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

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Carmen Ohio;1248956; said:
I have a good feeling about this game... with or without Beanie. This class seems to play better on the road for some reason. They've only lost one regular season away game - the first Penn State "whiteout" in 2005 in a classic squeaker in which none of them started. We have actually lost more home games in that time span. It seems these guys feed off the negative energy on the road and get a little tight in big games at home.

The USC game feels a lot like when we went to #2 Texas where everyone this side of ESPN thought their brilliant new quarterback (McCoy), worldbeater back (Charles), unstoppable wideout (Sweed) impenetrable defense, team speed and home field advantage would overwhelm then #1 OSU. Despite the loss of Vince Young everyone jumped on the bandwagon after the Longhorns shellacked North Texas in their opener 56-7.

And so it went... OSU 24 - Texas 7 before a stunned Austin crowd.

Like Colt McCoy then, the only defense USC quarterback Mark Sanchez has seen comparable to OSU's is his own in practice. The difference? His defense isn't trying to take his head off! With his playing style I'd be shocked if we don't don't come out with 3 picks.

On the other side of the ball we know we have stars in the making at tailback but nobody outside of Beanie has had a full game to get into a groove and prove it (I'm now looking more forward to the Ohio game). Boeckman has faced some of the nation's toughest defenses and is poised to shine... and I think the coaches have a "double-secret" plan for Pryor. Still, like Texas 06, to me everything in this game points to which team has the awareness and experience keep mistakes to a minimum and capitalize on their opportunities. I really like our chances and am actually not yet convinced USC is one of the top three teams in the country.
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Woah! That's a heck of a statement! Time may very well prove that USC is not one of the Top 3 teams in the nation, but when looking at results so far as well as potential and preseason ranking, I would imagine it difficult to come up with three teams better than USC at this point in the year.

As far as your predictions for the game, they are fair enough. The Buckeyes are the best team USC will see all year, period. They have the best defense, probably the best offense, the best coaching and the best special teams so SC needs to bring their A game or they will lose, at home, in Los Angeles. However, I dont think you can fairly predict that the Bucks will absolutely pick off Sanchez "at least three times" based purely on conjecture. Also, the comparison to Texas, although interesting, is flawed in a few ways:

1) Texas wasnt favored in that game.
2) North Texas was (believe it or not) a far worse team than Virginia was this year.
3) They had no Vince Young.

If Texas has proved anything since the departure of Young, it's that they arent a very good team without him.

I hope this didnt come off as USC apologetics because it isnt. I think this game could go either way. I was just pointing out a few objections to your arguments.
 
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Kurt Sexington;1249073; said:
Woah! That's a heck of a statement! Time may very well prove that USC is not one of the Top 3 teams in the nation, but when looking at results so far as well as potential and preseason ranking, I would imagine it difficult to come up with three teams better than USC at this point in the year.

As far as your predictions for the game, they are fair enough. The Buckeyes are the best team USC will see all year, period. They have the best defense, probably the best offense, the best coaching and the best special teams so SC needs to bring their A game or they will lose, at home, in Los Angeles. However, I dont think you can fairly predict that the Bucks will absolutely pick off Sanchez "at least three times" based purely on conjecture. Also, the comparison to Texas, although interesting, is flawed in a few ways:

1) Texas wasnt favored in that game.
2) North Texas was (believe it or not) a far worse team than Virginia was this year.
3) They had no Vince Young.

If Texas has proved anything since the departure of Young, it's that they arent a very good team without him.

I hope this didnt come off as USC apologetics because it isnt. I think this game could go either way. I was just pointing out a few objections to your arguments.
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Well, living in SoCal, being a Buckeye, I get my fair share of shit that I probably don't deserve, since 2002, I have heard how "lucky" we are to have won that title and how we are over rated.

Now, that being said, I went out after work, ever friday night, for a while, with the guy sat work to watch this guy in South Orange County play football, his name was Mark Sanchez. He was a phenom, a man amongst boys, and I am not going to say we pick him X amount of times. Look, the kid is what he is, he had a lot of experience last year and he learned how to play at the college level. Even though he lost one game, he saw the speed, he learned the reads and he's had time to learn the play calls.

Any Buckeye fan that's discounting what Pete Carroll has done is lying to themselves. The guy is a great coach who I respect a lot.

For the Bucks to win this game we need to keep the score low, the defense play well. This team is in no way better than the Miami team we beat in 2002, but still, that mentality needs to be there. We hit them hard, we push them around and we take control. If we control on the defense, we win, if we let them have a few big plays, we lose. The margin for error here is tiny, so we need to play a perfect game.

