College Football: Big Game Blow Out

posted by KVB

I tailgated with my brother and father then went to the Purdue-Oregon game in West Lafayette Saturday afternoon and watched the usual tank job by the Boilers. Quoting my dad after the game (an Ohio State grad, current Purdue Employee), “That is why I stopped getting season tickets.”

I also saw more of the norm from Curtis Painter, wobbly deep balls being intercepted, ten yard out passes bouncing off the turf in front of the receiver. Other things bothered me about the game like the near ten thousand empty seats but that is another post by itself. So after watching both Oregon and Purdue play like the kids in Varsity Blues when they were hungover from being at a strip club all night; I was ready to watch the Ohio State versus USC clash in prime time on ABC.

Then I saw Beanie Wells in red sweatpants and no pads (left) on the sidelines and I immediately stop being excited for the game.

I watched Ohio State’s offense without Beanie Wells against Solich’s Bobcats and knew Pete Carroll’s shit eating grin (right) could outscore the Buckeyes by itself that night. Ohio State’s offense (yes they have one) is a well oiled machine of 28W-Beanie that sets up Boeckman’s play action deep ball. The offensive line is average and relies on Beanie breaking tacklers that they cannot block. So without Wells in the backfield even Terrelle Pryor’s abilities cannot ever do enough to set up touchdown scores. Which is what we saw, three points and a 50% redzone efficiency. The “overrated” chants from the USC fans came early in the second quarter after a missed FG.

The preparation by the Buckeyes in recent “Big Games” (except Michigan) is well documented so I wonder why they are playing Youngstown State and Ohio University at home before going on the road against USC? The NCAA gives you the ability to make more money, play a twelfth game, get your team better, and show the college football world you deserve a shot at the national title then they schedule Youngstown State. Really? At least when that option was given to the PAC 10 they added one more conference game so their teams couldn’t schedule a Cal State Fullerton, Northern Colorado, or Jacksonville State. This also begs the question why the BCS would eliminate the schedule strength criteria from their genius formula, but of course you can’t fix a flawed formula you just have to eliminate it and find a new solution (PLAYOFF!?!). But I digress.

Preparation for a game like Oregon or USC on the road could simply be to schedule a tough opponent before them. Northern Colorado and the Youngstown State Fighting Penguins huh? Just scheduling Virginia on the road week one and a bye week was obviously enough preparation for the Trojans to fashionably smack “number five” Ohio State back to ole Columbustown.

Let’s also get one thing straight. Ohio State is not a top five team without Beanie Wells but USC is far and above the best team in College Football. Everyone else is just trying to not beat themselves against South Carolina, Mississippi State, Fresno State, Purdue, etc. And everyone else says “A win is a win,” while USC just says “We won” period. At the same time USC film sessions of their own games probably gets more laughs than if they just had a screening of Pineapple Express.

comment below or email me directly, kvb@midwestsportsfans.com

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