After watching tOSU "struggle" against Ohion on Saturday one thing is for sure...the Buckeye's missed starting RB Beanie Wells. It was no secret that Wells was probably not going to play after he suffered a foot injury against Youngstown St. but the manner in which he was finally scratched from the game left a lot of people pondering just what the real story was.

There were going to be questions about Wells' injury regardless but I would taken all the speculation out of it and simply said that as a precaution he isn't going to play against Ohio. Players like Wells have a certain vibe about them and the team reponds to how those types of players are performing. When those sorts of players are out of the game the team might react differently because the flow of the game is changed.

Before SC went to the running back rotaion it was pretty much Bush or White...pick your poison. If one of those two went down the other would pick up the slack but we all know loosing Bush would meant going back to a traditional running game that would have lacked the explosiveness and variety that Bush provided for us. Players are human so would it be a total surprise if the play on the field was affected when you lose your star player.

Wells fills the power back roll well but he can also break it open. The defense will have to do a solid job containing him while also keeping an eye on the receivers like Robiskie. Wells also provides a spark in pointing out his teammates short comings.

Running back Beanie Wells stalked the sideline with his injured right toe, waving his cap in excitement at replacement Dan Herron, providing water to the offensive linemen during timeouts and exalting his teammates with a halftime speech when they trailed, 7-6.

"He said that we were moping around with our heads down and that we didn't want it as much as they do," center Jim Cordle said. "Beanie can get you fired up. He's the best leader we have."

And the best runner. The run game wasn't frightening anyone without him, especially on a day when the line didn't play its best. The plan is for Wells to return against USC, and the Buckeyes proved how much they need him.

 Here is Nick Holt's take on preparing for Beanie.

Beanie will be on the field no question, but will he be effective? We won't know that until the game is underway. So SC is will be prepared regardless. Even if he isn't in the game tOSU is still dangerous. They may lose a very important cog in their machine but they have other weapons as well. Not having Beanie may make them a little more predictable but not to the point of not taking them seriously.

One other thing to look for will be Terrell Pryor. He made not have made a lot of noise but he did just enough for SC to wary of him.

Either Jim Tressel was trying sneak Pryor through Ohio without giving the Trojans a good look or the kid was somehow hurt. And trust me, he wasn't hurt. In two quiet series, Pryor rushed five times for 37 yards (zero for two passing).

It's not like the Buckeyes couldn't have used him. Todd Boeckman struggled mightily at times either finding his receivers or getting his feet set behind a sometimes shaky offensive line. Boeckman also had several passes dropped. In the end, he did not look like a quarterback ready to go into the Coliseum and beat the Trojans.

Tailbacks Brandon Saine, Maurice Wells and Dan Herron are nice guys and OK runners, but they're not ready to punk the Trojans either. That brings us back to Pryor. He is the X factor next week. There's no doubt Tressel needs Wells to be healthy and play well, but conventional weapons might be useless against this USC defense. Boeckman is a stationary target.

SC has had their struggles with mobile QB's in the past, see Vince Young, Dennis Dixon and to a lesser extent Jake Locker. So hey will really need to stay at home and not over run some of these plays especially if Pryor is in the game. It doesn't take much to break him loose. Pryor isn't yet on the level of Young or Dixon but I don't want SC to be the team he breaks out against either.

Ohio State's win over Ohio on Saturday was hardly a thing of beauty and for a team that has been to two consecutive BCS title games they hardly looked like world beaters but that doesn't mean they won't be taken seriously. The SC coaching staff is already making sure that the team is not getting complacent.

But before the top-ranked Trojans split up into position groups to watch film of the Buckeyes, Coach Pete Carroll addressed his players about the hype that has been simmering for months and will ratchet into overdrive leading up to Saturday's game at the Coliseum.

"I did make them aware that this is a game that's different to a lot of other people," Carroll said when he emerged from the meeting in Heritage Hall. "To us it's the same."

Change nothing...treat this game like any other. The hype is for the pundits and the fans.

As I discussed yesterday, it was pretty apparent that Jim Tressle probably kept a lot of cards close to his vest  in not wanting to "show" SC anything special before the big game this coming Saturday. I understand the thought process but I am not sure how accurate that is.

Doc Saturday seems to think that Tressle was doing a rope-a-dope.

