Game Thread Ohio State 3, Southern Cal 35 (Sept. 13)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

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Trojans Coach Pete Carroll anticipates quick recovery by Chris "Beanie" Wells

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Fred Squillante / The Columbus Dispatch​

Before he was injured in the third quarter, Ohio State's Chris Wells rushed for 111 yards and this 43-yard touchdown run against Youngstown State on Saturday.


The Ohio State running back, who suffered a foot injury Saturday in the Buckeyes' rout of Youngstown State, will have two weeks to heal before facing Trojans.

By Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 1, 2008

After watching quarterback Mark Sanchez overcome injury to star for USC in its season-opening victory at Virginia, Coach Pete Carroll anticipates a similar recovery from a player who could hurt the Trojans.

Ohio State running back Chris "Beanie" Wells suffered a foot injury Saturday in the Buckeyes' rout of Youngstown State, crumpling to the ground without being hit while taking a handoff.

Continued.......

 

[troy#1]

That's putting him on a pretty lofty pedestal. Keeping "PC", he for the most part has to keep his mouth shut on the topic. Imagine him saying, "that is an important loss", and how that could be misconstrued. On the other hand, I'm positive that in the back of his mind is some ease thinking his D won't even have to deal with Beanie and come out with a W.

Seems to me that fans are more sensitive to the not at full strength talk, and especially USC since that's the consensus excuse for any of your recent disappointments. I'm truly over it, and while I wish for every kid to be healthy just because they're human beings, I don't care who questions the victory. I look back to our Championship run a couple years back, and we scraped out so many games with pure guts and attrition, that I could care less about the aesthetic qualities of a victory anymore. A W is a [censored]ing W.

I wont speculate what is going through CPC's mind, but I can tell you that I am 100% sure they will practice and prepare for the game as if beanie will be playing and at 100%. Even though he might not be completely healed. With 2 weeks they will cover every possible scenario that could come up, and the personnel that could possibly be put in the game. I know some bucks fans want SC to overlook them and think they have the game won, but they wont. Some SC fans might think they have the game in the bag, but they dont play the game. I for one do not think that way. No smiles. People were getting annoyed.

 

[Kurt Sexington]

That's putting him on a pretty lofty pedestal. Keeping "PC", he for the most part has to keep his mouth shut on the topic. Imagine him saying, "that is an important loss", and how that could be misconstrued. On the other hand, I'm positive that in the back of his mind is some ease thinking his D won't even have to deal with Beanie and come out with a W.

Seems to me that fans are more sensitive to the not at full strength talk, and especially USC since that's the consensus excuse for any of your recent disappointments. I'm truly over it, and while I wish for every kid to be healthy just because they're human beings, I don't care who questions the victory. I look back to our Championship run a couple years back, and we scraped out so many games with pure guts and attrition, that I could care less about the aesthetic qualities of a victory anymore. A W is a [censored]ing W.

I don,t think that is putting him on any type of pedestal. Look at it this way, if Sanchez had crumpled to the ground and clutched his knee on Saturday, would Tressel be at home pumping his fists in glee? Probably not, for two reasons:

1) Coaches don,t like to see players from any team get injured.

2) A win or a loss against a less than full strength USC team is worse than a win or loss against a full strength USC team.

Both USC and OSU play in, like it or not, weaker conferences than the Big 12 or SEC and neither Tress nor PC needs the media either discrediting a win or blowing a loss out of proportion because teams werent at full strength. If it was a national title game where a win means everything and awesthetic value doesn't, maybe PC would see it differently but I'm pretty sure that in this context he wants everyone of note on the Buckeyes to make the trip on the 13th.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I don,t think that is putting him on any type of pedestal. Look at it this way, if Sanchez had crumpled to the ground and clutched his knee on Saturday, would Tressel be at home pumping his fists in glee? Probably not, for two reasons:

1) Coaches don,t like to see players from any team get injured.

2) A win or a loss against a less than full strength USC team is worse than a win or loss against a full strength USC team.

Both USC and OSU play in, like it or not, weaker conferences than the Big 12 or SEC and neither Tress nor PC needs the media either discrediting a win or blowing a loss out of proportion because teams werent at full strength. If it was a national title game where a win means everything and awesthetic value doesn't, maybe PC would see it differently but I'm pretty sure that in this context he wants everyone of note on the Buckeyes to make the trip on the 13th.

The SEC > B10 stuff is bad enough but now the B12 > B10? Based on what ?

 

[Kurt Sexington]

The SEC > B10 stuff is bad enough but now the B12 > B10? Based on what ?

I think in this specific year there is no argument to be made that either the Pac Ten or Big Ten are as good or better than the Big 12. The Big Ten and Pac Ten both basically have one good team and then a bunch of squads chasing the #2. The Big 12 has OU, Texas, and Mizzou which all would easily be the second best teams in the Big Ten or Pac Ten, or even challenge for the top spot in the case of OU.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I think in this specific year there is no argument to be made that either the Pac Ten or Big Ten are as good or better than the Big 12. The Big Ten and Pac Ten both basically have one good team and then a bunch of squads chasing the #2. The Big 12 has OU, Texas, and Mizzou which all would easily be the second best teams in the Big Ten or Pac Ten, or even challenge for the top spot in the case of OU.

