Ever ordered a club sandwich with really great fillings, say layers of Berkeley pickles and Tempe-raised turkey, bologna from Salt Lake, Indiana-raised ham, and trojan mustard, and two layers of Washington-grown tomatoes, topped with tasty barkrat cheese and desert salami, but found it was made with three pieces of really stale, moldy bread? This year was kind of like that.  A sandwich season, bread provided by Broncos and Buckeyes, club slice courtesy of Toby Gearhart. 

OK, enough with the metaphors. This Rose Bowl -- really, the entire season -- was all about potential. 

For Oregon: It's nice to be able to say -- unlike the last Rose Bowl -- this team made a competitive effort, could have won, and has the potential to be significantly better next season. (Yes, the '95 team made the Cotton Bowl, but lost badly to Stanford and ASU, and we all remember what happened in Dallas.)

For Ohio St: I said elsewhere in this here web site a few weeks ago that my greatest fear was Pryor living up to all his potential. Duck fans for weeks had been playing the "past performance is an indicator of future results" hand, saying that since Pryor hadn't shown an ability to pass, he could not pass accurately. Oopsie. Pryor is a stud, and Kelly was right to recruit him.

Let's talk about potential and room for improvement going forward. 2010, despite a less than favorable schedule, could be a very special year -- how special hinges on correcting certain deficiencies that tOSU exposed to win the game.

Defense: Aliotti's taking a lot of shite on the Internets for not having a good game plan. I don't think this is right -- he did what everyone was saying he should do: Make Pryor beat us with his arm. Which he did.

The DL played well under the circumstances, considering the size disadvantage; it's not as though they were being run over.. Bain and Rowe had excellent games. They're both back, and if Bain can spend the offseason pumping up he can be a monster -- he has good technique. 

Linebackers did *not* play well; they missed their chances. 

Considering the unexpected pressure placed upon it,  I thought the secondary overall played an outstanding game. This in some cases wound up biting us in the ass -- the coverage was so thorough that when plays broke down after what seemed like 30 seconds of Pryor trying to find someone open, he'd just be able to take off and make plays on his own; a 7-foot, 350 lb QB with 4.1 speed will find a way eventually. Even on the touchdown passes, the coverage was good -- Pryor just threw great, catchable balls, and the receivers went up and got them. This is where the LBs needed to find ways to get pressure. But Harris and Boyett were outstanding. And they're freshmen.  (Hmm, seems I'm saying the F word a lot here..)  Although the Ducks lose a lot of senior leadership, I feel as good about the defensive backfield in 2010 as any part of the team. 

Offense: I fear Masoli's never going to get much better than he is now, unless he grows 3 or 4 inches in the offseason. tOSU made him a pocket passer, and the one thing he is *not* is a player who's built to take a snap, scan the field and throw over the line. He didn't get sacked, but if you can keep the spread QB from running and make him throw an incompletion it's almost as good as a sack. And there were a few plays where Maehl or Davis were wide open downfield, but JM either couldn't see them over the line or was under too much pressure to notice or was just locked into throwing for a short gain. Fortunately, there aren't many teams in the Pac that can exploit this flaw the way tOSU could. I hope Helfrich works with JM a *lot* over the spring on his mechanics; that sorta-sidearm release may get the ball out fast, but there's a reason NFL qbs don't throw from the waist.

Don't blame Masoli, or Dickson, for ED's 0-fer in the Rose. OSU knew he was a threat over the middle, and was blanketing him front and back on every passing situation. The slants and hooks just weren't open. and on the occasions where he had a chance, JM had to rush the throw. Thanks for the great career, Ed, and here's hoping you make buckets of cash at the next level. David Paulson had good games all season as the #2 and looks ready to step up in 2010.

Of course we all feel great about the RB situation going forward. The Blount fumble wasn't bad karma -- although it looked like it to the casual fan -- just bad technique; JM put the ball too high. And it's not as if LGB intentionally kicked the ball out. Stuff happens; we've been on the good side of most of the breaks this year, but not this time. 

The OL returns intact, after playing over its head most of the season. I expect they'll return harder, better, faster, stronger.

Kicking -- Sad to see Flint miss his last career kick, but it could have been worse -- he could have been that poor Demos kid from Northwestern.  Rice had a great year punting and he's a freshman.

Overall? Sure, it hurts to lose yet another Rose Bowl. But they got there. They won the Pac-10 by two games.  If I wore a had I'd take it off to Tressel for coming up with a great gameplan. OSU is good and will be better next year. So will Oregon.

Stay thirsty, my friends.