But I got a distinct sense of rope-a-dope, which strikes me as part of Jim Tressel's M.O. -- his best teams in 2002 (against Purdue and Illinois) and 2006 (Illinois) had god awful, skin-of-the-teeth performances against much inferior teams immediately prior to winning their biggest games, and by the time I turned this one on in the second half, the jig was most definitely up. When the Buckeyes decided they needed to go ahead and roll out of bed for this team, they handled the Bobcats pretty easily: see 20 unanswered points...

I don't necessarily buy it.

I can't believe that Tressle would tell his players to allow Ohio to get 3 sacks on Boeckman. That's a matter of pride. Nor can I beleive that the Defense as stout as they are would allow Ohio to rack up 145 rushing yards just to keep it vanilla. tOSU just looked sloppy yesterday. I would believe that they were looking ahead but I can't believe the sloppy play was by design. When they needed to, Tressle opened the flood gates but a lot of that was on Ohio miscues that gave the Buckeyes great field position.

I have never completely bought into the notion that holding back the playbook the week before a big game doesn't give your upcoming opponent anything significant for that upcoming game. It would seem to me that any coaching staff worth its salt would have compiled significant film on the opponent, especially one as big as tOSU, in the off season to look at how they approach certain situations. This is even more true with a team like tOSU who are bringing back most if not all of their starters. If its Tressle's M.O. to dumb down things before a big game that would indicate that he is a creature of habit. The only "NEW" wrinkle on offense is Pryor and SC has seen that type of player in the past. So I wouldn't expect any earth shattering looks.

To support my thoughts that this really isn't a rope-a-dope even the players are disappointed by their effort.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel would never admit it, but the Buckeyes’ lackluster victory against Ohio University might make his job a little easier this week.

No doubt he’ll have his players’ complete attention and they’ll be even more eager to wipe away the memories of that ugly performance as they prepare for the nonconference game of the year at No. 1 Southern California on Saturday.

“I don’t want to read too much into it because everyone has (bad games), but I have a tough time believing a lot of those other top teams in the country would’ve played like we played today,” an angry wide receiver Brian Hartline said after Ohio State’s 26-14 victory.

Of course players can say anything but these kids are such competitors that I have a hard time believing that it was all staged. They take a lot of pride in their level of play and it was not up to par on Saturday. Not team wants to be the next victim of an App. St. or Stanford and this  win was a little too close for comfort. So, while Tressle was probably holding some stuff back and with the players looking ahead to the 13th its not inconceivable that it could result in lackluster win.

The one thing that keeps nagging me is that I know that tOSU can get up for big games but we have also seen how they have performed when their opponents have top talent in those big games as well.

Just a thought, and I haven't even brought up the Beanie factor....

Bumped...Our dear friend Holly is looking for a little insight so if you have any suggestions make sure you touch base with her ASAP! - Paragon

Hey everybody--

I'm a contributing writer to Yahoo's new college football blog, Dr. Saturday, and one of my assignments is a weekly tailgating column highlighting big games around the country.  This week, naturally, we're focusing on USC.  I live about a mile north of campus but I'm new(ish) to Los Angeles and am in search of Trojan tailgate stories and pictures for this Friday's piece.  What better place to look than the finest group of USC fans on the web?

If you'd be interested in an email interview about your typical gameday experience, or if you have pictures you think I should include in the column, hit me up via the email address in my profile.  Thanks so much!

~H

OK so here is my draft ballot. The final is due by Wednesday at 10am.

I still have some questions about some teams especially tOSU who I think was playing a little opossum, but only a little.

I know the AP loves ECU at #14 but I am not ready to to put them up that high. There were a lot of blow outs of lesser teams that don't tell me a lot about so I tend to be conservative in moving teams if at all. So let me know what you think and suggestions as you see fit.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Georgia	--
2	Oklahoma	--
3	Southern Cal	--
4	Florida	1
5	Missouri	1
6	Ohio State	2
7	Texas	--
8	Auburn	--
9	LSU	--
10	Oregon	1
11	Wisconsin	1
12	Arizona State	2
13	Texas Tech	--
14	Alabama	2
15	Brigham Young	--
16	Kansas	3
17	California	1
18	East Carolina	8
19	South Florida	2
20	Penn State	--
21	Fresno State	--
22	Wake Forest	--
23	Utah	1
24	Illinois	2
25	West Virginia	15

I know a lot of people looked at tOSU's "win" against Ohio and thought that it wasn't really impressive. You gotta give Ohio credit for never giving up and always trying win. Boo Jackson came in and really uppped the tempo. If Ohio doesn't give up 5 turnovers this could have been a very different out come because tOSU's very conservative, plain Vanilla, lets not show anything to SC game plan almost cost them the game.

