Ohio State-USC a rare treat in current gridworld climate
By Pat Forde
ESPN.com
(
Archive)
Updated: September 9, 2008
Forty names, games, teams and minutiae-making news in college football ["Officiating for Dummies" sold separately in
Pac-10 (1) locations]:
The Dash is still trying to get a grip on an extra-long extra point in Seattle. And the field goals attempted from short range in Gainesville and long range in El Paso. And the fact that ESPN no longer has the world's most prominent Holtz (sorry, Lou) or the world's most prominent Skip (sorry, Bayless). Don't look now, but
Skip Holtz (2) has trumped you both, on his way to becoming the hottest coach in college football.
But more on all that in a bit. First, it's time to get down to Game of the Year business.
Myth Busting: Ohio State vs. USC
It's a wonderful thing when two lavishly talented programs with abundantly rich traditions from proudly established conferences meet in an endlessly hyped game played before two massively smug fan bases. For one thing, it gives sports writers a chance to air out all the adverbs and adjectives in the playbook.
But it's especially enjoyable in the current gridworld climate, in which juicy intersectional games are rarer than a Nick Saban smile. For too many teams, that 12th game added to the schedule was just one more way to get FIU, Eastern Illinois or Northern Colorado on the schedule.
So bravo to the Buckeyes and Trojans for gettin' it on. Now on to the breakdown. The Dash presents a few myths and realities to ponder before Saturday in the Coliseum (ABC, 8 p.m. ET):
Continued.....