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

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Rome: (on Barkley handling himself against SJSU)

Carroll: Oh, he handled himself really well. He was very calm about it, he was poised. He performed well. He was 15-19 and threw a couple balls away, so he had a big day throwing the ball. Most of all, I think just his composure, handling the huddle, and game situations was really well done

Rome: (on hostile OSU environment)

Carroll: I think just judging from the way he's handled everything that's come at him from the time he's been here, he's going to do really well. Of course, it's trying and troubling and gonna be as loud as it can get and all that, but this kid is a very composed kid and I would be surprised if it shakes him at all. He's going to be just fine.

Rome: (on what makes Barkley special)

Carroll: He has all of the physical tools you're looking for. He's capable of doing all the things at the quarterback position for us. But beyond that, he has a level of confidence and self-confidence, a manner about himself that just separates him. If you could imagine getting in the huddle in Spring football when you're still a senior in high school and handling it, and dealing with guys who are four or five years older than him. He just was very comfortable, very much at ease. And now he's studied his stuff well enough where they've gained respect for his knowledge, awareness, and ability to run the club. There's already a great relationship and I just think it's really unlikely that it would happen for a kid this quickly. They've loved him and received him in a great way.

Rome: (on whether he can make big plays when needed against Ohio State)

Carroll: Well, he's been up for that every day in practice against our top defense. Every since Spring football, he's gone against the #1 defense every day, to the point where he's comfortable with that. In settings where we've backed him up in his own endzone, in two-minute situations. He's been in all kinds of environments with our own defense coming after him, and we haven't held back at him. So, I think that has prepared him as well as it possibly could, but now he's still gotta go out and do it on gameday.

Rome: (on before meeting Barkley, whether he thought he could win with a true freshman QB)

Carroll: I would have said, “While we'd like to see that come our way, we've never seen anyone even close to that.” We didn't have Carson [Palmer] as a freshman. He started some games as a freshman. All of our other guys after that, Leinart, Booty, and Sanchez, they all had to take a long time to get to the point where they could play for us and we would feel this confident about it. Matt's just nowhere near on that timeframe, so I would've said for sure that I don't know that can happen yet.

Rome: (on McKnight now compared to a year ago)

Carroll: He's at his best, you know. He's physically right, he's 199lbs. He's as fast as he's been, he's strong and healthy. He's confident in what he's doing and understanding the system. We're moving him all over the field to do a lot of different things. So all of that combined, Joe's at his very best he's been since he's been at SC.

Rome: (on how he compares to other backs at SC under Carroll)

Carroll: He's right up there. He's got a marvelous range of talents, and then he can run routes like a receiver, catch the ball out of the backfield, and lining up as a WR, down the field doing all the things our receivers do, as well as being a tackle-to-tackle and perimeter runningback. And Joe's a good blocker too, so he's really rounded out his game. He can do everything. I don't know that anyone will ever be as explosive as Reggie, but he's the next thing to that at this point.

Rome: (on Lendale White's offseason transformation)

Carroll: We saw him in the offseason, he was around in the Spring time, and he just looked like a different guy. He's totally changed his mentality and demeanor. And I think to make the transformation that he's made, it's taken a great commitment. You know, once guys make a commitment like that, it's hard to give it up and they fight hard to maintain. I think this is gonna be a great start, hopefully a great start, for Lendale this season, he can get under way and really feel the confidence and support that he should deserve to get because he's a different guy right now.

Rome: (on challenge of going against Pryor)

Carroll: Yeah, he's an extraordinary athlete in every way. He's big and strong and fast and can throw the ball a mile. He's got great confidence, is a great competitor. He competed really well in our game last year, which was only a couple games into his start. With all of the background he has now, he's as difficult a single talent as you can face. So, it's going to take everything we have to keep him under control. He's going to make plays anyway, but we've got to keep him from just dominating the game, and hopefully we'll be able to find a way.

Rome: (on keeping containment of Pryor)

Carroll: Yeah, I don't think you do contain him. He gets out, and you can talk about rushing the passer and staying up in your pass lanes and all, but he doesn't care about that. If it's time for him to get out, he's going to get out and go. You just don't want him to get 20 and 30 yards when he takes off. You hope to minimize his runs, and also minimize his opportunities to throw the ball down the field when he starts to run. Those are very difficult situations for a defense.

Rome: How difficult is he to knock down?

Carroll: He's really hard to tackle. He's not a guy whose trying to run over you, but he's so big and so strong and so fast that guys miss him and they drip off him all the time. So we're going to work really hard on staying wrapped up on him and trying to get him down. There'll be times like in the Navy game, they had him in the backfield two or three different times where he's trapped, it's done, it's over with, and then he finds a way to get out and then also makes a big play throwing or running with the football. Those are killer plays, and we're going to see if we can minimize them, and we're going to have to do a terrific job of tackling him to get that done.

Rome: (on sportsmanship initiative)

Carroll: I think it's a nice thought and all that. I don't think its necessary. I think we demonstrate sportsmanship in a lot of way in the game that we played. I think that is was a nice effort. I didn't mind doing it, but I don't think we need it. I think the game goes just fine just as it is.

Rome: Let me finally ask you, it was interesting to see the reaction in Columbus to Terrelle Pryor's eye black. I go back to Reggie Bush who used to represent the 619. The kids are going to represent what they want to represent. Jim Tressel said, “I may micromanage some things, but not this one. I haven't really paid attention.” Do you care what your players put under their eyes?

Carroll: Yeah, we do. Our guys started doing that years ago, and we did start to talk to them about the expressions they make. We didn't make a big deal about it, and haven't, but we do want to use good judgment and be classy about what our thoughts are and what our expressions are. And if it's too big a deal, if it starts to become an issue, they're not doing it. So, that's how we've handled it in the past.
 
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Forget for a second that its Navy.

If a team from a BCS conference had led the Nation in Rushing for 4 straight seasons and I told you that the buckeyes had them in the opener and they actually held said team to is 3rd lowest rushing total in 4 seasons you'd say Man our defense must really be good against the run.... be honest you KNOW you would.

Yet, because its Navy that somehow for some unbeknown reason it becomes a tag line for the defense hasn't improved. Yes there are some issues that need to be addressed and they are apparently being addressed.

In ANY other circumstance the staff kicks the sure FG from the 15 goes up 32-14 (which is probably the final score as it completely changes the complexion of the game.) If that happens OSU doesn't drop, the national media bills this game completely differently and we don't have people sprinting off the bandwagon :biggrin:

Navy is going to win a TRUCK full of games this season. At a MINIMUM Navy is a bowl team. If Dobbs can make modest week to week improvement this is a team that will end up with 10 or even 11 wins this season. Frankly, at the end of this season that win over Navy will look very, very good.

I really think USC is walking into a hornets nest. I saw a very indecisive QB in the first half against SJSU. Barkley had 19 attempts for the game. Against Virgina last season Sanchez had 35. That speaks VOLUMES about what the USC staff is and IS NOT comfortable asking Barkely to do.

IF the Buckeyes can control the running game, USC is in BIG, BIG, BIG trouble.

I think they can and will. I think the staff uses multiple coverage schemes and every blitz package in the play book to confuse the freshman to create turn overs.

USC is 3-7 when traveling to OSU, UM and PSU.

they will leave Saturday 3-8

OSU 23
USC 16
 
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