On another note, if we win this game, the country says that USC is overrated, if we lose, everyone dogs the Big10 for the next year. So GO BUCKS!
 
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Kurt Sexington;1249073; said:
1) Texas wasnt favored in that game.
2) North Texas was (believe it or not) a far worse team than Virginia was this year.
3) They had no Vince Young.
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1. IIRC, the spread was small, and I don't think USC will be favored by much, if at all. Besides, USC isn't the defending national champ who had beat us the previous year on our field...Texas was. Although Vince Young was gone, there were a shitload of players on both sides who were in the previous year's game.
2. So? There's a certain degree of suckniness past which being even suckier doesn't matter.
3. Neither does USC.
 
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Kurt Sexington;1249073; said:
I dont think you can fairly predict that the Bucks will absolutely pick off Sanchez "at least three times" based purely on conjecture. Also, the comparison to Texas, although interesting, is flawed in a few ways:

1) Texas wasnt favored in that game.
2) North Texas was (believe it or not) a far worse team than Virginia was this year.
3) They had no Vince Young.

If Texas has proved anything since the departure of Young, it's that they arent a very good team without him.

I hope this didnt come off as USC apologetics because it isnt. I think this game could go either way. I was just pointing out a few objections to your arguments.
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The number of picks may be pure conjecture but my read of Sanchez and what I expect is based on observation and a little bit of football common sense. A quick release is obviously a good thing for a quarterback, but in his case it is absolutely too quick to be full proof. He basically took the snap and threw to a spot. The Virginia defense and/or the coordinator were just killing three hours that day. On the other hand, we (OSU) could be vulnerable because we get torched when we pay too much attention to stopping the run....I just don't see that happening.

Obviously I'm not saying this year's USC team is just like that Texas team but I think the scenario, and the way the game could play out for us are closer to that game in Austin. I'm thinking something like OSU 27 USC 14. If they beat us I'll put them in my top 3. With or without Wells, if they beat us big I'll have to seriously question our ability against top teams.
 
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Pretty much all the responses to my response have been fair and contain a lot of good points. As someone said beforehand, the goal for both teams is probably going to be to stay low and disrupt the flow of the opposing team which is why a score like 27-14 or even 17-10 wouldn't surprise me that much.
OSU seems to play best when they are SIGNIFICANT underdogs which Im not sure will be the case come next Saturday. Sure, a select few jackasses are calling for a USC blowout, i.e. Jay "worst sports pundit of all time" Marriotti, but most anyone who has a shred of sense is calling for a close one.

I will say this about USC though: If OSU comes out and really knocks them in the teeth defensively, I will be very, very interested in seeing what happens. Basically no one on the USC offense has ever had to deal with a hard hitting, college defense, especially the key players such as Sanchez and McKnight, so if some OSU players can come in and really start lowering the boom and start intimidating some of USC's main offensive weapons, it could certainly et interesting.
This is what makes marquee matchups so interesting--you just can't predict how wach team will react. When USC or OSU plays a crap team like UVA or Ohio, the prediciton is usually the same, namely a blowout win due to an excess of talent that just cant be contained for four quarters. All of the certainty goes out the window when two equally talented teams face off and I really see OSU vs. USC as being something of a toss-up.
 
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Kurt Sexington;1249382; said:
Pretty much all the responses to my response have been fair and contain a lot of good points. As someone said beforehand, the goal for both teams is probably going to be to stay low and disrupt the flow of the opposing team which is why a score like 27-14 or even 17-10 wouldn't surprise me that much.
OSU seems to play best when they are SIGNIFICANT underdogs which Im not sure will be the case come next Saturday. Sure, a select few jackasses are calling for a USC blowout, i.e. Jay "worst sports pundit of all time" Marriotti, but most anyone who has a shred of sense is calling for a close one.

I will say this about USC though: If OSU comes out and really knocks them in the teeth defensively, I will be very, very interested in seeing what happens. Basically no one on the USC offense has ever had to deal with a hard hitting, college defense, especially the key players such as Sanchez and McKnight, so if some OSU players can come in and really start lowering the boom and start intimidating some of USC's main offensive weapons, it could certainly et interesting.
This is what makes marquee matchups so interesting--you just can't predict how wach team will react. When USC or OSU plays a crap team like UVA or Ohio, the prediciton is usually the same, namely a blowout win due to an excess of talent that just cant be contained for four quarters. All of the certainty goes out the window when two equally talented teams face off and I really see OSU vs. USC as being something of a toss-up.
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Most folks will agree with you on most points you're making here. I have a great respect for USC's program, and how they have gotten it turned around since Pete came to town. I'm a bit surprised when I head over to WeAreSC and read quite a few comments that just think we are no match for their team. I realize that these are not everyone's views but predominant. I really think USC will find tOSU's D to be quite stout against both the run and pass game. When the Bucks can limit mistakes, they become extremely difficult to beat.

