. And to you, college football powerhouses elsewhere. Get them now. Get the Ohio State Buckeyes now, this year, while Terrelle Pryor is still a kid.

It's just a matter of time before Terrelle Pryor strikes fear in opponents' hearts. (AP)

Maybe it's too late. Maybe he became a man Saturday night, when he led the No. 14 Buckeyes to a 20-17 victory at No. 18 Wisconsin. Maybe Pryor, a true freshman, emerged from his cocoon at Camp Randall Stadium, where he drove the Buckeyes 80 yards late in the fourth quarter, scoring the game-winning touchdown himself on an ice-cold 11-yard keeper with 68 seconds left.

Maybe it's already over.

Probably not. Terrelle Pryor is still a kid, prone to silly mistakes, as he showed against Wisconsin. He holds the ball too long, refuses to throw it away, retreats deeper and deeper into the pocket because he's so confident, so good, that he believes he can turn nothing into something. The stats will show he ran for just 20 yards against Wisconsin because he kept taking sacks he didn't need to take. He also threw an interception on an ill-advised jump ball 50 yards down the field. Good as he was Saturday night, Pryor wasn't anywhere near as good as he's going to be.

So get them now, people. I'm talking to you, Penn State. And to you, Michigan State. And to you, Illinois. (Not to you, Michigan. You have no chance. Not now. And not until Pryor is gone.)

Get the Buckeyes now, because this team is going to be awesome. Because this player, this one incredible player, is going to be unstoppable.

"He's coming of age," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said afterward.

We've seen Pryor's kind before, and his kind won a national championship. His kind didn't win the Heisman Trophy, but mistakes happen, and that was a mistake. Because in 2005, Texas quarterback Vince Young was the best player in college football.

In 2005, Young was the best college player since Herschel Walker. He made Southern California look silly in the Rose Bowl, and someday Terrelle Pryor will make someone that good look that silly as well. It won't happen this season, because Pryor is just 19 years old. When Young threw for 3,000 yards and ran for 1,000 yards in 2005, he was a junior. A fourth-year junior. He had redshirted his first year on campus, then shared playing time as a redshirt freshman, when he threw for 1,155 yards and ran for 998. He didn't become The Man until he was a sophomore.

Pryor has no such luxury. Neither does Tressel, who decided three games ago that Pryor has to play every meaningful down as a true freshman. It's too bad for Ohio State that Tressel came to that conclusion after the 35-3 loss Southern California, which was the last start made by Ohio State's Wally Pipp Todd Boeckman. Then again, without injured tailback Beanie Wells, Pryor wouldn't have been able to beat USC by himself. Not this year. Not as a true freshman.

Next year? Or the year after? Don't bet against him.

When Terrelle Pryor becomes a man -- and that might not happen until 2010, though my money's on 2009 -- the Buckeyes will become unbeatable. This is Ohio State, and that's Tressel, so you know the team will always have a stout defense. It will always have effective special teams. Jim Tressel will have a running back and an offensive line, too.