USC vs. OSU: When Ohio State has the Ball

The Buckeyes can reasonably see two paths to winning against USC. In one, Terrelle Pryor playing the game of his life and shreds the USC defense passing and throwing. In the other, Matt Barkley plays like Mike Leach looks and USC has an unmitigated offensive disaster.

We’ll examine the probability of the first situation today, in our segment, “When Ohio State has the Ball.” This title is very mediocre.

Ohio State has five basic possibilities before itself on offense:

Power running
Option running
Short passes
Play action passes
Gadget or heretofore unseen plays

They will run some others, like toss sweeps, draw plays, or fade routes, but the crux of the offensive strategy will come in those

Power Running:

This is Jim Tressel’s bread-and-butter. He loves to utilize power running to set up the pass. These plays can take a lot of different looks. Usually some blocker, either a tight end or an offensive guard, will pull block while the offensive line executes a zone blocking scheme. The pulling blocker will almost always be executing a seal block or be blocking a linebacker. Simply put, the power running game is all about execution by the offensive line. But, and not to put too fine a point on it, the Ohio State offensive line blows. It’s terrible. It was exposed against Navy as a second-rate outfit. And the Buckeye running backs, led by Dan “Boom” Herron, aren’t talented enough to make up for the mediocre O-Line.

If the Buckeyes can establish their power running game, then the field opens up for them - play action passes, short passes, and option running all become much easier. The onus is on the USC defensive line to plug the holes and fill the gaps. If Taylor Mays is making tackles off the power running game, it’s bad. If Chris Galippo is getting the tackles off the power running game, it’s OK. If Averell Spicer is making the tackles in the power running game, then it’s fantastic.

Option Running:

This facet of Ohio State’s offense is a bit trickier because it includes Pterodactyl Pryor. Also, the option running game has caused USC’s defense significant grief on prior (not Pryor) occasions - Dixon and Young are the two that immediately jump out.

The most troubling play that you’ll see coming from Ohio State is the Zone Read. It’s a simple option play where the QB chooses, based on the positioning of the defensive end, whether to hand the ball off to the running back or keep it for a run around the end. This is the the play that the Texas Longhorns used beat the Trojans in the Rose Bowl in 2005. I’ll let Trojan Football Analysis take it from here.

The key on defense to stopping the zone read is teamwork. Each person has to play their assignment and nobody can falter. It helps that USC has a bunch of super-athletes at important positions. Everson Griffen, a person Lane Kiffin called the best high school player he had ever seen, will be on one end to stop the zone read with his speed and athleticism. The trio of fast Trojan linebackers, headed by Chris Galippo, will have to be responsible for quickly filling gaps and shedding blocks. And Taylor Mays just has to be the usual Taylor Mays - a heat-seeking missile.

The other option play I believe OSU will run extensively is a simple speed option, much like West Virginia runs. The quarterback and running back run off to one side, and if the defense cuts off the pitch to the running back, the quarterback scoots upfield. If the defense challenges the quarterback, he pitches the ball to the running back, who tries to turn the corner and head upfield.

USC just needs to hold the gaps and use their speed to string the speed option out to the sideline. If they can prevent any holes from developing and keep the Buckeyes from turning the corner, they’ll be fine. That, of course, is difficult, and it requires shedding blocks, playing disciplined defense, not over-pursuing, and quality tackling. All these are areas in which USC’s defense is rather suspect.

The rest can be found at Smart Football.

Short Passing:

Simply put, Terrelle Pryor isn’t very good at passing. He’s very unlikely to be able to beat the Trojans sitting in the pocket and distributing the football to receivers. However, the Buckeyes need to establish the pass to make their running schemes available, especially the power running game.

Look for Jim Tressel to have Pryor throw a ton of short passes - slants, curls, buttonhooks, etc., that have a high completion rate and have relatively little risk. Since the Trojans will likely be putting their defensive backs in man coverage, the short passing game could be a reliable source of yards on first down. All this, of course, depends on Terrell Pryor’s ability to manage the short passing game. If he makes USC respect the short passing game, then the running gaps will start opening up for the Buckeyes. If not, then OSU will have to focus on our next segment:

Play Action Passing:

The play action pass, of course, is a tactic that USC is very much familiar with, since the Trojans have been using it extensively since the days of John McKay. If the power running game or the zone option work effectively, then the safeties (Mays and Will Harris) will be temporarily frozen by the fake run. This could give the Ohio State wideouts the ability to get man to man coverage on deep routes. If Terrelle Pryor can get good protection and the wideouts get good separation, the play action passing game can be a big gain machine for the Buckeyes. But if the safeties don’t respect the Buckeye’s running threat, then the play-action game will likely be futile for OSU. Also, Pryor’s ability to throw deep accurately is in question, considering his general lack of passing prowess and his weak performance against Navy.

Gadget Plays or Heretofore Unseen Plays:

Jim Tressel likes a good gadget play. On the first play of their season, Ohio State did a reverse when they received the kickoff from Navy. Look for Tressel to dip into the bag of tricks on a few occasions against USC.

More importantly, we might see some fly sweeps from OSU. The fly sweep is a simple play in which the wide receiver goes in motion towards the quarterback in a shotgun. When the wideout reaches the tackle, the ball is snapped, and the quarterback hands the ball off to the wide receiver, who has a head of steam to run around the end.

That particular play has been run with great success against USC in the past - Oregon State used it extensively in their upset of USC in Corvallis last year - and USC was flummoxed by it when SJSU ran it last week. I bet OSU will use the play on a couple of occasions against USC.

Bottom Line:

All in all, USC has a substantial advantage when Ohio State has the ball. Ohio State’s poor offensive line will cause them a ton of trouble throughout the year, and the USC game will be no exception. Terrelle Pryor will have to have an excellent game to pull off the upset against SC. Look for the zone read and speed option to be utilized early and often by Tressel’s troops. If USC can contain those plays and stuff the power running game, then OSU will probably have a tough time moving the ball.