I hate USC, but I’m glad that Rock lost afte starting a gloating thread too early. 
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
I hate USC, but I’m glad that Rock lost afte starting a gloating thread too early. :-)[/quote]
pmpm, you’re just pissed because your season was over before it started. There is plenty of room on the Husker bandwagon for you, though!
Couple thoughts about tonight’s game:
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This is yet another example of how crazy fans/teams get when USC comes to town. I’ve seen it at Notre Dame, Autzen, Oregon State (twice), Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, the Shoe, and countless others. The fact is that teams and their fans always take their best shot at USC when USC is on the road. That honestly had to be the most hostile environment I’ve seen in college football in a long, long time. It was loud in my living room in California!
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Ohio St. played a better game in general, but you have to give USC credit for hanging in there and not folding. I think Ohio St.'s punter had USC pinned behind their own 15 on like every single drive. USC had awful field position all night long. This tended to make them one dimensional because the last thing you need is Barkley throwing a pick six and losing his head. Thus, we had to run, often to no avail. A lesser team would have fallen apart, but USC always fights back.
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The game was decided solely by coaching. In particular, Tressel goofed up by not using better clock management at the end of the second half. Also, Tressel should have either kicked for 3 or gone for it on fourth down rather than punt there at the end. Carroll showed his typical take-no-prisoners mentality by going for like 5 forth-down conversions. I really wish Pete wouldn’t burn timeouts like they are going out of style, though. We could have used a timeout or two at the end of the second quarter to push for a TD instead of a field goal.
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Ohio St. needs to face the music and turn themselves into a dedicated spread option team. Boom Herron and Tyrelle Prior would make a sick tandem running the ball on zone reads a la Dennis Dixon and Jonathan Stewart of Oregon in 2007. Running, particularly from the quarterback, needs to be a bigger focus of their offense.
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Ohio St.'s defense was surprisingly good. I had no idea their front 7 were going to be that stout. Particularly their D line. I thought USC was going to be able to run all over them, but no dice. Which leads me to my 6th and final point . . .
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While Barkley’s stats and performance were not at all amazing, I am happy with his performance. The kid turned 19 a few days ago. A year ago he was playing high school ball, now he is in a pro-type atmosphere with media, a huge stadium, and a hostile crowd. Plus, I think he expected to be able to rely heavily on the run and simply manage the game. Instead, he found himself having to start every drive from his own 15, trailing most of the game, and without a running game to rely on. The fact that he was able to keep a cool head and manage the final drive, despite throwing an interception earlier in the game, showed a lot of maturity. I think the raw talent is there, he just needs to synch with his receivers and polish his throw a little.
Edit: I also think that Barkley was fucked over by his receivers, particularly Damien Williams. There were a couple dropped passes that should have been completions. WIlliams in particular had a shitty night. He was a total non factor. We fucking need Ronald Johnson back in a big way. Him, Williams, and Ausbury make a sweet three set, with McCoy as a reliable receiving tight end. Add in McKnight and Havili, and that gives Barkley 6 high-quality targets (assuming Williams shows up).
Second Edit: Can any fellow USC fans tell me where the hell C.J. Gable was? That guy is the most complete back we have, IMO. McKnight is best used Reggie Bush-style on the swing, screen, and in the slot. Stefon Johnson is good between the tackles every now and again. But C.J. is a complete back, particularly in pass protection (where McKnight and Johnson are basically worthless). Is he hurt? Why didn’t he check in AT ALL tonight? Sometimes I wish I had a red phone in my living room that connected straight to Pete’s headset.
[quote]eic wrote:
That honestly had to be the most hostile environment I’ve seen in college football in a long, long time. [/quote]
I’m an OSU fan, but all I’m going to say is this:
Clemson vs. Miami
Death Valley, SC
2005
That being said, the shoe looked like it might have gotten close to that hostility last night.
[quote]Stronghold wrote:
eic wrote:
That honestly had to be the most hostile environment I’ve seen in college football in a long, long time.
I’m an OSU fan, but all I’m going to say is this:
Clemson vs. Miami
Death Valley, SC
2005
That being said, the shoe looked like it might have gotten close to that hostility last night.[/quote]
I went to the game last night – sat in the south stands with all of the students. It was LOUD. The loudest game I’ve ever been to in the horseshoe and I’ve been to some big games there.
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
I hate USC, but I’m glad that Rock lost afte starting a gloating thread too early. :-)[/quote]
You know these kids today, too light to fight and too thin to win
hostile? That whole city was in figurative flames last night. The fights, vandalism, USC burning parties. You wouldve thought it was heaven vs hell in some of the places I went last night.
MaxB, enjoy this now. The sequel will hurt much more.Buckeye Nation is wounded. not dead.
Surprsingly, I’m not hungover or tired…maybe it’ll hit me when I wake up tommorOW
Just remember one thing Rock, its all about the…
Any team that beats Ohio State is a GREAT team…unless they beat Michigan, then they’re a shitty team.
[quote]Grneyes wrote:
Any team that beats Ohio State is a GREAT team…unless they beat Michigan, then they’re a shitty team.[/quote]
I thought you Chicago people like Notre Dame?
[quote]MaximusB wrote:
Grneyes wrote:
Any team that beats Ohio State is a GREAT team…unless they beat Michigan, then they’re a shitty team.
I thought you Chicago people like Notre Dame?[/quote]
Oh, HELL NO!!! I was raised a Michigan fan. My mo is from Michigan so I was raised pro-Michigan, anti-Notre Dame.
[quote]Grneyes wrote:
MaximusB wrote:
Grneyes wrote:
Any team that beats Ohio State is a GREAT team…unless they beat Michigan, then they’re a shitty team.
