2008 BCS National Championship: LSU- 38, Ohio State- 24
USC- 35, Ohio State- 3
Penn State- 13, Ohio State- 6
Texas- 24, Ohio State- 21
These are the results of the last five games OSU has played against top 5 teams since the end of the 2006 season.
Their effects on the team's mental psyche and the national perception of the program needs no further dissection. The words on the screen are self-explanatory.
Only two of those games, both coming last season against Penn State and Texas, were even relatively close. The other three were complete beat downs on national television. The Florida game started everything, and the LSU loss didn't help matters either. But aside from the Florida loss, you can't help but stop and stare at the way USC completely dismantled one of the most experienced Buckeye teams in recent memory last season in L.A. It was the worst outing of any team wearing the Scarlet and Grey in fourteen years, and it came when every OSU fan least expected it. How could a team with 28 seniors who all came back to win a national title play so poorly in the biggest redemption game of their careers? The answer is all in the head, guys. It was their mental toughness/psyche.
It is clear now, in hindsight - which tends to be 20/20 - that the teams that suffered all the terrible losses just didn't have the right mindset for the rest of their time at OSU and could never shake the stigma of blowing so many opportunities at greatness.
The 2009 team, aside from a few leftovers, has the opposite mentality.
This is a team that no matter who you talk to or what the situation is, they feel that they can win any game against any team, anytime, anywhere. Do you really want to sit here and tell me that OSU didn't outplay Navy for three quarters? This is college football, people. It is a game of momentum, and the Buckeyes lost it in the fourth quarter and Navy seized control. I could use so many different words, but screw what happened last week. What I saw was a team that has a true leader in Terrelle Pryor and when he is clicking, the team is clicking. And this may sound a little cocky (even though Pryor wouldn't have it any other way), but he is usually always clicking these days. I saw a defense that went up against one of the most difficult offenses to prepare for in all of football, and after an awful first drive took care of business for the next two and a half quarters.
Want to hear a secret? Tressel didn't even have a huge say in the game planning defensively against Navy. The assistant coaches drew up the ENTIRE gameplan for the Buckeye defense, while Tressel and the main cogs on the coaching staff worked on the plan for USC. This isn't just a recent occurrence. This has been going on for the entire offseason. Tressel knows that this game is HUGE. The players know this is HUGE. The difference between this team and the teams of old? They are confident...they believe. They think that they are going to hit USC in the mouth, control the line of scrimmage, and place the program back on the top of the college football world by seasons end.
What this all amounts to is that the program and the players believe that they will win this game. Even the coaches have the quiet confidence that I haven't seen the likes of since before the Florida game. It feels like old times again...with one exception: THE FAN BASE THINKS WE ARE GOING TO DIE ON SATURDAY NIGHT!
Are you serious? This is Ohio State. OSU fans should never feel pessimistic about a big time game at home at night. We don't fear opponents, but rather they should fear us. It has always been this way, and now, because Navy gave the team a few fits and due to the recent OSU track record in games against the top five, apparently we Buckeye fans are bottom feeders in the college football universe just scraping and clawing and praying that we can stay close to USC. Let me repeat that: stay CLOSE. That. Is. Absolutely. Pathetic. And this needs to change immediately. No...not immediately. I will let OSU fans get all their negativity and angst out for the remaining of the day. Tomorrow, when its game time, the fans in the 'Shoe better be ready. They better be loud. They will NOT be intimidated. This will give Ohio State the greatest home field advantage that they could possibly ask for in such a dire situation.
There isn't much strategically to discuss in this matchup. Stop the run and OSU could still lose. Shut down true freshman QB Matt Barkley and OSU can still lose. It will take pure heart to beat the Trojans, and I think it is going to happen.
Barkley has been quoted as saying to the Ohio State fan base: "Bring it on... I have a loud voice and will lead this offense.... I am not scared".
He will be scared when Thaddeus Gibson sits his ass down early in the first quarter. The silver bullet defense will be cruel to Matt Barkley. There will be evidence of this cruelty by the stains on his jersey, and the blood running down his face, and the cleat marks on his arms. He WILL be stepped all over tomorrow night, and will be frightened for years to come by the nightmare that will be September 12th, 2009, when an entire arena full of blood thirsty OSU jeers and cheers at the sight of Barkley being physically dismantled.
This was a biased posting, and this is a biased statement: a new era of Buckeye football begins tomorrow night. The old era of losing will cease to exist.
Pryor scores three touchdowns and leads the charge in an upset of the USC Trojans.
To quote Matt Barkley, "Bring it on".
Prediction:
Ohio State- 30
Southern Cal- 17
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