USC vs. OSU: Post-game Grades

As much as last night’s contest was a moral victory for OSU, the game was a Pyrrhic victory for USC. The Trojans sustained injuries (hopefully minor) to Mays and Barkley, and several units were exposed as mediocre, lacking, and even downright awful.

Islamabad supports rating parts of the team after games, but giving out letter grades is cliché, arbitrary, and reminds Trojans of academics, one of their biggest fears. So instead we’ll do a rating system based on US Presidents.

Quarterback: John F. Kennedy

Matt Barkley, a boyishly handsome phenom beloved by the media, had a performance that was regarded more highly than it deserved. He has the power to inspire merely by his presence. The performance had some bright moments, some questionable moments, and some downright stupid moments - Barkley’s interception can reasonably be equated with the Bay of Pigs fiasco. But in the end, it went out with an impressive bang that will be discussed for years.

Running Backs: William Howard Taft

Coming off an impressive performance against SJSU, Marfon McBrable was expected to dominate against the OSU defense. Though there were some major successes, the stable stuck in the proverbial bathtub throughout the night, racking up a paltry 118 yards of rushing and an average of 3.0 yards per carry. More troublesome, Stafon Johnson and Joe McKnight were unable to pick up blitzing linebackers, causing Matt Barkley to take some hits.

Wide Receivers: Franklin Pearce

The wide receiving corps was silent for most of the night. With Ronald Johnson, M.D., in Huntington Beach, the receivers were unable to effectively stretch the field against the Ohio State Secondary. More troubling, they were being jammed at the line of scrimmage and seemed out of sync with Matt Barkley. The disrupted timing caused serious problems for the passing game. The best performance was turned in by Damien Williams, who had 5 catches for 51 yards. A forgettable performance.

Offensive Line: Woodrow Wilson

The O-Line turned in a muddled performance. Unable to open up holes, but always able to get the quarterback sneak, unable to give Matt Barkley time until the final drive, the offensive line was a mixed bag. We’ve come to expect more from this group, which includes two All-Americans. They missed some blocking assignments, were unable to get to the second level, and had problems all night long. But those quarterback sneaks were a critical part of the offense - 3rd and short or 4th and short were automatic first downs. They also had a couple of false start penalties and a couple of holding calls. But they really came through on that last drive.

Defensive Line: Teddy Roosevelt

Truly a rip-roaring performance from the defensive line. Keeping Terrelle Pryor in check on the ground was their number one priority, and they performed admirably. They also held Boom Herron and Brandon “Zoom” Saine to small gains on the ground. The Buckeyes only turned in 2.9 yards per rushing attempt. The speed option was used repeatedly, and the defensive line did a great job of sniffing it out and forcing the Buckeyes to the outside. Terrelle Pryor never looked comfortable in the pocket, but I’m not sure how much of that was due to the Trojans - Pryor always has poor mechanics and looks awkward. Everson Griffen’s sack to force the Buckeyes out of field goal range in the fourth quarter was the highlight for the unit.

Linebackers: John Adams

The Trojan backers did fantastic against the run, but were mediocre against the pass. Obviously, they pushed back the Ohio State running game and closed gaps with aggressiveness and ferocity. The front seven was brilliant against the run. Against the pass, the linebackers were largely outmatched. Obviously, Chris Galippo’s interception and runback on Pryor’s second pass played an enormous part in the way the game unfolded. Nonetheless, when the linebackers dropped back in zone coverage, they were outmatched and out-hustled by the Ohio State receivers and running backs. In particular, Brandon Saine was able to absolutely burn weakside linebacker after weakside linebacker in the first half. They have two weeks to get ready, and then Cal will send Jahvid Best and Shane Voreen at them. That’s not a matchup that Islamabad is excited about.

Secondary: Harry Truman

The secondary turned in an underrated performance on Saturday night. Obviously, Taylor Mays took a bad route to the ball on the Pryor-Sanzenbacher connection that set up the Buckeyes’ only touchdown. But Mays was still the team’s leading tackler, Terrelle Pryor was completely shut down in the passing game in the second half, and a good portion of the passes that Pryor made were do to poor coverage by the linebackers. The OSU wideouts were stymied for almost the entire game. Believe the hype; this unit lived up to its billing.

Special Teams: Ulysses S. Grant

The special teams put on an absolutely dreadful show. Billy O’Malley, Islamabad’s favorite for the title of “Most Likely to be Benched,” averaged only 37.6 yards per punt against Ohio State, and his longest punt went into the endzone for a touchback. The kickoff coverage unit was mediocre. The kickoff return unit was below average. The Ohio State punting unit consistently pinned USC in their own red zone. Oh, and a high snap on a punt gave OSU a safety. We spend the past 7 years complaining about how USC doesn’t have a dedicated special teams coach, Carroll finally hires one, and this is the result? All in all, a very unimpressive performance. The only plus is that the Trojans didn’t muff a punt.

Bottom Line:

USC has a lot to work on before they take the trip to Berkeley in two weeks. In the meantime, they need to take care of business at Washington and at home against Washington State. The linebackers need to do better at picking up running backs out of the backfield, the offensive line needs to play more consistently, and the special teams need to get a clue. Otherwise Cal might have a very nasty wake-up call for the Trojans in three weeks.