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Kevin Paul (aka KP's Blog), a contributing writer for FOXSports.com, and I have started a series called "You're Right, I'm Wrong." And no, that's not a typo.
Similar to Rev's and Bluegrass Lady's "He Said, She Said," Kevin and I will debate some hot topics. We'll try to do it once a week and look forward to any topics that you think might be worthy of discussion.
First up, the BIG game in September: USC @ Ohio State—and Lisa Horne takes USC, big surprise, over Ohio State...
I'll be the first to say it—the state of Ohio is in another down year, and I don't see any forthcoming changes in the near future in Columbus. Sure, the Buckeyes are 46-1 at home vs. non-conference teams, but their biggest game, against Texas in '05, was a loss.
The factors which will change the game:
Offense
The Trojans return everyone but Mark Sanchez (WR Vidal Hazelton transferred) on their offense. While Aaron Corp is a bit untested, there is no reason to believe he won't pick up where Sanchez left off.
He had an almost perfect spring, is tall and fleet-footed, has incredible accuracy, and has one of the best receivers in the country to throw to—Damian Williams. Look for naked bootlegs to throw the Buckeyes off balance for the first half of the game, then short "unders," swing passes to the checkoff receiver (FB Stanley Havili or RB Joe McKnight), and power running.
USC has arguably the best O-line in the country (preseason), and I see no reason why the Trojans won't put up 500 yards of total offense.
The Buckeyes lost some big contributors (they return only five starters)—RBs Beanie and Maurice Wells, as well as WRs Brian Hartline and Brian Robiskie. They also lost three starters on the O-line.
There's also this—QB Todd Boeckman. He may have driven some Buckeyes fans nuts, but he saved the Buckeyes from a rout in the Fiesta Bowl.
Terrelle Pryor is young and deeply talented, but he also makes youthful mistakes and can be wildly inconsistent.
While the Buckeyes should still have good rushing production from some talented backs this season, their O-line wasn't up to snuff last year, and with three losses on the line this season, I see trouble looming ahead if they don't find some more agile tackles.
Edge: USC
Defense
The Trojans lost eight defensive starters with all of them most likely playing on Sundays. You would think that USC would be in serious trouble. They very well may be. However, in spring practice, the defense looked hungry.
DC Rocky Seto says the linebacker unit is faster than last year's. USC lost Rey Maualuga, Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews, and Kaluka Maiava to the NFL, but have another load coming up: Chris Galippo, Michael Morgan, and Malcolm Smith and an incredibly improving Luther Brown and Nick Garratt. They are less experienced but just as talented.
The secondary should hold on to the top-ranked pass defense unit title. They lost two greats but return six of eight and are very deep. Taylor Mays is built like a LB and hits like a truck, but he's a free safety.
The D-line is very inexperienced but loaded with talent. This unit is the biggest question mark. True frosh DE Nick Perry had an incredible spring and may be camping out in the Buckeyes' backfield if they don't contain his pass rush.
The Buckeyes gave up 110 yards (per game average) against the rush, but there is a disturbing stat—in their four biggest games, they allowed at least 150 yards of rushing. Against Youngstown State, Purdue, Troy, and Ohio, their stats were well below that 150-yard mark, which makes sense.
But against the power-running big boys (USC, Wisconsin, Penn State, and Illinois), they gave up huge chunks of turf over 150 yards.
What does this mean? Their stats are inflated, and with only losing their NT Nader Abdallah, I expect the production to be much the same.
They'll stop the little teams but will have no answer against a superior Trojan O-line and their stable of horses in the backfield.
The secondary looks pretty solid, but they did lose Malcolm Jenkins, a player that OCs scheme against. They also lost stud LBs Marcus Freeman and James Laurinaitis, the heart of their D.
But again, there are some interesting tidbits about LY's D—as decent as last year's D was, their sack production decreased by 15 sacks, and they gave up almost 60 yards more than the previous year against both the pass and rush. If last year's D was pretty good and they lost three huge stars, their D this year should be a bit underwhelming.
Overall, I give the Buckeyes points for the D-line. They will be facing the top O-line in the country, but their D-line is more experienced than the Trojans'. Linebacker units are even simply because both teams lost huge talent, and the secondary unit of USC gets a huge edge over the Buckeyes.
Slight Edge: USC
Special Teams
USC lost one of its best players in kicker David Buehler. How good was he? He was drafted in the NFL's fifth round due to his NCAA No. 1 (48 of 88) ranking for touchbacks. The Trojans also lost punter Greg Woidneck.
Right now, there is no clear winner for kicking duties, but Pete Carroll did hire a special teams coordinator (first one since 2001) to get this unit in shape. The kick return units for USC have always been a glaring deficiency, and this year will probably see some runbacks.
The Buckeyes lost some huge talent as well—K Ryan Pretorius and P A.J. Trapasso. The Buckeyes usually do very well replacing their kickers, so I see no reason why there will be any drop-off this season. Their kick return unit was down last year (19.2), so like USC, the kicking game could give Buckeyes fans fits.
Edge: Ohio State
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