Around this time last week, Ohio State coaches were talking about remaining patient with Terrelle Pryor, revving the hyped sophomore in the slow lane until his experience catches up with immense physical gifts and they feel comfortable turning him loose at full speed. After Pryor's two-interception, two-fumble debacle in last Saturday's loss at Purdue, though, clearly "patience" in Columbus has run out, blowing the lid off a long-simmering cauldron of frustration: The Columbus Dispatch openly wondered if Pryor's turnovers in OSU's two losses were the biggest difference in 5-2 and 7-0; nearly half of the respondents in an online Dispatch poll voted for Pryor to be benched despite a stark lack of depth behind him; and coach Jim Tressel was forced to defend his quarterback, which he surely couldn't have imagined five days ago. Fellow sophomore DeVier Posey, trying to stick up for his classmate, insisted to reporters today that Pryor was bound to improve because "he really can't do much worse."

Among Buckeyes, anyway, the Purdue loss seems to have been less the subtle moment when Pryor crossed the blurry line between "burgeoning star" and "burgeoning mediocrity" than the moment when the dam finally broke all at once. This, after all, was not another loss to Penn State or USC, but a total offensive collapse against a last-place team riding a five-game losing streak -- the kind of routine, gimme win Ohio State has never let slip away on Tressel's watch -- and the critics of both Pryor and how OSU is using Pryor are rushing into the breach with both barrels blazing. Among the second group of critics is Pryor's high school coach, apparently, who told ESPN's Joe Schad today that the most sought-after player in the class of 2008 was recruited to run, and they should let him run, man:

"They need Terrelle to run more," former Jeannette (Pa.) High School coach Ray Reitz said. "They've put the reins on him and they need to let him go free. When I watch Terrelle play right now, I see a robot."
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"All I know is they promised him that they would teach him a pro-style system with both a shotgun and under center," Reitz said. "Jim Tressel is a great coach and he's been running his offense successfully for 30 years. But I'd like to see some zone-read plays where with one mistake [by the defense], he can be gone. ..."
[..]
"There is no question that Rich Rodriguez's offense [at Michigan], for example, would be more apt to suit Terrelle's skills," Reitz said. "But Ohio State sold him on the idea that they would prepare him for the NFL and that they don't run 'zone-read' in the NFL. Jim Tressel is a great coach. But I can tell you there is more to Terrelle Pryor than what we've been seeing."

You may eat up that juicy Michigan smack, or question the tact of one coach openly second-guessing another (much better-known and extremely successful) coach in the press. But the issue Reitz hits on here was the fundamental question of Ohio State's season: Would Tressel set Pryor free as the most gifted runner on the field, a la Vince Young in his second year as a starter at Texas, when he guided the Longhorns to a Rose Bowl win in 2004 as a prelude to a perfect national championship run as a junior? Or would the Buckeyes continue to play their usual, close-to-the-sweatervest brand of conservative power running, "efficient" passing and field position?

The answer through the first half of the year -- against USC as well as Wisconsin and Purdue -- has clearly tended toward the latter, with the result that OSU ranks next-to-last in the Big Ten in total offense, Pryor's personal production has plummeted from his freshman campaign and the team has endured probably its worst loss of the nine-year-old Tressel era.

But with Penn State and Iowa both still ahead on the conference schedule, the Buckeyes remain very much alive for another Big Ten title -- they've won or shared four in a row -- and if there's one thing we've learned throughout those years, it's that Tressel believes in his brand of football and isn't in any hurry to change it for the benefit of a bored or frustrated audience. When Pryor hits the field Saturday against Minnesota, the Buckeyes are going to do what they've always done: Establish the run between the tackles, look for the occasional big play off play-action passes and studiously avoid anything that might do more harm than a solid punt. The only time Tressel has moved away from this model, with Troy Smith in 2006, he had an experienced senior quarterback en route to the Heisman Trophy, surrounded by a veteran offense that he trusted enough to push the gas pedal a little with spread formations and more aggressive passing.

Pryor is obviously not at that point in his development, and neither is his surrounding cast. This offense is still the proverbial "year away." But I wouldn't bet on the Homecoming crowd buying that line for very long if they come out stumbling against Saturday against Minnesota.