The most telling play of the game for me was when Boeckman took his eye off center to identify the blitz coming from his right only to have the ball sail over his head into the endzone for an Ohio TD. How many times do you think he will be doing that next week?

Of course Tressle kept a lot of his cards close to his vest but when things got tight he had to open up the play book, but only a little bit, I don't caare how much you are trying to protect you don't go into the 4th qtr behind.  Boeckman was sacked 3 times and the tOSU defense let Ohio run for 145 yards while Ohio was only getting 39 yards on 21 carries last week against Wyoming, There were no blitz packages that I saw, the Ohio Lines did a pretty good job against tOSU's lines and tOSU's receivers had a hard time getting separation. The had to show a little more than they wanted at the end in order to win the game.

Regardless of how vanilla the game plan was with all the substitutions Tressle made, its hard to ignore that the Buckeyes only put up 272 yards of total offense. Except for Pryor this is pretty much the same offense from last year so I am not sure how playing the cards close the vest helps Tressle that much. The quality of play was substandard to other games they have played in the past...missed tackles, dropped balls, letting yur lines get pushed around says a little more to me than holding back.

As for Pryor, he will be a great weapon for them in the future but it's way too early to put the weight of the world on his shoulders to seal the win. When things were getting tight they put a more experienced Boeckman back in to get it done. Also, while Pryor will be exciting to watch in the coming seasons he's no Vince Young. He needs to bulk up and he hasn't yet showed us how fast he is so while he may be a new wrinkle for the tOSU offense he is not at the level of being a game changer just yet. He will be in the future though...guaranteed.

You know they missed Beanie yesterday and I supect that he will be on the field next Saturday. It's pretty clear that tOSU was looking ahead to USC, we have been down that road before ourselves so it's not just exclusive to them. An Ohio team coached by Frank Solich is better than a Youngstown State any day of the week but THAT much better.

I have no doubt that we will see a much better tOSU team next Saturday.

Now you would think after the poor performance that tOSU put up today that they might want to lay low, reflect and focus on next week.

BUT NOOOOOOOO............

From ESPN:(in its entirety)

Small cites 'class' difference between OSU and USC

September 6, 2008 4:57 PM

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The two teams that meet next week at the L.A. Coliseum have enjoyed tremendous success with dramatically different philosophies.

Ohio State wide receiver Ray Small pointed out some of those differences after Saturday's too-close-for-comfort 26-14 win against Ohio. Small, like several players in the Ohio State-USC game, visited both schools during the recruiting process.

"As I took my visit to USC, I'm like, 'How are they successful? They're not even serious about the game,'" said Small, who caught five passes and had a 69-yard punt return for a touchdown against Ohio. "Before the game, they're all going crazy. Me and [Buckeyes defensive end] Rob Rose was on the visit and I'm looking like, 'Wow.' And then the coach said, 'You better get out of here. It's 'bout to get hectic.'

"And then I come [to Ohio State] on the visit and before the game, it's all quiet, everybody getting taped, coaches talking. It's the total opposite."

Small can't figure out how two divergent programs achieve such similar results. But he knows he made the right choice with the Buckeyes.

"It's more of a class thing," he said. "We took what [former USC quarterback] Carson Palmer said. I don't think somebody from Ohio State would have ever said that remark."

Palmer, the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, sounded off in July, telling an L.A. radio station how he "cannot stand the Buckeyes and having to live in Ohio and hear those people talk about their team, it drives me absolutely nuts." He later apologized, saying he does respect the Buckeyes.

"Here at Ohio State, they teach you to be a better man," Small said. "There, it's just all about football."

It's not even worth trying to explain. He obviously wasn't at SC long enough to get it. He has no clue...

See ya' on Saturday Ray! Make sure you hook up with Taylor Mays before leave!

Lots of interesting tidbits about some individual players in the local papers over the past few days that I want to get to.

