jtk1519
09-13-2008, 11:04 PM
This from a week ago...
Ohio State fans have been crying about their horribly conservative play calling on both sides of the ball and their lack of speed... mainly directed at Hartline and Robiskie who don't have the speed to separate and at the LBs who have looked average. The announcers during the Ohio game even called out Animal Jr. for looking so bad. On top of that, look back at the LSU game last year to see how poorly Boeckman handles pressure. There is may no coach better at scheming a pass rush than Pete Carroll. Look for him to turn RayRay loose and make Boeckman's night a long one. USC rolls in this one. I'm thinking something like 31-17 and that is if Wells is 100%. If he's not or if he can't play, OSU may not score in double-digits.
This from 3 months ago...
The Peanut and Big Televen fans are so funny with their "but look at our fast WRs" comebacks. For the 1000th time... it's called TEAM speed. Yes Ohio State has produced and has some fast WRs and RBs and DBs. But guess what... so does Coastal Carolina. Pretty much every college football team has fast skill players. What the Peanut and Big Televen fans just don't get is that all that speed means little because your linemen are too damn slow. Your QBs are too damn slow. Your LBs are too damn slow. There are obvious exceptions of course (AJ Hawk, Vernon Gohlston, etc.), but go look at the combine numbers of SEC DE, DTs, OTs and LBs and you will see the enormous speed gap that is so visible on gameday.
That is what Ohio State is going to run into in Los Angeles. USC is going to have one of the more athletic and fastest defenses Ohio State has seen in some time. Animal Jr. is a great LB, but he will be buried under the press clippings and highlight reels of Rey Maualuga after this game. Animal Jr. is good... no question. He is a lunch pail, hard-nosed, fundamentally sound technician, but from Rey you will see an unworldly athlete moving and doing things in a way that no 260 pound man should be allowed to. And just for a little icing on the cake, if healthy, Brian Cushing at 255 pounds will do things that no LB on Ohio State's roster can do.
Just as with the SEC, Ohio State with throw out some fast WRs and fast RBs which will continue to befuddle them as their slow front 7 and O-line get whipped around by their more athletic and faster USC counterparts.
The Big Televen cultists like to point out good 40 times put up by a few skill position players every year as some kind of evidence that the Big Televen's lack of speed is a myth, but you all saw it on national TV... AGAIN. OSU looked like they were playing in 10 inches of mud while USC looked like they were running on concrete. The Big Televen's torch barer looked like a JV team out there.
What did surprise me though was that OSU was pushed around like rag dolls. They may be slow, but usually OSU and the Big Televen can hang their hat on being physical, but USC beat them like mouthy wife. Animal Jr. was tossed around and OSU's D-line was straight mauled by a very young and inexperienced USC O-line. What's worse than all that though is that OSU has a very big and VERY experienced O-line and that line was butt-plowed... no lube. Boeckman and his blazing 7.5 40 speed had no chance.
Ohio State fans have been crying about their horribly conservative play calling on both sides of the ball and their lack of speed... mainly directed at Hartline and Robiskie who don't have the speed to separate and at the LBs who have looked average. The announcers during the Ohio game even called out Animal Jr. for looking so bad. On top of that, look back at the LSU game last year to see how poorly Boeckman handles pressure. There is may no coach better at scheming a pass rush than Pete Carroll. Look for him to turn RayRay loose and make Boeckman's night a long one. USC rolls in this one. I'm thinking something like 31-17 and that is if Wells is 100%. If he's not or if he can't play, OSU may not score in double-digits.
This from 3 months ago...
The Peanut and Big Televen fans are so funny with their "but look at our fast WRs" comebacks. For the 1000th time... it's called TEAM speed. Yes Ohio State has produced and has some fast WRs and RBs and DBs. But guess what... so does Coastal Carolina. Pretty much every college football team has fast skill players. What the Peanut and Big Televen fans just don't get is that all that speed means little because your linemen are too damn slow. Your QBs are too damn slow. Your LBs are too damn slow. There are obvious exceptions of course (AJ Hawk, Vernon Gohlston, etc.), but go look at the combine numbers of SEC DE, DTs, OTs and LBs and you will see the enormous speed gap that is so visible on gameday.
That is what Ohio State is going to run into in Los Angeles. USC is going to have one of the more athletic and fastest defenses Ohio State has seen in some time. Animal Jr. is a great LB, but he will be buried under the press clippings and highlight reels of Rey Maualuga after this game. Animal Jr. is good... no question. He is a lunch pail, hard-nosed, fundamentally sound technician, but from Rey you will see an unworldly athlete moving and doing things in a way that no 260 pound man should be allowed to. And just for a little icing on the cake, if healthy, Brian Cushing at 255 pounds will do things that no LB on Ohio State's roster can do.
Just as with the SEC, Ohio State with throw out some fast WRs and fast RBs which will continue to befuddle them as their slow front 7 and O-line get whipped around by their more athletic and faster USC counterparts.
The Big Televen cultists like to point out good 40 times put up by a few skill position players every year as some kind of evidence that the Big Televen's lack of speed is a myth, but you all saw it on national TV... AGAIN. OSU looked like they were playing in 10 inches of mud while USC looked like they were running on concrete. The Big Televen's torch barer looked like a JV team out there.
What did surprise me though was that OSU was pushed around like rag dolls. They may be slow, but usually OSU and the Big Televen can hang their hat on being physical, but USC beat them like mouthy wife. Animal Jr. was tossed around and OSU's D-line was straight mauled by a very young and inexperienced USC O-line. What's worse than all that though is that OSU has a very big and VERY experienced O-line and that line was butt-plowed... no lube. Boeckman and his blazing 7.5 40 speed had no chance.