Will your lightweight line be able to handle the size and strength of our Dline? That could be considered weakness vs weakness, but is a key factor in this game. If we can consistently put pressure on Sanchez off the corners with Wilson and Gibson, your running game alone will not be able to beat tOSU.
 
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BuckeyeGanoosh;1249414; said:
Will your lightweight line be able to handle the size and strength of our Dline? That could be considered weakness vs weakness, but is a key factor in this game. If we can consistently put pressure on Sanchez off the corners with Wilson and Gibson, your running game alone will not be able to beat tOSU.
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In my opinion, getting pressure on Sanchez will be the key. He looked very good when he had all the time in the world to throw against Virginia. But pressure makes even the best of QBs look ordinary. Too many weapons on that team to just let Sanchez take his time. I'm anxious to watch our d-line tomorrow against some O-linemen that are at least a little bigger than YSU. :wink2:
 
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BuckeyeGanoosh;1249414; said:
I'm a bit surprised when I head over to WeAreSC and read quite a few comments that just think we are no match for their team. I realize that these are not everyone's views but predominant.
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And this is why I have a problem with USC. Not the football team, as they have proven themselves, but their fans. Most of them (that I have met) are ignorant and blind when it comes to talking football. They make no solid argument to me except, "we are gonna kill you", and "the Bucks have NO chance". Please at least give me a competitive argument, do they even know who the USC's previous coach was? Not at all. They have been blessed is recent years, but stop being so damn blind to the fact that, hey, we are pretty damn good team too!
 
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EidoloN;1249420; said:
And this is why I have a problem with USC. Not the football team, as they have proven themselves, but their fans. Most of them (that I have met) are ignorant and blind when it comes to talking football. They make no solid argument to me except, "we are gonna kill you", and "the Bucks have NO chance". Please at least give me a competitive argument, do they even know who the USC's previous coach was? Not at all. They have been blessed is recent years, but stop being so damn blind to the fact that, hey, we are pretty damn good team too!
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That is a minority, not majority. Every fanbase of a successful program is gonna pick up fans like that. Heck, over on scout on SC playbook, and the same could be said for osu and notre dame fans. I know it is a flamefest over there, but my point is they are everywhere. Oh, except here! Dont want anyone asking that question! And, I can tell you who the coaches were before CPC to coach Mckay, but last time I did that ,I got infraction points, so I wont do it this time! I guess i sounded kinda like a flamer when I answered the question!
 
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troy#1;1249452; said:
That is a minority, not majority. Every fanbase of a successful program is gonna pick up fans like that. Heck, over on scout on SC playbook, and the same could be said for osu and notre dame fans. I know it is a flamefest over there, but my point is they are everywhere. Oh, except here! Dont want anyone asking that question! And, I can tell you who the coaches were before CPC to coach Mckay, but last time I did that ,I got infraction points, so I wont do it this time! I guess i sounded kinda like a flamer when I answered the question!
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If you had to, who would you say the assholes on BP were?

:evil:
 
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troy#1;1249452; said:
That is a minority, not majority. Every fanbase of a successful program is gonna pick up fans like that. Heck, over on scout on SC playbook, and the same could be said for osu and notre dame fans. I know it is a flamefest over there, but my point is they are everywhere. Oh, except here! Dont want anyone asking that question! And, I can tell you who the coaches were before CPC to coach Mckay, but last time I did that ,I got infraction points, so I wont do it this time! I guess i sounded kinda like a flamer when I answered the question!
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I appreciate & applaud the way SC fans have contributed to this board, and I have tried to reward you all w/greenies for tolerating my own particular tirades. And add that I have absolutely NO PROBLEM w/USC fans, the team itself or Petey, and accept the fact that he is a premier college coach w/a premier college football team.

My particular resentment stems only from the way I perceive that the medias adores you, no matter what happens...which I accept as biased and subjective, and they way they seem to snub us and our conference, no matter what happens, which I also accept as biased and subjective.

Thanks for all the info, your great contributions and please, may the best team win!
 
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