Game Thread Southern Cal 18, at tOSU 15 (Sept 12th, 8 pm, ESPN)

[DaytonBuck]

The Polk High School Panthers had some great RB's in the 70s.

 

[LightningRod]

The best group of rbs I saw was the 1977 Sooner backfield consisting of Thomas Lott, Kenny King, Elvis Peacock, Billy Sims, and David Overstreet.

 

[WaitingforKickoff]

The D needs to sell out to stop the run. I feel that USC is going to run until Ohio State takes it away from them. The crowd will be nuts and that will be unsettling, but if USC gets a couple of quick scores the crowd will die pretty quickly. I think that many Ohio State fans are going to hear how bad this team is all week and will sit down at the first sign of adversity.

SC would only do that if OSU had a relatively strong pass defense. If SC feels that OSU is vulnerable there as well, there is no reason why they would not try to exploit it.

Regarding run defense, they can't stack up too close to the line because SC has so many weapons that can go deep. Recall that it was a FB that went deep on us last season. And imagine McKnight trying to bounce it outside with Spitler there to stop him. Really miss Tyler Moeller here.

Tresselbeliever: The back seven didn't inspire much confidence, at least up until Rolle's pick. I want to blame Navy's "exotic" offense, but it's just option football. Play your assignment, tackle in space. What I felt is that their reactions were late, as if there was too much thinking going on. Tackling was good and the speed was obviously there, it was more like guys getting a late break on the plays. The upside is that it's a big, fast bunch and they'll get better, and maybe playing a conventional offense will lead to more instinctive play.

That's exactly how I feel as well. Just felt that our guys were there to make the safe tackle rather than to try to make a play on the ball.

 

[troy#1]

I rewatched the game not long ago and I've got to say, I was very impressed with Andy Miller. If anyone was getting blown up on the line it was Brewster. Run blocking needs to improve and blitz protection assignments need to be understood better. I'm feeling better about our pass protection though.

Pryor was on in the first half. I think the entire team lost a little focus in the 2nd half and I think some of that could be placed on the coaches. Putting Bauserman in there so early may have had something to do with that. One thing is for sure, we will be prepared mentally for USC.

USCstephen or whatever your name is. Almost every single one of Barkley's passes was like the same play. Less predictable than Sark? I watched his Huskies put up a damn good fight last night against and SEC defense with a very unpredictable set of plays and alignments. I'm calling shenanigans on you. Your offense is as vanilla as it's ever been. Off the tackle left, off the tackle right, play action hit the tight end/full back in motion or the split end on a button hook. Shut the [censored] up.

I was at the husky game last night, and yes, they looked pretty good, and I feel had a chance to win the game, but lets not kid ourselves, that wasn't the best lsu team I have seen.Not much better than last year.
Wash. had way to many dumb penalties that hurt them in the end, but most every wash. fan I talked to was very happy with the overall performance.
After last year, they have nowhere to go but up!
Heres to a great game next saturday, clean played, with no injuries!!

 

[southcampus]

:gobucks2
:

I was at the husky game last night, and yes, they looked pretty good, and I feel had a chance to win the game, but lets not kid ourselves, that wasn't the best lsu team I have seen.Not much better than last year.
Wash. had way to many dumb penalties that hurt them in the end, but most every wash. fan I talked to was very happy with the overall performance.
After last year, they have nowhere to go but up!
Heres to a great game next saturday, clean played, with no injuries!!

No doubt.

I have already received about 3 emails from the school about painting the town scarlet this week.

 

[ttk]

Grading USC's preformance:
QB: B
RB: A
TE: B-
WR: B
OL: B+
DL: A
LB: B
DB: A-
ST: B-

How exactly are you ranking these?

Given the plays he was told to run, what could Barkley have done to go all the way from B to A? Considering you're using + and - rankings as well, I mean.

He did exactly what we wanted him to. He didn't make any bad throws, didn't throw the ball into coverage. He protected the ball and ran the offense well.

Same question for the linebackers? What didn't you like about their performance on Saturday?

 

[USCStephen]

sloppy tackling by lb's
Barkley did what he could but he didnt deserve an A seeing he never threw it in between the tackles.

 

[lightyears2012]

Just by looking at the numbers I see some good things for OSU this Saturday..

USC vs SJSU:

* forced to punt 6 times and at only 34.7 ypp (OSU punts twice at 44.5 ypp) field position is important..

* 9 penalties for 72 yards (not that 6 is great but for 23 fewer yards and with AP kicking that could be huge)

* I found it interesting that their "amazing" secondary faced 30 passes from a clearly inferior QB and failed to register an int.. conversely OSU faced 14 and picked 2..

idk.. just perusing... I feel like Navy will prove to have been a more formidable opponent than most perceive..

 

[ttk]

That does bring up a good point.

How is your punt returner looking now? Because if anything our punter worries me. He gets very little yardage on punts.

We have a guy that can kick a lot farther but apparently he's too slow to kick it, so we only have him doing kickoffs.

 

[lightyears2012]

Looks like your guys cover well though so who knows. Sanz looked pretty good returning kicks but I think most are hoping Small is well enough to be back there..

That does bring up a good point.

How is your punt returner looking now? Because if anything our punter worries me. He gets very little yardage on punts.

We have a guy that can kick a lot farther but apparently he's too slow to kick it, so we only have him doing kickoffs.

 

[USCStephen]

Just by looking at the numbers I see some good things for OSU this Saturday..

USC vs SJSU:

* forced to punt 6 times and at only 34.7 ypp (OSU punts twice at 44.5 ypp) field position is important..

* 9 penalties for 72 yards (not that 6 is great but for 23 fewer yards and with AP kicking that could be huge)

* I found it interesting that their "amazing" secondary faced 30 passes from a clearly inferior QB and failed to register an int.. conversely OSU faced 14 and picked 2..

idk.. just perusing... I feel like Navy will prove to have been a more formidable opponent than most perceive..

the "amazing" secondary allowed one 3rd conversion.
also the second string D was in from mid way thru the 3rd.

 

[lightyears2012]

True.. I would still have expected at least ONE int just by showing up? idk.. surprised me?

the "amazing" secondary allowed one 3rd conversion.
also the second string D was in from mid way thru the 3rd.

 

[Dryden]

Navy received a very hospitable welcome to Ohio Stadium. From what I could hear on the broadcast, it didn't seem like the crowd really got into the game at all.

This week, Buckeye fans need to make sure that the Trojans receive a real Ohio Stadium welcome, similar to the reception we'd give TSUN.

We need noise.

Navy got the same reception every other un-ranked team usually gets at OSU. Sadly, the fans only bring the noise for special occasions, like Texas, Penn State, and Michigan, so I wasn't surprised by that.

The fans will be well lubricated and rowdy for USC next week. The question is whether or not the team is good enough to prevent USC from shutting the crowd up. If Ohio State plays like they did last year, the crowd noise will affect Barkley for all of a quarter-and-a-half.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Barkley did what he could but he didnt deserve an A seeing he never threw it in between the tackles.

Yeah, I noticed that too. His stats looked great but Carroll and his teammates really did a good job of making things easy on him.

I remember Colt McCoy lighting up North Texas before his game against us and our D having some problems against NIU. I think some people may be reading too much into the opening day performances.

 

[Buckeneye]

Yeah, I noticed that too. His stats looked great but Carroll and his teammates really did a good job of making things easy on him.

I remember Colt McCoy lighting up North Texas before his game against us and our D having some problems against NIU. I think some people may be reading too much into the opening day performances.

And if it turns out much like the 06 Texas game... I'll die happy.