Game Three: Ohio State at Southern California (Sept. 13, 2008 - 8 pm Eastern)

[Gatorubet]

YouTube - Monty Python - Silly Olimpiad

[TomR1]

Nobody is questioning the fact that tOSU will have an outstanding team.

I asked the d-line question because Pete likes to establish the run just like JT. It sounds to me that tOSU has one less loss than USC from two excellent defensive lines. Thanks for the answer.

Tom

[jwinslow]

If Wilson were taking gholston's spot, than losing vern would actually be an upgrade to the run d. But Gibson is taking vern's spot, so the run d there is a big question, with Gibson's SEC size at DE. He was the first overall pick of the spring game draft.

Heyward is the wildcard here, and will likely move around with Wilson back.

At SLB, if Terry gets the nod, he brings serious physicality & run stopping ability. He is a beast, but a bit limited vs the pass. I don't have the stats on me, but there was a huge shift in ypc vs Texas 06 depending on whether he was in.

[TomR1]

If you have watched many USC games you know that PC will start out with short passes--flanker screens and FB flars for example. USC is historically NOT a pound it down the gut team. While USC is 50-50 pass/run the runs typically come late in the game in a clock burning situation.

Things to consider:

1-If any tOSU backers are weak versus the pass bases on a Big10 perspective, they will be very weak from a Pac10 perspective.
2-If any defensive backs are small, USC has two big, tall receivers who will try to take advantage of them. So far neither Turner nor Ausberry have set the field on fire with their pass-catching ability but they do seem good with yards-after-catch.
3-Joe McKnight will test tOSU on the edge with good speed and excellent elusiveness. A backer setup to stop a power back may have throble with this guy.

[leroyjenkins]

NOBODY gets to the edge on our D. When people have success against us it is inbetween the tackles. We know our DT's need to step up, and if we are going to get beat its going to be because we cant stop the run up the middle and cant put pressure on (dirty) Sanchez with our front 4!

[OregonBuckeye]

Originally Posted by TomR1

Things to consider:

1-If any tOSU backers are weak versus the pass bases on a Big10 perspective, they will be very weak from a Pac10 perspective.
2-If any defensive backs are small, USC has two big, tall receivers who will try to take advantage of them. So far neither Turner nor Ausberry have set the field on fire with their pass-catching ability but they do seem good with yards-after-catch.
3-Joe McKnight will test tOSU on the edge with good speed and excellent elusiveness. A backer setup to stop a power back may have throble with this guy.

1. Both Marcus Freeman and Laurinaitis do very well in pass coverage. As jwinslow mentioned, Curtis Terry's strong suit is the run but the linebackers that will rotate in are on the smaller side and quick as cats(6'2" 210 lbs Jermale Hines, 5'11" 215 lbs Tyler Moeller, and 5'10" 210 lbs Brian Rolle).

2. Our star corner, Malcolm Jenkins, is 6'1" 200 lbs and very physical. He did a very nice job on 6'4" WR Limas Sweed from Texas a couple years ago.

Here's a nice highlight vid of some of his tackles.

YouTube - Malcolm Jenkins Ohio State CB Highlight...

Donald Washington is 6'0" though he's more of a cover corner. Two other corners expected to see plenty of action are Chimdi Chekwa and Andre Amos. Chekwa is over 5'11" and not afraid to make a tackle but he is very light and not the strongest. Amos was injured for the first half of last year and mostly saw special teams action when he returned but he looked very good in the spring game. He's 6'1"-6'2" 200 lbs and a big hitter. So, I'd think Amos and Jenkins will get the bulk of the work against your bigger receivers while Chekwa and Washington will match up with RoJo and Damian Williams.

3. As fast as Joe McKnight is, he along with the rest of your backs will struggle to get much outside of the tackles. Nearly all of LSU's and Illinois' rushing yardage against us came up the middle. Our DE's are taught to contain to prevent those long runs. I think your best bet is to attack the middle.


Our defense eats up toss plays and screens for breakfast. The two major faults last year were our inability to prevent teams from getting 5-6 yards a pop up the middle and defending the playaction pass.

[TomR1]

Yes I understand that "nobody beats us to the outside" comment. That is history. However, any USC fan will say "nobody beats us between the tackles" Also history.

What history doesn't take into account is that these are the two best teams of the decade. (Add LSU to make it 2 of the 3) History is a poor indicator of this game.

In my handicapping of this game USC may well lose between the tackles because of the combination of Beanie and the tOSU O-line and tOSU may well lose on the outside because of the Trojan playmakers on the edge. That Purdue couldn't beat tOSU to the outside or Washington couldn't beat USC to the inside is irrevelent.

[pokey]

Originally Posted by OregonBuckeye

2. Our star corner, Malcolm Jenkins, is 6'1" 200 lbs and very physical. He did a very nice job on 6'4" WR Limas Sweed from Texas a couple years ago.

Here's a nice highlight vid of some of his tackles.

YouTube - Malcolm Jenkins Ohio State CB Highlight Video

After watching that video, I suspect that Jenkins has the speed and elusiveness to be an excellent kickoff returner.