Ohio State outclassed USC
Ohio State isn’t among the best of the best college football teams in the county. The Buckeyes missed the playoffs and lost twice. Those two losses weren’t close. Oklahoma proved to be on another level than Ohio State in a game earlier this season. A very average Iowa team blew the doors off of the Buckeyes as well.
Ohio State won the Big Ten and proved to be a very good team. It’s a team that would fit into the playoff picture without complaints but probably wouldn’t win the title. It’s a good yet slightly flawed team that’s a step below those that made it into the competition for a title.
Despite that, Ohio State was in a completely different class than USC. The Trojan offensive line was brutalized and broken by the Ohio State front seven and usually by a four-man rush. That allowed the Buckeye defense to take away all of USC’s athletes on offense and put Sam Darnold through hell. The Buckeye secondary was also very impressive and showed that it’s four and five-star athletes are playing in a different fashion than some of the four and five-star starters at USC.
Because of all this, it just seemed like everything on offense was difficult for USC. Every big play that was made was made despite great defense from Ohio State. And there weren’t many of those big plays for USC. Ohio State’s defense won the majority of the plays against the USC offense and that’s probably why the game went the way it did.
Defensively, the Trojans played very hard but it seemed like the Ohio State offensive line was just a little too much for USC. Despite what seemed like very solid defensive play, Ohio State sort of pushed and prodded with the run game, beat USC up a bit and and did enough to secure a comfortable victory.
It felt like the type of game that Ohio State or Alabama or Stanford or a vintage USC team would have played against a team that’s overmatched. Great defense carried the day and while the offense played smart and just did enough to win. USC felt like the overmatched victim and not an 11-2 conference champion.
It wasn’t just the score that made it feel that way. The eyeball test proves that Ohio State has better football players than USC does. Resumes prove that Ohio State has better coaching than USC does. It was clearly a game that matched Ohio State up with a victim. USC was not on Ohio State’s level in anyway whatsoever.
There are many theories as to why USC was outclassed in this game. A quick look on our message boards will find blame distributed among the coaches, strength and conditioning staff, the players, the school itself, the turnover gods, referees and probably others.
But USC was outclassed and there’s no doubt about it. That’s unacceptable at USC.
Despite a Pac-12 title and 11 wins, this team failed to meet expectations
USC was expected to compete for a national title this season. After this game, it’s painfully apparent that the Trojans aren’t in the same universe as any team that’s competing for a national title. After the bowl season, it’s also become obvious that the Pac-12 is terrible this year. That, along with the bowl loss, took some shine off the conference title. Looking back on the schedule, USC’s biggest win came against a Stanford team that managed to lose three times (including a loss to San Diego State) before factoring in the two losses to USC. Before this blowout loss, the Trojans also stumbled against an average Washington State team and was blown out by an average Notre Dame team.
USC is the king of a bad conference. That’s it. That’s not what the expectations were before the season. This coaching staff still has a lot to prove going forward.
USC is responsible for its own shortcomings
Ohio State’s roster should never be this much better than USC’s roster. It’s not even close, the Buckeyes are obviously way more talented than USC. There's no question about it and that’s unacceptable for a USC football team.
So why is that the case? In my opinion, it’s player development. It can be argued that Ohio State has attracted better talent to its program in recent years but looking at the finished product, there's a vast difference between the two programs. Ohio State is bigger, faster and more athletic at just about every position. It was most apparent in the trenches but it’s really at just about every position. That’s probably coaching, strength and development, recruiting, the nutrition program, everything from top to bottom.
While this website has never been shy about offering criticism, its actually misplaced in a way. USC isn't what USC should be because of an institutional problem more than anything else. USC's failure to return to the top quickly is the fault of those that run USC more than anyone else.
USC runs the football program as a business. They rule the conference by default and therefore, they don’t have to spend a lot of money to compete for conference titles, special bowl games and to get your dollar.
And when you really think about it, in recent decades, the money doesn't seem to be getting spent the way its spent at other programs.
Compare what Ohio State and Alabama is to USC from top to bottom. USC has regional recruiting advantages those teams will never have. USC is also in a city that attracts people from all over the world. Columbus and Tuscaloosa don't. But the way USC staffs its football program is second rate compared to teams like that. The coaching staffs really can't be compared. USC has a smaller budget for its recruiting staff, its strength staff, just about everything.
All of that hurts the kind of player USC will get and also player development. While that doesn’t show up in the Pac-12 conference this year, it actually has shown up in recent decades more often than not. USC hasn't dominated the Pac-12 recently outside of the Pete Carroll era. The smaller budget will definitely show against against top tier teams and it has in recent decades at USC more often than not. Outside of the Pete Carroll era, USC hasn't done well against elite teams in recent decades either.
Unless USC changes how it does business or accidentally walks into a superb coach like Pete Carroll again, the Trojans will struggle to compete at the very, very top. USC will compete for a conference title and do enough to spark debate amongst fans about the direction of the team (much like what happened with this season from time to time). But national titles are won by programs with coaches like Nick Saban and Urban Meyer and the people they put in place. Until USC commits to getting that type of staff in place, it'll be more of the same from the Trojans.
