COLUMBUS — They had both made big plays for the Buckeyes, and now they sat next to each other on the postgame dais.

Just three feet separated senior linebacker Austin Spitler and sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor, yet they were worlds apart.

Pryor, a gray watch cap pulled down over his ears, a fresh smile enlivening his face, was surrounded by the tape recorders, cameras and microphones of the media horde following his three-touchdown day — two passing, one running — in Ohio State’s 38-7 romp over Minnesota on Saturday, Oct. 24, at Ohio Stadium.

Spitler — the team captain from Bellbrook whose interception had been turned into a quick Buckeye score — was mostly unattended. He looked over at the crush and smiled:

“That’s just the way the quarterback position at Ohio State rolls. The guy’s always going to be in the spotlight. That’s why he got all the negative publicity this past week (after his four turnovers in the loss to lowly Purdue) and why he’s gonna get a lot of great publicity this week.

“It takes a certain kind of guy to handle all that — and he’s learning. With him there’s no in between. When he’s doing well, he’s on top of the world, and when things aren’t going so well, he’s saying he’s the worst quarterback in America.

“At times I’ll admit he let it get in his head and he may have reacted wrong. But this past week, the way he handled all the scrutiny and criticism, it was a step in the right direction and it helped bring us together as a team. I was impressed.” Just then — as a camera crew pushed past to get a better angle on Pryor — Spitler smiled and added: “Truthfully, I wouldn’t change positions with him.”

But as he thought about it more, he had to chuckle. Actually, there probably are times he’d trade:

“Oh yeah, I’ve got some critics — my folks can be hard on me. Well, mainly my mom. She’s a little firecracker.

“She’ll harp: ‘You got to put more pressure on (the quarterback). You gotta make that tackle. You gotta do this or that.’ I know she wants me to be the best I can be, but it can be rough.”

Dropping his voice to a half-whisper and grinning, he made an admission: “That’s why I don’t answer the phone sometimes.”

And if he does?

“I’m like, ‘Yeah, Mom. ... Yeah, Mom. ... Yeah, Mom,’ ” he said.

Last week, he admits he and his teammates couldn’t offer much rebuttal:

“I had a terrible feeling going into the (Purdue) game. I kinda felt we weren’t as hyped — as focused — as usual, and it showed. From the defensive side, we’d been on a roll and we were feeling good about ourselves and got a little complacent.

“Maybe in the long run that loss was good for us. When you’re down, you realize you’re not as good as you think you are. So we worked so hard in practice this week to re-establish ourselves.

“And now I realize everything wasn’t lost last week. A lot of the goals are still on the board. It feels pretty good right now.”

Good enough that he’d be answering the phone later on.