Football Friday: USC Trojans
No. 5 Ohio State (2-0) vs. No. 1 Southern California (1-0)
Date: Saturday, September 13
Time: 8:00 PM ET
Place: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – capacity 93,329
TV: ABC Sports will televise the game. Brent Musburger will call the play-by-play with analysis from Kirk Herbstreit. Erin Andrews and Lisa Salters are the sideline reporters.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 The Fan in Columbus is the flagship station for the 73-station Ohio State Radio Network. The Jim Tressel pregame show airs 30 minutes prior to kickoff. “Big Daddy” Paul Keels will call the play-by-play and will be assisted by former Buckeye Jim Lachey in the booth and Marty Bannister on the sidelines.
Weather from WBNS-10 TV: Mostly sunny skies and a game time temperature of 83 degrees.
Latest Line: Ohio State is a 11-point underdog. The Over & Under is 44 1/2.
Series History: This will be the 22nd meeting between the Buckeyes and the Trojans on the football field. Overall, Ohio State is 9-11-1 versus Southern California. The two schools last met in 1990, a 35-26 victory for USC in a lightning-shortened game at Ohio Stadium. The teams combined for nearly 800 total yards before the contest was called by officials with 2:36 remaining because of heavy thunderstorms. Just prior to the stoppage of play, the Buckeyes’ Raymont Harris scored on a one-yard run and Greg Frey passed to Jeff Graham for the two-point conversion.
The $64,000 question is, does Beanie play or not?
It seemed on Thursday that Beanie was basically ruled out of Saturday’s clash between Ohio State and USC.
In his press conference yesterday before the Buckeyes boarded a charter flight from Rickenbacher International Airport bound for Los Angeles, head coach Jim Tressel stated that his star running back was “doubtful” with an injured toe.
But later once the team arrived in southern California, Tressel backtracked on that statement as reported by ABC Sports’ Brent “The Pard’ner” Musburger, and Tressel essentially said that Wells was “doubtful if the game was played on Thursday.”
Reports have said that Beanie iced his foot on the plane en route to Los Angeles and felt much better.
Whether or not Coach Tressel decides today or waits until game time remains to be seen. I think that Beanie at 75 percent is better than the other options of Boom Herron, Brandon Saine, and Mo Wells.
Granted, even if Beanie does play, it’s highly unlikely he’ll come close to 30 rushing attempts, maybe in the 10-15 carry range, so the other three will have to step up their play. Neither were very impressive against Ohio, last week.
Even with Beanie playing in sparingly, one would think freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor will get his share of snaps. But when do you bring him in? If Todd Boeckman has a hot hand early, and using a baseball terminology, you never pull a pitcher out when he’s tossing a shutout. But if he struggles from the beginning, let’s hope Terrelle gets into the ball game.
One thing that I harped on all season last year is that there as to be a third receiver, a deep, home run threat, to emerge out of the pack. That never happened in 2007. I was hoping it would of been Ray Small, and that still could happen this season, but waiting in the wings are the likes of DeVier Posey. I hope he gets to see a lot of the field Saturday night.
The offensive line play was absolutely terrible against Ohio, so they have to set up as a group and play much better or it’s going to be a long night in LA for the Buckeyes.
Defensively, Ohio State has to keep the Trojans in front of them and not give up the big play. The defensive line needs to step up to get consistent pressure on the quarterback. USC’s Mark Sanchez is fairly mobile and likes to throw on the run, so he’s not going to set up in the pocket every time. The D-line will have to get after him every play.
Analysis and Prediction
In the last two BCS title games, I predicted the Buckeyes to win only to get my email box full of messages from fans of the Gators and Tigers questioning my manhood and calling my saintly mother every name in the book.
I really do think that both teams are evenly matched, with a slight edge to the Trojans’ offense, plus add to the fact of the Buckeyes’ past performances in big games. (Sorry, Michigan no longer counts.)
But here’s what I see happening: USC jumps out to an early lead, maybe 10-0, 14-0, or even 17-0 before Ohio State settles down and regains the momentum and takes the crowd out of the game. By the end of the third quarter it will be close, but a big play, possibly coming from a turnover, helps the Trojans earn a hard-fought victory.
USC 31, Ohio State 23
