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USC has little to worry about vs. ?O-S-Who?
September 7th, 2008, 8:00 am ? 3 Comments ? posted by MICHAEL LEV, OCREGISTER.COM
If the Ohio without the ?State? can come within a quarter of beating The Ohio State University, then we ought to turn down the hype several notches.
About the only danger for USC at this point is overconfidence.
No matter the excuse, er, cause ? Beanie Wells? absence, a classic letdown situation, hurt feelings from the Bobcats wearing ?O-S-Who?? T-shirts during their Friday walk-through ? you couldn?t be impressed by Ohio State?s 26-14 victory over Ohio U. on Saturday.
Ohio State receiver Brian Hartline wasn?t, calling out his team by calling its performance ?pathetic.? So at least the Buckeyes will have a rallying cry when they come calling next Saturday.
They won?t have the No. 3 ranking, or at least they shouldn?t.
If voters penalized Georgia for playing a soft opener (and rewarded USC for the opposite), then Ohio State is bound to fall a spot or two (or three or four) in the polls. And that could negatively impact USC ? come BCS time.
The computers have little appetite for out-of-conference cupcakes.
Coming Monday: An in-depth scouting report on Ohio State.
Continued.......
Buckeyes can finally focus on a pocket passer
September 8, 2008 11:14 AM
Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Relief isn't usually the sentiment that surfaces when a team studies the USC offense.
Geoff Burke/US PRESSWIRE
USC's Mark Sanchez isn't likely to beat the Buckeyes with his feet.
But when Ohio State begins learning the names and numbers of the Trojans' seemingly endless list of rushing threats, defenders can take some comfort in knowing quarterback Mark Sanchez isn't among them.
Loaded with talent around him and a bionic right arm, Sanchez can pick apart opposing defenses in many ways, but running the ball is rarely his method of choice. He has only 23 career rushing yards on 19 carries, an average of 1.2 yards per rush.
Sanchez still moves around decently in the pocket, but he doesn't fall under the label of mobile quarterback, and that could be a good thing for No. 5 Ohio State heading into this week's matchup at the L.A. Coliseum (ABC, 8 p.m. ET). Several mobile quarterbacks have caused problems for the Buckeyes' otherwise sound defense, which led the nation in fewest points and fewest yards allowed last season.
Continued........
SparkyOSU;1252867; said:I am still holding to the thought we played vanilla ball against Ohio. USC was off so there is no tape to study... in return we didnt run anything other than cover two man and zone, few spy plays on defense and nothing but dives, counters and alittle pistol option on offense so USC has nothing to study other than week one.
I take nothing but a little sloppy execution and too many guys looking ahead away from the Ohio game...
I will pass judgement at 11pm on Saturday the 13th...
Unlike Hazelton, Gable doesn't have much to say about Wells.
About the only danger for USC at this point is overconfidence.
HailToMichigan;1252682; said:I'm curious then.....if that's such a stupid point, then why did Pryor have one totally ineffective series and one series of mop-up time against Ohio?
HailToMichigan;1252682; said:I'm curious then.....if that's such a stupid point, then why did Pryor have one totally ineffective series and one series of mop-up time against Ohio?
MililaniBuckeye;1252907; said:Cupcakes?
Uh, yeah, I had that explained to me just now, thanks. It might surprise you to learn that I don't rabidly follow OSU football for every detail about the machinations of Jim Tressel, nor do I read through 60-70 pages of posts in the Ohio game thread, nor do I even watch OSU when Michigan is on at the same time. So you could say I skipped that part, yeah.MililaniBuckeye;1252898; said:Uh, did you decide to skip the part where Tressel was going to put in Pryor for the series after we had scored to go up 19-14, but Small returned to punt for a TD? I'd say putting in a true freshman QB in the fourth quarter only up by five in a dogfight with an inspired in-state opponent has a pretty good amount of pressure.