Ohio St Loses Lead Late

Thus allowing USC to escape the Horseshoe with an 18-15 lead. Give the Trojans credit for making the big plays on that scoring drive late in the 4th quarter after the sack of Pryor took Ohio St out of field goal range on the previous possession. That having been said, this is 2 games and two lousy 4th quarters for the Buckeyes. That and failing to get TD’s on a couple deep penetrations into Trojan territory is what made the difference in this game.

Frankly I fear that both teams were over-ranked after having watched this game. Maybe I’m selling the Buckeye defense short but USC had the very odd play of good offense before that final drive. As for Ohio St the passing game under sophomore Terrelle Pryor definitely needs some work. It at times looks too much like a high school passing game, a combination of locking in on one guy and just chucking it deep. That works sometimes, but not often enough against a good college defense. The Buckeyes will be okay; they will contend for if not win the Big Ten. Their other two non-conference games are Toledo and New Mexico St so they will finish somewhere between 9-3 and 11-1 depending on how well they navigate conference play. But 2009 is definitely a work in progress season as they hopefully build towards Pryor being a more complete player by his upperclassmen years. As for USC they are also good but I’ll be surprised if they run the table. Someone in the PAC 10 will knock them off, but they are still the favorites for winning that league again. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see a rematch in Pasadena. But it would be January 1st and not a week later.