USC-Ohio State: John Cooper has it Right (Mostly)
I had an opportunity to hear John Cooper, the wily, old ex-Buckeye coach give his opinion on the upcoming USC-Ohio State game to be played this Saturday.
In that interview, Cooper made some pedestrian observations as well as some that I thought were very enlightening.
Among the pedestrian:
Home field gives the Buckeyes a tremendous advantage.
Terrelle Pryor must have a big game.
The Buckeyes have an advantage on special teams.
Ho-hum.
Then John Cooper said something very interesting.
For Cooper, if he were still coach, he would load the box and make young Matt Barkley, USC’s true freshman quarterback, beat the Buckeyes with his arm.
After giving it some thought, I agree with coach Cooper. This might be Ohio States best plan.
Except it might also be just what the Trojans want.
In fact, it might be part of the set-up that Pete Carroll and the Trojans laid out in the San Jose State game where they scored six touchdowns on the ground.
The game plan that Carroll and Jeremy Bates put in for the San Jose State game was crafted to protect Barkley while re-establishing the running game as the primary focus of the USC offense.
However, anyone who knows Pete Carroll also knows that his words don’t ring hollow when it comes to his assessments of his players.
When Carroll says he has full confidence in Barkley, he means just that.
If Ohio State stacks the box, Carroll will unleash Barkley and let the chips fall where they may.
With USC’s receiving corp (even with Ronald Johnson out), there is a ton of talent available that the Buckeyes, quite frankly, don’t match up well with.
Anyone who watched the Buckeye-Navy game, if they are honest, saw the Buckeye defensive backfield get exploited with surprising regularity.
It goes without saying that USC’s receivers are a bit faster…and better…than the midshipmen’s receivers.
So if Jim Tressel takes John Cooper’s advice, we may see the foundation for Matt Barkley’s legacy being built early. We’ll just have to wait and see about that.
Cooper also made a prediction.
In a mild upset, according to Cooper, the Buckeye’s will win 17-14.
Oh well John, you can’t be right about everything.
31-21 USC.
Related posts
Obviously place-kicker is an important aspect of the game. But if you're short scholarships and need to be more ...
Scott we can see you are a hater and if the trainer knew then how come he didn't report it. ...
@ Scott: I couldn't have said it better myself!
Comment by pkcourt on 11 September 2009:
I really don’t Barkley will have hard time if they make him throw great arm and can pick out receivers no problem. If anybody watch this kid in his junior year when he had protection he rip everyone apart.
Comment by Rick McMahan on 11 September 2009:
I can’t argue with that…in fact, I think if they do stack the box, Barkley will rip them apart! Thanks for the comments!
Comment by LASportsCentral.com on 11 September 2009:
If Ohio State wins, it really shouldn’t surpsise anybody. They are playing at home in front of 100,000 fans, they have the most versitile QB in all of football (Pryor) and they want to avenge last season’s whooping at the Coliseum.
Not to mention the USC D has yet to be tested and Barkley hasn’t played on the road yet.
Comment by Rick McMahan on 11 September 2009:
Good points and I won’t be too surprised. Having said that, after watching the Buckeyes struggle against Navy, I still think the Trojans will win this game fairly handily.
Thanks for the comments!