Ohio State 3, Southern Cal 35 (Sept. 13)

[MD Buckeye]

ESPN - Midsummer night's dream reveals puckish prognostications for '08 - Columnist

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

4. Ohio State at USC is the nonconference game of the year.
And if the Buckeyes win it on Sept. 13, they'll be eight flimsy Big Ten games from another berth in the national championship game. Wouldn't that be special?

Contd....

[generaladm]

Originally Posted by MD Buckeye

ESPN - Midsummer night's dream reveals puckish prognostications for '08 - Columnist

Wow, it's hard to tell what Ford knows the least about: Shakespeare, college football, or writing.

[TheMightyQuinn]

You shouldn't let him upset you so much. He's working with a disadvantage. Your just not supposed to have that many chromosomes.

[muffler dragon]

Originally Posted by MD Buckeye

ESPN - Midsummer night's dream reveals puckish prognostications for '08 - Columnist

How is this:

And if the Buckeyes win it on Sept. 13, they'll be eight flimsy Big Ten games from another berth in the national championship game. Wouldn't that be special?

Any different from this:

And if the Trojans win it on Sept. 13, they'll be eight flimsy Pac Ten games from another berth in the national championship game. Wouldn't that be special?

I find the strength of the two conferences to be comparable; yet, somehow the perpetual dominance of USC in the Pac Ten is a GOOD thing to most media personnal. Whereas, it's a liability for the Buckeyes.

The duplicity is astounding.

[troy#1]

Originally Posted by EidoloN

Could not agree more, people don't understand how tough your own conference is. No matter how "weak" it may be, the best competition is inter-conference play. Rediculous haters....

Totally agree! That is what I tell people when they bring up stanford. Should SC have won that game, of course! But, interconf. games are tough.

[Football_Junky]

Finally someone with a level head! It is true whether your the Sunbelt, Big 10, SEC, Conference USA your conference games are always tough. Conference games have more rivalry between them then most non conference games because every year you play most of the same teams which breeds more competition then playing an OOC team once every 5 or 10 years.

[82Trojan]

Originally Posted by methomps

I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Reggie Bush's breakout performance was against Virginia Tech his sophomore year. His performances against OOC teams in 04 and 05:

vs. VaTech: 9 carries, 27 yds; 5 rec., 127 yds, 3 TDs
vs. ColoSt.: 12 carries, 84 yds, 1TD
vs. BYU: 14 carries, 124 yds, 1 TD; 4 rec., 42 yds, 1TD
vs. ND: 8 carries, 25 yds; 1 rec, 69 yds, 1TD
vs. OU: 6 carries, 75 yds; 2 rec, 31 yds

vs. Haw: 12 carries, 86 yds, 2 TDs; 4 rec., 58 yds
vs. Ark: 8 carries, 125 yds, 1 TD; 3 rec., 70 yds, 1TD
vs. ND: 15 carries, 160 yds, 3 TDs; 4 rec, 35 yds
vs. Fresno: 23 carries, 294 yds, 2TDs; 3 rec, 68 yds
vs. Texas: 13 carries, 82 yds, 1 TD; 6 rec., 95 yds

His least-impressive performances:

vs. Cal: 8 carries, 23 yds; 1 rec, 6 yds
vs. Zona: 12 carries, 45 yds; 4 rec., 19 yds
vs. Cal: 17 carries, 82 yds; 1 rec., 4 yds

Well, a few things need to be added to this analysis if you are going to judge his career on statistic alone (which is a mistake) but you have to remember how many weapons were on those teams along with Reggie. Lendale White (who came in with Reggie) lead the nation with 26 TDs that last year (57 total). Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett were probably the best tandem in the country, with a Heisman winning QB throwing to them. They had a 34 game winning streak and went 37-2 during their careers.

If SC had the passing game or the power run going, they stuck with it, and Reggie got a rest. Bush was never the every down back, but was always a game breaker, a great decoy and someone who just had a knack for getting the big play when you needed it most. His Heisman year he averaged 8.7 yards per carry. Try that with a target on your back. AJ Hawk is a great player, but even he would tell you that he'd have no chance agains Reggie or Ted Ginn Jr. in the open field.

[OregonBuckeye]

Originally Posted by 82Trojan

A.J. Hawk is a great player, but even he would tell you that he'd have no chance agains Reggie or Ted Ginn Jr. in the open field.

Then it's a good thing the game is played with 22 players, not 2.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Taosman

At Wisconsin won't be easy.
At Illinois is never easy!
Penn State won't be easy.
At Northwestern won't be easy.
This is not a cupcake schedule.

We pummeled Penn State at their place in front of their "White Out" on national TV, and now they're going to come into The Shoe with a new QB and give our 18 returning starters a game? GTFOH.

We own Northwestern like we did before 2004. The three games since their once every quarter century win: 48-7, 54-10, 58-7. They have zero chance.

[NFBuck]

Originally Posted by Taosman

At Wisconsin won't be easy.
At Illinois is never easy!
Penn State won't be easy.
At Northwestern won't be easy.
This is not a cupcake schedule.

Wiscy could be tough and agree Camp Randall is never easy, but hasn't their D been decimated by injuries? Thought I've heard that somewhere, and they're breaking in a new QB. Oh, and Bret Bielema isn't Barry Alvarez.

Illinois could very well be a tough game, but look how well the "revenge factor" has served us the past several years,.

Penn State? Really? Like Mili said, we clobbered them in their house lat year and they're breaking in numerous new pieces and have a suspect secondary. And they have to do this in the Shoe.

Northwestern?

I'm more concerned about Sparty than any other team on the Big-Ten schedule next season.

[OregonBuckeye]

Originally Posted by NFBuck

Oh, and Bret Bielema isn't Barry Alvarez.

Maybe so but he took a depleted Wiscy team into The Shoe last year and gave us all we could handle for 3 quarters. They return almost as much talent us and this time the game is at Camp Randall at night. I think we'll win but it's nowhere near a sure thing.

[Buckeye Chris]

All magazines are saying we have no chance against so.cal

[Taosman]

Vegas currently has USC as 3/1 to make BCS Championship. Many feel if USC beats us they will cruise.
We are 6/1. I guess we are getting some respect, but it's grudging.

[Wingate1217]

Originally Posted by Taosman

Vegas currently has USC as 3/1 to make BCS Championship. Many feel if USC beats us they will cruise.
We are 6/1. I guess we are getting some respect, but it's grudging.

Scout.com: 2008 Pac 10 Schedules & Picks

College Football News has predicted USC's record this year at 10-2 with losses:
at Arizona and
against the Bucks.....

Let's hope they are right.....

[generaladm]

The Big Ten schedule is no cakewalk this year. Wisky, Illinois, Sparty, Purdue, and Penn St. should be bowl bound. Indy, NW, and Mich. are on the fence. One important thing will be everyone winning their OOC games. Last year's Big Ten bitch fest had as much to do with the Appy St. and Mizzou losses as our weak sched. In addition to OSU @ USC, we have: ILL vs. Mizzou, Iowa @ Pitt, Mich vs. Utah and @ ND, MSU @ Cal and vs. ND, NW @ SYR, PSU vs. Oregon St. and @ SYR, PUR vs. ORE and @ ND. Nice mix of games, the only longshot is Iowa @ Pitt, because "Iowa @ Any Football Stadium" is going to be a longshot this year. The Big Ten needs to win at least 8 of those games in order to get any respect for the conference schedule. I don't think that's out of the question, but the PAC-10 games are crucial.