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

[LightningRod]

How much pressure is Pryor feeling when the home town paper already threw in the towel?

Michael Arace commentary: Forecasters calling for another USC rout

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 3:03 AM
By Michael Arace

After digesting the Ohio State-Navy game and looking ahead to the showdown with Southern California, I am reminded of the words of fantasy novelist Marion Zimmer Bradley (as if I didn't even have to look them up):

"The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination."

This week, OSU fans are traveling both roads. There is the one built in hope, the one where the offensive line moves mountains, where Terrelle Pryor throws darts, where a secret game plan is stashed. And there is the one built in despair, the one where the Buckeyes look like they did against the Midshipmen.

I have consulted the ranking members of my college football staff -- P.J. the pre-teen (a.k.a. "Staff") and Keith the Plumber (KTP) -- over the holiday weekend. We did not indulge in hope. We did not wallow in despair. We attempted, merely, to predict the final destination.

It is this: USC is going to crush the Buckeyes.

cont'd

 

[EidoloN]

Damn, pretty brutal.

 

[buckeyes_rock]

How much pressure is Pryor feeling when the home town paper already threw in the towel?

Michael Arace commentary: Forecasters calling for another USC rout



cont'd

Wow, not often that you get to use your own newspaper and fans as bulletin board material. If I'm taking the hopeful approach, I say maybe our Buckeyes take all of this crap and use it to play the game of their lives...the perfect storm. Hopefully, we play the perfect game and USC plays their worst.

Hey...it could happen! :)

 

[Poe McKnoe]

oh no its going to be loud, as a competitor you strive for the biggest stage and setting. Barkley is excited, not nervous. He knows what he has to do and he will try to do it. This game is far bigger for Pryor than it is for Barkley.

Why do you care about Matt Barkley? Do you know him? Does he call you at home? Do you Fight On? To train ze QB you must zink like ze QB! You must be getting inside ze QB's head. I am saying to Matt Barkley, "Akay!... Akay Akay Akay?" und he is saying "AKay Akay!" und he is up on ze tail "Eeeeeeeeee!" und you can quote him!

 

[southcampus]

Why do you care about Matt Barkley? Do you know him? Does he call you at home? Do you Fight On? To train ze QB you must zink like ze QB! You must be getting inside ze QB's head. I am saying to Matt Barkley, "Akay!... Akay Akay Akay?" und he is saying "AKay Akay!" und he is up on ze tail "Eeeeeeeeee!" und you can quote him!

He IS Matt Barkley.

 

[Steve19]

oh no its going to be loud, as a competitor you strive for the biggest stage and setting. Barkley is excited, not nervous. He knows what he has to do and he will try to do it. This game is far bigger for Pryor than it is for Barkley.

What makes you think that?

 

[ant80]

oh no its going to be loud, as a competitor you strive for the biggest stage and setting. Barkley is excited, not nervous. He knows what he has to do and he will try to do it. This game is far bigger for Pryor than it is for Barkley.

What makes you think that?

If tOSU wins, USC will get a pass saying tOSU played at home, and against a team with a freshman QB. Barkley will also get the same pass, with people saying he had freshman jitters. On the other hand, if USC wins, they came to tOSU and beat us at home, in front of a 100,000+ crowd, with a true freshman QB. I don't think its unreasonable to say the game is bigger for Pryor than it is for Barkley. We have everything to lose. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

 

[Tlangs]

Take heart Buckeyes! This is exactly the kind of situation that Tressel thrives in. Being a underdog in our own house. Disrespected by the entire country. Hearing for months how we suck. USC the greatest team ever, again. We don't have a chance, blah, blah, blah.
I expect a maximim effort from this team with no quite. They will make us proud on national tv. That's all we could ask of these kids.

No offense but I think the whole Underdog/Disrepect card is pointless at this point.

If this team wanted to make a statement about how good they, they could have made it on the field last week by putting up 60 on Navy. You don't wait for a big game to make a statement, you make it every time you take the field.

 

[zincfinger]

Line makers are in a tough spot when you have a school with a huge fan base like OSU. The "real" number is probably higher but if you put it out there the huge fanbase is likely to hammer it.

I think you're exaggerating the size and influence of the OSU fan base here. It's big, no doubt, but it's also a very small minority of the total college football fan base (or of the subgroup that typically bets on college football). If Vegas made significant adjustments to their lines in order to "appease" the OSU fan base, they'd get absolutely hammered on the opposite end by the much larger group of not-OSU-fans.

 

[buckeyesin07]

Pryor will to improve passing the ball, he looked inaccurate against a weak Navy defensive back 4, he struggled rolling out and getting his eyes down field.

Really? He had a 67% completion percentage, and a few of his passes that were incompletions were drops by our WRs. Did you watch the game, or did you just assume that because OSU won by 4 points Pryor must have struggled?

 

[lightyears2012]

Disappointing read... To me, despite many of the back 7 having changed, the Texas game last year should play a more prevalent role in what could possibly happen Saturday.. Our DL pressured one of the best QBs inthe game and basically forced him to beat us.. I just don't see why it's out of the realm of possibility that it could happen again against a much less seasoned QB?

How much pressure is Pryor feeling when the home town paper already threw in the towel?

Michael Arace commentary: Forecasters calling for another USC rout



cont'd

 

[ysubuck]

Disappointing read... To me, despite many of the back 7 having changed, the Texas game last year should play a more prevalent role in what could possibly happen Saturday.. Our DL pressured one of the best QBs inthe game and basically forced him to beat us.. I just don't see why it's out of the realm of possibility that it could happen again against a much less seasoned QB?

They are going to hear this stuff all week and that's what concerns me. They've been hearing it for the better part of two years now. This is exactly what this team didn't need this week. They've been hearing that they suck wind in big games nationally and now the locals have joined in (I am as guilty as anyone I suppose).

This team needed confidence going into the USC game and the opener did nothing to inspire confidence in anyone.

Like I said before: USC is swaggering into this game and Ohio State is limping into this game.

 

[Steve19]

If tOSU wins, USC will get a pass saying tOSU played at home, and against a team with a freshman QB. Barkley will also get the same pass, with people saying he had freshman jitters. On the other hand, if USC wins, they came to tOSU and beat us at home, in front of a 100,000+ crowd, with a true freshman QB. I don't think its unreasonable to say the game is bigger for Pryor than it is for Barkley. We have everything to lose. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I see it a bit differently. Both teams have a lot to lose. Both quarterbacks do too.

Ohio State is in a rebuilding year. USC comes into the game a solid favorite. Everybody expects USC to win.

Barkley has a lot riding on this game, too.

 

[LightningRod]

I see it as OSU having nothing to lose since the entire college football world outside of Columbus along with 3/4 of the fanbase have already written this game off as a loss.

 

[ant80]

I see it a bit differently. Both teams have a lot to lose. Both quarterbacks do too.

Ohio State is in a rebuilding year. USC comes into the game a solid favorite. Everybody expects USC to win.

Barkley has a lot riding on this game, too.

I can see how you can say both the teams have a lot to lose, but I definitely don't agree with the bolded part. Worst case for Backley, he loses, and goes back as a true freshman with experience playing in front of 100,000+. For Pryor, this is likely going to be the biggest regular-season game of his career, especially considering the problems at scUM and the Big10 being down. Miami is on a rebound, and possibly VT (if he stays the 4th year) might offer challenges, but neither games is likely to become the gargantuan behemonth that this game has become.