I won't argue the SEC if we are just talking 2008 but OU, Texas and Mizzou is no way shape or form clearly better than OSU, Wisc, PSU, Illinois.

The B12 teams have a much longer track record of being overrated and exposed later in the year than the B10 could ever be accused of.

 

[Kurt Sexington]

I won't argue the SEC if we are just talking 2008 but OU, Texas and Mizzou is no way shape or form clearly better than OSU, Wisc, PSU, Illinois.

The B12 teams have a much longer track record of being overrated and exposed later in the year than the B10 could ever be accused of.

I agree with you there. I personally hate the Big 12 more than I do the SEC or any other conference for that matter so it wont take much to get me to agree that they are overrated. That said, as an unbiased as possible fan of CFB, I still cant bring myself to say that the top of Big Ten is as good as the top of the Big 12. Texas and OU often collapse at the end of the year but they are still great regular season teams and have more talent, top to bottom, than any team in the Big Ten aside from OSU. As far Wisky, Penn State and Illinois goes, I'm not sold on any of them. PSU had a good season three years ago, as did Wisky, and Illinois' is only now starting to show a pulse but I wouldnt begin to compare them to teams like Texas or OU or even Mizzou.

All that said, I dont think the Big 12 will see any of their teams compete for a NC this year and we will probably be treated to the annual OU collapse in a BCS title game. As I like to say, 'all's well that end well!"

 

[Mike80]

Texas and OU often collapse at the end of the year but they are still great regular season teams and have more talent, top to bottom, than any team in the Big Ten aside from OSU.

You can't be seriously forgetting Michigan here can you????

All that said, I dont think the Big 12 will see any of their teams compete for a NC this year and we will probably be treated to the annual OU collapse in a BCS title game. As I like to say, 'all's well that end well!"

Isn't that competing for the NC this year?!?!?!?

 

[WaitingforKickoff]

I don't know whether it's the SC Dominance against 'comparable' opponents in recent years or our ineptitude against top opponents in the past two season that makes me feel this is too big of a slice for the Bucks to chew. On paper, this almost feels like a game against UT and Vince Young at Austin, Texas. This would no doubt be the best birthday present ever for me, although I am not expecting them to win this game.

 

[Kurt Sexington]

You can't be seriously forgetting Michigan here can you????



Isn't that competing for the NC this year?!?!?!?

I meant a BCS game. Must have been a Freudian slip!

OU is still a fine team year end year out but Stoops seems to year them out in time for the Bowl season every year.

 

[osugrad21]

Kurt or Thomps, I didn't watch USC-UVA as much as I wanted to...I know about USC but give me a rundown of UVA. Who would you compare them to talent-wise? If UVA played in the Pac-10, where would they fall? Big Ten?

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Anyone else having a difficult time of what to make of USC's win over UVA? I think UVA is terrible, definitely worse than the nation's perception of them, and even a team like YSU could give them a game well into the second half but on the other hand USC's offense looked so efficient and consistent. It looked like their 8th game of the season not their 1st.

Phil Steele ranked UVA last in the ACC coastal division, behind Duke! If USC did that to Duke, would anyone have batted an eyelash? UVA is just a sexier name and since they've produced some high draft choices lately, they get the benefit of the doubt. This is the same school that lost by 20 at Wyoming last year and could only beat ACC teams by 2 points or less and this is supposed to be a down year.

So, I keep going back and forth. UVA is a bad team with a shitty coach but USC's execution on offense was very impressive. Was USC's win really that impressive or was it more of an illusion?

 

[methomps]

Kurt or Thomps, I didn't watch USC-UVA as much as I wanted to...I know about USC but give me a rundown of UVA. Who would you compare them to talent-wise? If UVA played in the Pac-10, where would they fall? Big Ten?

They remind me a lot of Oregon State, a good-not-great program that lost a lot and is looking at a bad year. I think they would lose to every Pac-10 team except maybe Wazzu.

They lost their QB and probably still haven't settled on a replacement. They have promise at RB (a good powerback and an interesting speedster), but they are replacing all three interior OL. They have good LBs on defense, but that's about it.

Hard to say what they'll do in the ACC, but they are rebuilding this s year I believe.

 

[osugrad21]

So a bye week before tOSU...after 1 game, what questions does USC have to answer before that game?

 

[troy#1]

Anyone else having a difficult time of what to make of USC's win over UVA? I think UVA is terrible, definitely worse than the nation's perception of them, and even a team like YSU could give them a game well into the second half but on the other hand USC's offense looked so efficient and consistent. It looked like their 8th game of the season not their 1st.

Phil Steele ranked UVA last in the ACC coastal division, behind Duke! If USC did that to Duke, would anyone have batted an eyelash? UVA is just a sexier name and since they've produced some high draft choices lately, they get the benefit of the doubt. This is the same school that lost by 20 at Wyoming last year and could only beat ACC teams by 2 points or less and this is supposed to be a down year.

So, I keep going back and forth. UVA is a bad team with a [censored]ty coach but USC's execution on offense was very impressive. Was USC's win really that impressive or was it more of an illusion?

I dont know about everything you said, but I think Coach Al Groh is a very good coach that lost some key players before the season.