I thought you Chicago people like Notre Dame?
Oh, HELL NO!!! I was raised a Michigan fan. My mo is from Michigan so I was raised pro-Michigan, anti-Notre Dame.[/quote]
Oh damn, sorry. I am batting 1000 this weekend, both with you and PMPM. I guess you are happy your Wolverines won, they played well. I met Bo Schembechler in 1993, and he was one of the coolest guys ever. Real hell of a guy, in a good way.
This thread is hilarialz.
The Gators would wipe their ass with both of these mediocre teams.
[quote]SSC wrote:
This thread is hilarialz.
The Gators would wipe their ass with both of these mediocre teams.[/quote]
You must be drinking the same dirty bathwater that Rock was drinking.
My wife and I were sitting in the corner where 'SC scored the game winner. For a while there, we were really thinking we had flown 3000 miles to go home disappointed. But, Pete gets it done again! OSU played their balls off, but you could tell they were worn down at the end. And I was quite impressed with Barkley’s execution on the scoring drives to end both halfs.
That place was VERY hostile and VERY loud (then got VERY quiet…) Definitely glad we made the trip, but I am still tired now.
Yea that Barkley has fight in him, thats for sure. I don’t think he played very well, except for that last drive.
[quote]MaximusB wrote:
Yea that Barkley has fight in him, thats for sure. I don’t think he played very well, except for that last drive. [/quote]
Definitely a few passes late or behind his receiver. But, given the environment, and the fact that OSU was playing as hard as I’ve seen a team play in years, his ability to stay composed and get it done was pretty impressive. Also, the field goal drive to end the first half with 48 seconds left was pretty nice too.
Yea those 2 drives, along with the early interception by Galippo were about the only positive things to mention. How do you think we will handle UW Huskies? Sarkisian is there now, and he got his first win last week, breaking the 15 game losing streak of UW.
[quote]MaximusB wrote:
Yea those 2 drives, along with the early interception by Galippo were about the only positive things to mention. How do you think we will handle UW Huskies? Sarkisian is there now, and he got his first win last week, breaking the 15 game losing streak of UW.[/quote]
Its a possible let-down game for sure. We always have issues on the road in the NW. I think we should definitely hammer them if we come in with our heads on straight, but a mental letdown would give UW a chance. I had that Oregon State game last year in mind as a potential trap, and they did exactly that.
It was a great physical football game. Being as objective as I can (usc fan), here is my take, both good and bad about both usc and osu.
USC
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Jeremy Bates is an upgrade over his predecessors not named norm chow. The game plan seemed a lot like the one employed a few years back against nebraska. While usc clearly did not have the same type of success running the ball against osu, I really liked the fact that they stayed committed to the run throughout the whole game. People may want to call it conservative, but considering usc’s poor field position (see kicking game) and the fact that the strength of the offense is the o-line and the stable of running backs and bates stuck to the running game and it paid off in the end.
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Mcknight has finally arrived. No, his stats were not the greatest. But for the first time in his career, mcknight carried the offense down the stretch. He has effectively became usc’s closer, in the sense of the guy who finishes games, with johnson being a sort of short yard specialist.
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O’Dowd is an absolute beast. No matter which side you were cheering for, was there ever any doubt that usc would get the yard or two it needed on those qb sneaks? Nuff said.
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USC’s secondary may be a bit overrated. I’m not just pointing out mays over running on the pass play. But quite frankly, many of the incomplete passes were due more to lack of execution on osu’s part. Yes, scheme (like playing off zone) matters, but considering the hype of usc’s secondary as one of the best in the nation, I never got the sense that the secondary was the one shutting down the osu pass attack. That being said, the usc front seven has less hype, but is the strength of the defense imo.
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USC’s kicking game is horrible. Note, I did not say special teams, because considering the lousy kicking, I thought the usc coverage team played very well. O’Malley simply does not have the leg strength to be able to flip field position when usc needs it. Congdon also lacks the leg and his missed fg attempt shows that he is only capable from about 40 yards in. Harfman is ok on kickoffs, but not nearly the same as buehler.
OSU
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The o-line surprised me with their play (in a good way). For all the criticism they received from the navy game, I thought the osu line was very physical and their tackles held up very well against the usc ends. Sure, the usc ends were focused a lot on containment, rather than getting the sack, but pryor had ample time to scan the field when he dropped back. The run blocking was ok. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the osu o-line dominated the usc front seven, but considering that everyone predicted the usc front giving osu all kinds of problems, osu did very well up front.
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OSU’s defense is fast, particularly up front. They shut down the vaunted stretch run play for most of the game. They were very disciplined and with the exception of about two cutbacks, (one by johnson, for a big gain and the other by mcknight on the final drive), they did an excellent job against the run. They also got a decent pass rush going and knocked down barkley a couple of times.
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The osu punter, thoma, was fantastic. USC did not return a single punt and was consistently pinned inside its own 20. In terms of helping his team with field position, he clearly stood out compared to his usc counterpart.
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OSU’s 2 minute drill was terrible. Besides the grounding penalty, I was shocked at pryor’s poor decision making. The run where he did not even attempt to get out of bounds with no timeouts was in excusable (nearly as bad as cal’s qb riley against oregon state a couple of years ago). There never seemed to be any sense of urgency. Throwing up a jump ball into triple coverage sealed osu’s fate.
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Pryor’s arm strength is overrated. For a guy as big and strong as he is, he puts way too much air on some of his throws. I don’t know if it because of the coaching, mechanics or what, but his arm is no where near the same level of strength of other big and tall qbs, like russell, mallet etc.