Four Reasons USC Thumped Ohio State

By now, I’m sure you’ve already read about Ohio State’s epic failure against USC, even if you didn’t get to watch the game yourself. The team fell apart, and in the coming week, there’s sure to be a lot of backlash against Coach Jim Tressel and a lot of “overrated” chants at the entire Buckeyes team.

So what went wrong? On paper, this looked like a great match-up. Maybe Ohio State was always destined to lose against the mighty Trojans, but few people expected the 35-3 massacre we saw on Saturday night. Here are the top ten reasons USC handed Ohio State their asses on a platter:

Reason #1: USC used one good quarterback, not a duel system.

I have a real issue with teams that insist on playing a duel quarterback system. I guess it can work occasionally because it keeps the other team on their toes, but last night, playing both Todd Boeckman and Terrelle Pryor didn’t work out. Boeckman didn’t play well, but Pryor didn’t play often, and the team had no one to rally behind. On the other Side of the field, USC’s Mark Sanchez (above) had a great game and really led the team. Tressel told us that Pryor could play this season, but playing him in this way wasn’t a good idea.

Reason #2: Mistakes killed the Buckeyes.

USC didn’t even have to play 100% last night. No matter how well they played, the real crushers of this game for Ohio State were the penalties, turnovers (see left), and other errors. Ohio State had three turnovers to USC’s one, and 10 penalties to USC’s 8. What’s really significant here, though, is that they let every mistake simmer. College football is all about confidence, and OSU let their confidence deflate as the game wore on while USC shrugged things off.

Reason #3: They were overrated.

I will not argue with anyone who says that OSU was overrated. They were. Beginning of these season, I thought OSU would come back to play in the Championship, but after just two games, it became clear to me that this team wasn’t really playing as well as their ranking. And because they were overrated, a lot was expected of them. The entire team, especially the offense, let that get to them. It was transparently clear that Todd Boeckman was nervous, and that definitely contributed to the loss.

Reason #4: The USC defense is a force (see right).

There’s no arguing the fact that Sanchez and his receivers played well; they did. But let’s not forget the brutal force we saw with the USC defense. Boeckman was sacked – hard – a number of times, and they were completely stopped on the ground, rushing just 71 yards the entire game.

And one thing that didn’t effect the loss?

Beanie Wells didn’t play. I don’t care how good the guy is – his injury is not what caused this loss. Even if Wells would have played during the entire game, he couldn’t have possible made a big enough difference. For the record, USC wasn’t 100% healthy either – Joe McKnight, one of their leading rushers, spent most of the second half on the sidelines with a migraine.

This game wasn’t about health – it was about nerves and being outplayed. I do think that Ohio State is a decent team, but I’d venture to say they are not a top five team, and I’m even speculating whether they are the best in the Big Ten.

On a random note, a friend and I were discussing how the Ohio State mascot (see left)really does look like an asshole (buckeye? more like browneye), which is appropriate, since they got fucked in the ass…but at least they used a Trojan…

Your thoughts on the game?

Pictures via Newscom.