Warning: Hide the chilluns. Profanity throughout.

In the wake of the stunning loss to Purdue, Buckeye fans have returned to doing what we do best: losing our shit. This is a hallowed pastime in "Buckeye Nation", and I will freely admit that I am not always entirely innocent of it. It's a ritual that follows every loss. Setting aside the usual "FIRE JIM TRESSEL" calls and recognizing them for the hopeless fairweather idiocy that they are, there are still plenty other mystifying claims being thrown around by Buckeye fans who probably should have better things to do. I'm targeting one here in particular today: the misbegotten conception that because Terrelle Pryor is already a "bust" because he isn't progressing like we thought he would, and may even be regressing. It's easy to understand why Buckeye fans are so quick to toss out the label; we've had stud quarterbacks as recently as 2004 who came in with all-world hype, only to flop on the grandest of scales, costing the team games, recruits and time. Justin Zwick never panned out. Neither did Steve Bellisari or Austin Moherman. To say that Ohio State has a troubled history with highly-touted QBs would be telling half the story. My advice: don't lose touch with anything resembling reality faith in the guy because he's going through a rough patch. Even with our program's checkered history with all-world QBs, all talk at present of Pryor being a bust is little more than than internet OUTRAGE-fueled panic, and should not be taken seriously.

Fatalism has swept in to some parts of the fanbase and a surprising amount of people are resigned to the belief that Pryor is yet another in a long line of signal callers who, like Zwick and Bellisari before him, is cursed to underperform until he's benched for what might be a surprising savior. After all, Zwick had Troy Smith and Bellisari had "Krazy Legs"/"Special K" Craig Krenzel. I personally don't have a clue whether or not Bauserman will be that guy for Terrelle, but given the way the line is pass-blocking and his relative lack of quicks, I have to conclude that benching Pryor in favor of Bauserman for anything more than a series here or there (i.e. in the darkest depths of the Purdue game, when Terrelle could no longer distinguish black from white in the most literal sense) would be an incredibly apefuckingly stupid move.

Despite these considerations, there is a certain red-faced, spit-flecked segment of the fanbase that is so adamant about Pryor being a bust that it has lost all perspective; if it had any in the first place. I'm here to provide it. It's time to stop panicking, and reassess the situation. When Terrelle Pryor came to Ohio State, the label that stuck was "The Next Vince Young." Let's compare the two as passers first.

As you can see, from his freshman to his sophomore year, VY added 5 percentage points to his completion percentage, shaved .6 yards off his yards/attempt, and only made marginal improvments in his TD-INT ratio. Let's take a look at Pryor.

A couple notes about playing time: Vince Young shared time in 2003 (his freshman season) with Chance Mock, a more traditional pocket-passer who was supposed to be a better downfield passer than the young scrambler. Vince gradually took on more and more playing time until Mock was benched altogether midway through Vince's redshirt-freshman year (during a 65-13 loss to rival Oklahoma; yes, Buckeye fans, it can get much fucking worse... darkest, dawn etc.).

It's safe to say that Vince Young was not wowing people with his arm as a sophomore. While there was no clear regression for VY as there was for Pryor, TP started out worlds better statistically, and thus this regression is a little more jarring than it would have been for VY, who turned a negative TD/INT ratio to a positive in his second season as a starter, but barely. Outside of those ratios, the numbers are essentially a push. This is even more surprising when you consider that Vince Young was playing on what was a far better team in 2004 Texas than Pryor is with 2009 Ohio State. It's tough to admit, but it's true: Young shared time in the backfield with a dominant Cedric Benson and got more than a little help from a solid defense led by Derrick Johnson. 2004 Texas finished with an 11-1 record and a Rose Bowl spot. 2009 Ohio State will not. I'd be willing to wager that the situation Pryor found himself in during the 2008 season is actually more comparable to Young's 2004 season, with (healthy) Beanie being his Ced Benson and a stout defense making sure things don't get out of hand, and, fortunately for us, Pryor's numbers showed it.

So it's undoubtedly reassuring that Vince's passing numbers are comparable to Pryor's, and that VY had even undergone with a redshirt year in his first year at Texas, giving him an advantage over Terrelle. Even with three years in the system at the end of 2004, the future national champion was still barely managing a 1:1 TD:INT ratio. So why the difference in perception? The rushing numbers don't seem to favor VY too much, taken at face value: Vince Young accounted for 1079 yards on the ground his sophomore season; Pryor is on pace for roughly 681 this year. "But that's 400 yards!" you say, and you're correct, but less so when you take sacks into account: