• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

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

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Status
Not open for further replies.
Sort by date Sort by votes
The Trojans had their first workouts yesterday. Lots of talk about the QBs, and then some other info at the end of the article.

CBS

Frosh Barkley contending for USC's starting QB job

The Trojans' offense will use all four weeks before the opener against San Jose State to get adjusted to Bates, the seven-year NFL assistant coach who took over the USC offense in January. Carroll also must find depth at tight end, where Blake Ayles had an impressive first practice, while deciding on a pecking order among six talented running backs.

But USC has plenty of talent to chase its eighth consecutive Pac-10 title and BCS bowl berth -- and it still has Carroll, who ran the opening practice with his usual freewheeling, high-spirited energy.

"That was a really fun first day," Carroll said. "I really like to see the energy from our young guys. A lot of fun things happened for us. Most of the guys in the 1-2 spots [on the depth chart] had a good day, and Mitch had a good day, too."

Cont'd ...
Click to expand...
 
Upvote 0
It's really strange... I'm sure Corp is the better choice right now, and he'll make fewer mistakes (which is why he got the job... I think only one interception, on the last day of spring practice, the entire time the competition was going on). But I really can't wait to see what Barkley can do out there.

Knowing Carroll's "turnovers decide the game" mentality though, I'm sure Corp will be the choice.
 
Upvote 0
Here's what I see as the points of the game.

1. The lines will decide it all. like NateG said it's cliche but in this one it's absolutely accurate. OSU's defensive line has everyone back and is deeper than last years (especially on the edge), but the irony in that is that USC also returns EVERYONE. Which sets up for a pretty nice showdown in the trenches when USC's offense and our Defense match up. If there's one thing I remember about the game last year out in Cali is our inability to create any pressure, and our profound inability to get off blocks. Seriously, Mcknight is still running off a toss sweap as we speak.

Where things get interesting is when our offense lines up against USC. USC can talk all they want about the skill they have up front, but you don't lose 5 out of the front 7 and get better. With the addition of Boren, Adams, and possibly Shuggarts this line is primed to go right at them. On the edges Adams and Shuggarts have to get better but I think with Herron (who had success last year) we can run straight at them.

USC is extremely talented in the back end of the defense (and so are we) so I honestly don't see too many big plays down field. As for May's running down Pryor? It should be a tremendous battle but I hope Mays does focus on Pryor soley because at worst Pryor will win some and lose some battles with Mays. If Mays is preoccupied with Pryor though it opens up other players to get the ball so go for it Mays.

2. Turnovers. I'm going with the obvious here. This is where we could possibly have an advantage. Mcknight I feel is prone to caughing the ball up and corpe will be playing infront of 105k to top things off. If we don't generate pressure then this possibly becomes a mute point but we have to take advantage of the one angle we have going for us. INEXPERIENCED QB. Not only Inexperienced but also isn't in that super star mold of the past 4-5 QB's at USC.

3. OSU's willingness to take chances. USC will show no mercy in burying us if we let them, and IMO the best way to prevent that is to take some chances. I believe USC primarily wins because they do what they do and don't try to play things safe or smart. They trust there players to not only not screw up but make plays in the process. I believe USC is the more talented team based on experience and we're going to have to combat that by being aggressive in our play calling. That means stunts, blitz', and creative play calling! We cannot and will not IMO win this game if we go Run, Run, Pass. Option Reads, Screen passes, draws, QB draws, and a variety of Diverse Sets is what I mean.

I won't lie though I do not have a good feeling about this game what so ever. This is one of those years where everyone is pointing at USC's lack of defensive starters and then they turn around and shock everyone. I hope I'm wrong but after seeing a lot of the player pictures returning for fall camp I couldn't help but notice one thing.... We are talented but man are we young.

If I had to sum this game into one major point it would be this. If OSU stops USC's running game we'll win, but if we can't slow it down it becomes awful tough to overcome.
 
Upvote 0
bukIpower;1513266; said:
Where things get interesting is when our offense lines up against USC. USC can talk all they want about the skill they have up front, but you don't lose 5 out of the front 7 and get better. With the addition of Boren, Adams, and possibly Shuggarts this line is primed to go right at them. On the edges Adams and Shuggarts have to get better but I think with Herron (who had success last year) we can run straight at them.
Click to expand...

While I agree that USC's defense won't be as good as last years (which would be hard -- it was a historically great defense, one of the best ever)... don't think that it will be a bunch of completely green guys rushing at Pryor. Quite a few of the guys on the defense this year started one or two games last year. Among the Trojans we're hoping that the Ohio State game is Everson Griffen's coming out party :biggrin: But yeah, it's not going to be a walk in the park. I'm hoping USC can lock down the run for the most part, and if nothing else put it in Pryor's hands. He's damn talented but this could be the kind of game where he tries to do too much and it backfires. Tall order for both sides though, which of course is the point here.

bukIpower;1513266; said:
USC is extremely talented in the back end of the defense (and so are we) so I honestly don't see too many big plays down field. As for May's running down Pryor? It should be a tremendous battle but I hope Mays does focus on Pryor soley because at worst Pryor will win some and lose some battles with Mays. If Mays is preoccupied with Pryor though it opens up other players to get the ball so go for it Mays.
Click to expand...

Honestly I think people are taking what Mays said too literally. I don't think Mays is going to worry about Pryor on every play, he's going to be watching routes and things. I would bet Mays will try and get in his head before the game, let him know he's out there and to scare him from throwing deep. But considering USC doesn't tend to "spy" players, I don't think Mays is going to have much direct interaction. Hopefully not, anyway! Maybe Mays can give Griffen a note to deliver for him :wink:

bukIpower;1513266; said:
2. Turnovers. I'm going with the obvious here. This is where we could possibly have an advantage. Mcknight I feel is prone to caughing the ball up and corpe will be playing infront of 105k to top things off. If we don't generate pressure then this possibly becomes a mute point but we have to take advantage of the one angle we have going for us. INEXPERIENCED QB. Not only Inexperienced but also isn't in that super star mold of the past 4-5 QB's at USC.
Click to expand...

MOOT point. MOOT. I don't usually "correct" on message boards but that one always kills me :lol:

Agreed on McKnight, completely... I hold my breath every time the guy takes the ball, because he could do something amazing or he could fumble it, or both on the same play. But as far as having the advantage... Carroll makes it a focus in practice to generate turnovers on defense as much as possible. There are awards for it. I don't think USC has been on the negative end of a turnover battle, season-wise, for a long time now. Could be wrong on that though. But anyway, I imagine the turnover battle will be harder fought than you think.

As far as Corp, the reason he's the front-runner is because he didn't throw any interceptions in spring practice (until the very last one). He's a very "safe" passer. Which is what Carroll wants, because again -- his motto is that turnovers win games. On top of that I'm sure they'll keep the playbook pretty cautious in the first half as far as passing goes, until they read what Ohio State is doing. And then they'll go with a long play to exploit that knowledge early in the second half. That's the usual way it goes, anyway.

bukIpower;1513266; said:
If I had to sum this game into one major point it would be this. If OSU stops USC's running game we'll win, but if we can't slow it down it becomes awful tough to overcome.
Click to expand...

I think this probably goes for either team. Of course, what happens if they BOTH shut down the other teams running game?


Something I wanted to ask Buckeyes fans.... special teams. How are you guys on returns/kicks, etc.? Special teams always freaks me out for USC. Especially when McKnight is receiving... feels like the guy has the worst butterfingers ever!
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
ttk;1513310; said:
I would bet Mays will try and get in his head before the game, let him know he's out there and to scare him from throwing deep.
Click to expand...
I doubt Pryor will get scared because Mays is back there. There's a story from last year where Malcolm Jenkins called Pryor out after an incompletion and Pryor went right at him on about 5-6 straight throws, IIRC
 
Upvote 0
Sportsbuck28;1513371; said:
I doubt Pryor will get scared because Mays is back there. There's a story from last year where Malcolm Jenkins called Pryor out after an incompletion and Pryor went right at him on about 5-6 straight throws, IIRC
Click to expand...

Yeah I remember that too.

Honestly though at this point I don't think TP is afraid of anyone...
 
Upvote 0
ttk;1513310; said:
Something I wanted to ask Buckeyes fans.... special teams. How are you guys on returns/kicks, etc.? Special teams always freaks me out for USC. Especially when McKnight is receiving... feels like the guy has the worst butterfingers ever!
Click to expand...
In a word: Good.
The last two years (especially '07) weren't as good as we've been accustomed to. Some of that was the loss of Ginn in the return game and some of that was, IMO, lack of depth. Our special teams tends to have a lot of fresh/sophomore WR's, DB's, LB's that haven't cracked the depth chart yet but have tons of talent and potential.

This next year looks to be one of the better ones. Last year we had pretty solid ST but we weren't real sure what we were doing at PR and KR. This year we have a number of guys who could make a contribution there, especially a number of freshmen and sophomores. Lamaar Thomas, Jordan Hall, Jackson, Brandon Saine, Ray Small, and a few others are all candidates. Last year was pretty much Small and Thomas, and we even had Herron doing it a few times.

Likewise, we have a pretty big logjam at the LB position, and a LOT of young guys trying to make an impact. They might not be able to at LB, so they'll probably be ST- think potential future stars like Etienne Sabino and Dorian Bell.
 
Upvote 0
I also remember in last year's game when Pryor got into it with some USC guys. He seemed able to handle himself there and he never got rattled..... unfortunately Boeckman did.... and that was at USC.
 
Upvote 0
bukIpower;1513902; said:
Well according to your defensive depth chart you have 8 returning starters???
Click to expand...

It's like I was saying earlier... the guys aren't ENTIRELY green. I think based on that chart though, they're just going based on if the player started at all, even one game, previously.

For example, on the DL both Everson Griffen and Spicer started I believe three games last season.
 
Upvote 0
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top