I think we all witnessed a pretty good behind the barn whipping this evening! USC just had too many weapons for us. They can hurt you in many different ways. Sanchez looks like another excellent QB for the Trojans. McKnight is really a nifty and terrifying running back. If there were any weakness, I did not see them. The Trojans may very well end up in the BCS Championship game. Don
Don, I think USC may well get all the first place votes tomorrow. I shudder to think how the Gators would fare against them if we played in their stadium without our Heisman candidate. Right now USC is in a class of their own.
Nothing against Ohio St. (I was pulling for them) but USC just toyed with them and pretty much stopped trying middle of the third quarter. I'm not sure I have seen another team play this year that looks like it can come close to USC in a complete game. I have to agree with some of the comments written in this article that OSU's offense looked simple with no imagination. And your offense looks light years ahead of what I see from my team.. :shock: http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/8561554/?MSNHPHMA RC
Interesting ramifications of that statement. I do think Tressel and OSU just line up sometimes and play their way and expect to get it done just because they are used to that in the Big Ten. Why change if it works and you get to the biggest stage at the end anyway? Even in the national championship season of '02 the Buckeyes on offense didn't steamroll too many opponents so maybe that is just Tressel's style. Against Florida in Glendale many Gator fans including me were very concerned Tressel would dazzle us with halftime changes that would turn the tide of the game in the second half but it didn't happen. I agree that USC is an awesome looking team right now but I'm not convinced that at some point they won't pull a typical USC off game and get beat.....because that has been their style in the last couple of years. OSU still looks to have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball and will contend in the Big Ten but Wisconsin and Penn St must feel like they have a shot also. Bill losing Tebow would hurt Florida much more that losing Wells hurt OSU because they are different positions but no question not having Wells probably cost OSU two touchdowns and would have made the game much closer to be sure.
After seeing Pryor, I'd suggest that Tressell take the "Mack Brown" approach and design a simplified offense for that kid to run. Give him pass plays with one read - if that pass isn't open, take off. Mix that in with zone-read running plays and you'll have an effective offense against better defenses. USC is a pretty clear number one right now, but I'd say OU could give them a good run. I've seen them a couple of times, and they are pretty balanced on both sides of the ball. We'll find out more about their secondary in the pass-happy Big 12 conference games...
Hats off Ohio State. I think if Pryor hones his skills as a passer, you guys will have one heckuva scary offense.
Just my opinion but JT and Ohio seem to out talent other midwestern teams but every time the play teams with comparable talent they are apparently outcoached.
not much for me to add....some huge early mistakes denied us critical scoring opportunites and Rey's pick six was a back breaker and put us in a position against those guys on the road from which you simply can't recover.....they are a great team. Their Oline handled our front well and when pressured, Sanchez made the correct read and delivered the ball. He played very well....our kid again faced alot of pressure and struggled. It's tough going cross country then face those characters.....we look forward to seeing them next year.
I think you nailed a major part of the reason the Buckeyes looked so bad on Saturday right there. I am really not simply trying to make excuses to Tenn.'s rough starts the last two seasons on the left coast but I think the point is important to consider. Look at what happened to Cal this week against a very mediocre Maryland team. I also think the fact that Ucla looked so horrible against BYU but looked like a decent team against Tenn. has something to do with travel. Georgia will get their chance this week against a suddenly average looking Arizona St. team.
Agreed Aquila.....UCLA over your Vols then followed by the BYU debacle, Cal beats a very good Spartan team then falls to MD after a long trip, our visit to LA, Oregon should have lost to the Boilers - but somehow survived....it's damn tough. Sure makes Wisky's win at Fresno look pretty good. Best of luck to your Vols this weekend....
The great travel debate <t>I have often said that, if you want to beat a Pac10 team, you schedule them on the east coast and then make them play in the morning/afternoon. Those work out to be 9am kickoffs for those programs.<br/> <br/> Playing them at night tends to work in their favor. <br/> <br/> I do think its funny that the Pac10 is now horribly overrated for playing and losing games like that.. Meanwhile, LSU has still played no one and Auburn remains in the top 10 despite that 3-2 sh*tbag of a football game..</t>
Az St should present a myriad of problems for the Bulldogs.....not the least of which is the home field night time advantage. Good points on all those teams that traveled the distances....did anybody do well on Sat after the long journey? USC as an exception is tough enough without catching them at home and just look at their game with Virginia at Va.....they smoked the Cavs after the long trip east.
Are we talking about the same AzSt that just lost to UNLV at home? If the Dawgs don't handle them easily the SEC will be tarnished.
to be sure, a popular opinion this week Gip. I don't know whether I'd throw him under the bus this week - they were a superior talent to be sure - and in light of Beanie's absence and Petey's extra week to prepare at home it was a thrashing waiting to happen. His record against top 10 teams is now 8-4 and over the course of his 21 year career as a head coach he has taken his teams to the title game 9 times. For sure, his teams have gotten whacked in a couple of high profile games of late, but the games were high profile for a reason. I think we'll keep him.... :wink:
Funny nobody suggests that about Bob Stoops who I will present to you as a media annointed godlike coach, who has been whacked 4 times in a row (in bowls), embarassingly in all of them, esp embarassingly against supposed inferior teams including one inferior team where the entire coaching staff virtually walked out for more $$$ before the bowl. I suggest only his mastery of Mack Brown keeps him from feet of Clay. Petey maybe the reincarnation of John McKay for all I know, and Ara Parseghian who is a HOF coach with 2 Nat'l Titles to his credit had a very hard time with McKay. If he managed to beat him he usually won the Nat'l Championship. I'd say JT is one of the top 5 coaches in the NCAA. I like his demeanor, I like the way he recruits and I like the way he's able to develope stars out of players who weren't esp highly recruited.
they do and will again the next time his Sooners lose a high profile game....it goes with the territory of this 24/7 news/info cycle. If you look hard enough, you can find a discussion that happens to fit any particular view - rational or not. As it relates to Coach T, there isn't another coach that I'd rather have or that I think would be a better fit on the Buckeye sidelines....
I agree Corey that there is something wrong with that logic. This is coming from someone who argued with you before the season that Auburn was a darkhorse national title contender. I guess I bought the media's Kool-Aid. I don't think they're a bad team but obviously they're not top 10 worthy, IMO. They are light years behind the USC's of the world. A couple of points about this statement. 1) USC has more talent than anyone in the country by far. They regularly can substitute guys to keep them fresh. 2) UVa is one of the worst teams in one of the worst BCS conferences in America. They're probably even middle of the pack when you take into account all conferences. I am talking about that same Arizona St. team, Terry. I think UNLV caught them in a classic looking ahead scenario. I think Georgia could (not necessarily will) have a tough game against the Sun Devils. We are also talking about a Ga. team that struggled with South Carolina this week on the road. If anyone has seen South Carolina play, you know that they're not all that good. That trip was all of 164 miles. That trip to the desert is going to run more like 1900. You tell me there's no difference. While we're on this SEC reputation bit, I haven't seen anyone in the SEC play up to this point that had a wow factor. That's not to say the conference isn't incredibly deep and incredibly talented, I'm just not sure anyone has put it together yet.
Aquila, Maybe both teams were looking ahead. I agree that So.Car just didn't look that good to me and a pretty avg Rice team was able to hang with Vandy for a 1/2 and put some points on the board. Georgia in the end doesn't really need to do much other than beat AzSt, they will have plenty of opportunity to play high profile games vs UF and Tenn and a couple of others where wins will keep them in the conversation. I really should've left out the crack about the SEC. SEC has a good group of top 10 caliber teams. No one game will change that. Terry