Stafon Johnson scored from two yards out with one minute, five seconds remaining to give USC a one-point lead. Joe McKnight’s reception on the two-point conversion gave the Trojans a three-point lead.

With a minute to work with, Terrelle Pryor was called for intentional grounding on first down and the offense never moved the chains.

“I’m really just physically drained and I know this whole team is just physically drained,” senior captain Kurt Coleman said. “We worked so hard and it’s just tough coming off –I mean, the offense did a great job of doing their job, as a defense we’ve got to get off the field. Especially we knew the ball was going to be the ball in our court and we had to stop them on that last drive and we knew that and it’s just tough, man, I don't know, it’s just tough.”

On the third play from scrimmage, Chris Galippo intercepted Pryor and ran the ball to the Buckeye two-yard line. Four plays later, Johnson scored from the one.
 

Pryor ended the night 11-of-25 with 177 yards and an interception. He also rushed 10 times for 36 yards Ohio State had only 265 yards of offense.

“It just comes down to me,” the sophomore quarterback said. “I take the whole blame for it. We had them on the ropes. We didn’t help the defense enough. We needed this win. We should have beat them. Point blank, we should have beat them.”

The Buckeyes quickly drove 72 yards on six plays the other way to tie the game at seven Pryor found Dane Sanzenbacher for 56-yards and Dan Herron ran two yards for the touchdown.

Ohio State took a 10-7 lead on the first play of the second quarter with an 18-yard field goal from Aaron Pettrey.

The Buckeyes had two opportunities to extend the lead in the second quarter. Ross Homan intercepted USC quarterback Matt Barkley, but the Buckeyes could not move the ball. Late in the quarter, USC kicker Jordan Congdon had a 44-yard field goal attempt bounce off the crossbar. Again, the Buckeyes went three-and-out on the ensuing possession.

“Offensively, man, we’ve got to punch it in,” Pryor said. “Our defense, wow, that’s all I can say about them. They played a hell of a game. We have to punch it in offensively. That’s on me and the offense.”

The Trojans tied the game at 10 on a Jordan Congdon 22-yard field goal as the first half came to an end. USC drove 77 yards on 10 plays in 48 seconds after Ohio State failed to run the clock out on their previous possession.

Ohio State regained the lead when Billy O’Malley couldn’t handle a high snap and the ball went out of the end zone for safety. On the ensuing drive, Pettrey kicked a 22-yard field goal to put the Buckeyes up 15-10.

After taking the lead, the Buckeyes had two chances to add to their lead. On one possession, the offense moved the ball 27 yards on nine plays in 3:48. On another, Ohio State drove to the USC-32, but Pryor was sacked and Ohio State coach Jim Tressel decided to punt the ball back to the Trojans.

On the game-winning drive, Barkley was sacked on the first down and USC was called for a false start on the second snap. With the ball on the five, the Trojans calmed down and methodically drove the ball and a steak in the hearts of the Buckeye Nation.

“It was a tough ballgame,” Tressel said. “Our kids played extremely hard and we just didn’t come up with enough of the things you need to do to win a ball game like that. You need to score more than five points in the second half and they came up with plays on that last drive when they needed to and so they go home with the spoils.”

Barkley ended the game with 195 yards on 15-of-31 passing. McKnight had 60 yards on 16 touches, while Damian Williams had five receptions for 51 yards to lead USC.

Ohio State travels to Cleveland Browns Stadium to play Toledo Saturday at noon. They return home Sept. 26 to begin Big 10 play against Illinois.