You all know how much I have wanted to see Allen Bradford get on the field the past two seasons, he has really shown the ability to play the power back role in this offense. Last weekend he made a pretty big contribution in SC's win over UVA and I would suspect that he is going to get even more carries as the season moves on.

Now that he is developing a role as a power back in USC's tailback rotation, Allen Bradford is about to take a star turn.

Coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday that along with his regular repetitions with the first-unit offense, Bradford would likely serve as a model for Ohio State's Chris"Beanie" Wells when the top-ranked Trojans begin focused preparations for the third-ranked Buckeyes.

This gives USC so many options when attacking an opponents defense. You just never know where they will come at you next. Last season there were rumors that Bradford might transfer but that is all in the past as he fills an important niche on this team. He's not going anywhere!

Another player that is getting some attention this week is Broderick Green. Green is another one of those players that we can't wait to see what he can do. He could play the power back role Like Bradford and really make some noise this season.

Running back Broderick Green said he had been feeling left out of USC's tailback mix and needed to speak with Coach Pete Carroll. They met for 10 minutes Wednesday.

It might have come at linebacker Rey Maualuga's expense Thursday.

Green took a handoff outside and flattened Maualuga in practice, prompting Carroll to call it the "play of the day." The 6-2, 235-pound back Green Carroll made it clear during their talk that he wants Green to be a "hammer."

"Pound the defense, push the pile, I have that mind-set now," Green said.

"I felt like (the meeting) helped big time."

That must been some meeting with Pete Carroll and it sounds like it was one tough hit on Maualuga, even though Rey downplayed it. There were a lot of high expectations of Green when he committed out of Arkansas last season. That foot injury that sidelined him all of last season must have made him hungry as you can tell he wants to get back on the field.

The one player who had a break out game against UVA was LB Clay Mathews. Talk about starting from scratch! I made note of his performance on Sunday but the OCR has nice little write-up that really puts it all in perspective.

USC defensive tackle Fili Moala was asked who he thought might have a breakout game against Virginia for the Trojans. He guessed Clay Matthews.

"I think it was only a matter of time," Moala said of Matthews, who collected six tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in the season opener. "He's put a lot of work in. He's built his way up from the bottom."

That is hard to say about someone whose father (Clay) and uncle (Bruce) were All-Americans at USC and had distinguished careers in the NFL. But Matthews arrived four years ago as a walk-on.

"It keeps you humble," he said. "At first when I came in, I was just looking to be a contributor on special teams. I learned every year I was capable of much more.

Those are some big expectations to live up to and he is really living up to them.

Matthews really was under the radar until last season when he started to see more playing time especially when Cush went down with that early ankle injury against Idaho.

Here is Matthews on Mason and Ireland earlier this week.

He really has come a long way!

From the picking up the slack department...the receiving corps continues bask in the glow of a solid performance against Virginia. Of course its just one game but there was a lot to like last Saturday and lot of us think they may have turned the corner.

[But] after an impressive drop-free performance in their opener, USC receivers are confident that the criticism that dogged the unit last season is behind them.

Damian Williams, Patrick Turner, Vidal Hazelton and Ronald Johnson each made outstanding catches against Virginia. The receivers intend to continue their momentum next week against Ohio State and beyond.

"It's going to be throughout the whole season," Hazelton said Thursday.

Williams, the Arkansas transfer, debuted with a team-high seven receptions, Turner caught a touchdown pass and Hazelton had five catches before suffering an ankle sprain.

Johnson, however, was the greatest revelation.

The speedy sophomore from Michigan acknowledged stadium-sized anxiety when a ball thrown by quarterback Mark Sanchez hung in the air for what seemed like eternity before descending toward him in the end zone.

Again, its just one game but there was a lot to like in their performance on Saturday.

With the bye week coming to a close today we will turn our attention to Ohio State. This game will be huge for so many reasons and there will be a lot to look at...

ESPN's Page 2 lists the programs with the toughest non-conference schedule.

(Click to enlarge)

This is why SC is looked upon favorably when it comes to the polls. They schedule tough games on the road and most of the time they win them. When other programs start doing it on a regular basis, against D-1 Programs not FCS patsies, they will earn that sort of benefit

A little Brian Cushing to get your weekend started.

FIGHT ON!