Football
10 Things We Learned from USC Loss
By Brandon CastelAfter leading for much of the second half, Ohio State saw its 15-10 lead evaporate into an 18-15 defeat at the hands of USC Saturday night in Ohio Stadium. It was a tough loss for the players and an even tougher loss for the fans, who have dealt with an enormity of heartache in recent years.
We look back at the 10 things we learned from the loss to USC.
10. Losing is tough, even when you play well. Don’t talk to this Ohio State team about moral victories. They’ve heard enough about them over the last three years. This was a real, live victory that OSU let slip out of its fingers, and the players know it. Despite the fact so many things went right for the Buckeyes, no one is going to be happy with a loss. It hurts, and the worst part is that some people will discount the Buckeyes because they let it slip away again. Forget the fact they were the better team for 3.5 quarters.
9. Swapping Jermale Hines with Anderson Russell made a big difference. It is tough, because Anderson Russell seems like a great kid and he was giving his all on special teams Saturday night, but having Jermale Hines at safety seemed to make a huge difference for the Ohio State defense. First of all, it allowed Kurt Coleman to slide over to free safety while allowing three linebackers to stay on the field at one time. More importantly, however, it just took away that weak link in the armor. The defense seemed to fly around better and very few times was anyone caught out of position.
8. USC is still a notch above. It might be hard for Buckeye fans to hear, but USC proved Saturday that their program is still a notch above Ohio State’s. Talent-wise, the two teams were quite even between the lines in this game, but the Trojans proved once again that no one does it better in big games, while OSU went the opposite way. USC has now won the last seven meetings with OSU and they have cleaned house against the rest of the Big Ten along the way. Tressel still has a quality program and quality football team, but they are not on the same level as USC, at least not until they prove it on the field.
7. Brian Rolle was the right choice for MLB. If you watched closely Saturday, you should have noticed No. 36 flying around the field making plays. All the linebackers played well, including Austin Spitler, but Brian Rolle was the one guy who really stuck out. Despite his small stature, Rolle made big plays again this week. He was the first to get a hit on Matt Barkley and he always seemed to be around the football. He does a good job penetrating the backfield on blitzes and no one outruns him to the sideline. He played well against USC (8 tackles) and should be a great fit against the spread offenses as well.
6. The OSU defensive line is as good as advertised. All we have heard this off-season is how deep, how talented and how experienced the Ohio State defensive line is going to be this year. It was hard to get a gauge on their performance against Navy, but Saturday night was to serve as a proving ground for this group. Going against one of the best offensive lines in the country, the OSU d-line set the tempo for the game and won the battles up front all night long until that final drive. Junior Cameron Heyward was a monster for the Buckeyes, but a number of players had good games, including Dexter Larimore, Thad Gibson, Doug Worthington, Todd Denlinger, Nathan Williams, Rob Rose and even freshman John Simon. This group will not face another offensive line that good this season unless they rematch USC in the Rose Bowl.
5. Speaking of Heyward, this kid is going to play on Sundays. He may not be the next Mario Williams, but Cam Heyward is looking more and more like a guy with a future at the next level. A versatile lineman in the mold of a Justin Tuck, Heyward can play inside our outside. He excels against the run and did an excellent job creating penetration Saturday. The son of former NFL fullback Craig “Ironhead” Heyward will likely follow in his father’s footsteps and find a home somewhere for a long while.
4. The OSU offensive line held its own, for once. It was not the kind of performance people will rave about. In fact, it may never be talked about again after all four people read this piece, but the Ohio State offensive line was not the reason the Buckeyes lost a big game Saturday night, for once. After turning in dreadful performances against LSU, USC and even Texas, the offensive line held its own for the most part Saturday as they allowed only one sack to the Trojans (compared to five in last year’s game). They had moments of futility, and we don’t know for sure until looking at the tape, but it would appear to be unfair to put this loss on the guys up front.
3. This team needed Beanie Wells. Sit back and imagine for a moment what Beanie Wells, a healthy Beanie Wells, would have done with that offensive line performance Saturday night. While it was far from overpowering, Beanie was used to lines that would collapse in on itself in the backfield, and yet he managed to run his way into fourth place on OSU’s all-time rushing list. While Boom Herron and Brandon Saine both ran hard, neither is Beanie. Neither has the ability to make something out of nothing, run past smaller guy, over bigger guys or turn water into wine. Although the run game looked decent in short bursts, the Buckeyes finished with just 88 yards on 30 carries, which is not enough to get it done against a team like USC. Would have been a different story with No. 28 in the backfield, then again, so would last year’s game.
2. Terrelle Pryor is not a star, yet. Heading into Saturday night’s game, there were many who believed Ohio State’s only chance to win would be an epic, Vince Young-esque game from sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor. After all, this was Terrelle Pryor, the golden boy, the next VY, the future two-time Heisman Trophy winner. What we learned, however, is that this is still a kid and he is not a star, at least not yet anyways. Asking him to put up 450 yards of offense like VY did in the 2006 Rose Bowl is simply not something he is capable of, especially not in this offense. Matt Barkley hardly looked star quality on the other side, but Pryor threw an ill-timed interception, struggled with his reads and couldn’t find anywhere to go with the football down the stretch. More importantly, USC did not allow him to control the game with his feet. The future remains bright for Pryor, but he is not on his way to a Big Ten Player of the Year type season in 2009.
1. Tresselball is alive and well, and more frustrating than ever. Watching the Ohio State offense stumble over itself Saturday night, despite being handed inconceivable field position, really makes you wonder how Jim Tressel ever managed to put together a playbook for Troy Smith and that high-octane Buckeye offense in 2006. Despite having one of the nation’s most exciting players under center and host of other highly recruited players across the offense, Tressel managed to put just 13 points on the board offensively. Certainly the Buckeyes faced a tough, fast defense in USC, but one look at the offensive playcalling and it’s easy to see why the OSU offense was outscored 8-3 in the second half.
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