Terrelle Pryor, Jim Tressel and the Ohio State Buckeyes saved their best for last, vanquishing several seasons of bowl game frustration with a 26-17 Rose Bowl victory Saturday over Oregon in Pasadena, Calif.

Tressel’s unusually pass-heavy playcalling fueled a career day for his sophomore quarterback, who led the Buckeyes to their first postseason win since beating Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2, 2006.

“I was very excited that coach Tressel came out winging it,” said Pryor, whose 24 first-half heaves were more than he had attempted in any of the three previous games. “We know what we can do. Sometimes we have to run the ball and let the clock out because we know we have control of the game.”

Pryor, named the Rose Bowl’s Offensive Player of the Game, finished with a career-best 266 passing yards and 23 completions, none more significant than a 17-yard fade to receiver DeVier Posey for a touchdown that vaulted OSU to the final nine-point cushion with seven minutes remaining.

“That play is almost unstoppable,” Pryor said. “I got that off of Peyton Manning, watching him a lot.”

The Buckeyes started the game on a similarly positive note.

On the contest’s opening drive, Pryor connected with running back Brandon Saine, who tiptoed down the sideline and into the end zone for a 13-yard score.

After tacking on a Devin Barclay field goal, Ohio State surrendered the game’s next 10 points to an Oregon offense that struggled all day to find an offensive rhythm.

 “Their offense is so explosive with so many different backs and wide receivers,” senior safety Kurt Coleman said. “They tried to throw a lot of different formations at us, but we just kept our consistently based defense out there and we felt like we could run with them from sideline to sideline.”

Running back LeGarrette Blount, whose opening-night punch of a Boise State lineman marred his season, entered the game to a raucous Oregon cheer in the second quarter and plowed through a hole to score on a 3-yard touchdown to knot the game at 10-10.

A pair of field goals- one by Barclay and one by senior Aaron Pettrey- lifted OSU to a 16-10 advantage at halftime.

Oregon finally found its spark after intermission, though, with a 12-play drive resulting in a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jeremiah Masoli.

“As soon as we came into halftime, we knew they were going to get the ball back first,” Coleman said. “One of our big stigmas throughout the whole year has been not coming out to start the second half and stop the offense.”  

However, the Ducks’ offense took a blow to the chin when Blount fumbled the ball through the Ohio State end zone as Oregon was driving for a go-ahead score in the third quarter.

The Buckeyes couldn’t capitalize on the turnover, however, as Pryor tossed an interception four plays later, the sophomore’s only turnover of the game, despite a career-high 37 pass attempts and 20 rushes for 72 yards.

Ohio State’s defense stiffened up in the fourth quarter, and after Posey’s touchdown, Oregon kicker Morgan Trent misfired on a 44-yard field goal, all but sealing the Ducks’ fate.

“On our sideline we always felt like we were in it until kind of when the field goal was missed,” Oregon coach Chip Kelly said.

In the end, it was Pryor who hunted down the Ducks, busting out a career effort in the most noteworthy game of his life to date.

“At times tonight, he looked like a man amongst boys,” Kelly said. “He’s an impressive player when you see him up close. He certainly beat us on how he threw the ball.”

On the other side, Masoli struggled to find his groove, completing just nine of 20 passes for 81 yards and an interception.

“We were going to make sure that he wasn’t running scot-free,” Tressel said. “He did get in the end zone, and he did break a couple [runs] in there. But we played our defense. … If you can put pressure on the quarterback, especially in Oregon’s system, as good as he is, if you can keep a little heat on him, it’s going to give you a lot better chances.”

The heat Masoli felt from the OSU defensive line was comparable to the pressure thrust upon the Buckeyes for their recent BCS Bowl Game failures. That heavy burden on the Buckeyes’ shoulders, however, has now been lifted.

“I talked to the guys today,” Coleman said, “and I said, ‘It’s 2010, it’s a new year, a new beginning, I want to go out with a win today.'”