I DVRed the OSU v. USC game and watched the first half again, this time watching most plays in slow motion, paying particular attention to the play of OSU’s offensive line.  My first take on the game before doing so was that USC simply had better athletes and that the OSU players’ talk about being killed by mental mistakes was an exercise in self-deception.  

Here is what I saw in slow mo:


On the very first offensive play of the game, OSU C Jim Cordle got thrown to the ground.  But after that, I never saw him play badly during the first half.

On the second possession of the game, OSU’s offensive line was doing very well.  RB Boom Herron was getting hit at the line of scrimmage, but was dragging USC tacklers for 3 to 4 yard gains.  Moving down the field on that possession was not a problem.  But in the red zone, things changed.  On first and goal from the five, #63 Ben Person missed a block and left Pryor with nowhere to go and we had to take a loss on the play. 

On the very next play, 71 Steve Rehring got pushed back five yards and gave Boeckman nowhere to go.  Now Rehring is a senior weighing in at 335 pounds.  Pushing him 5 yards back should not happen.  Then we have a false start from 75 Alex Boone and we settle for a field goal after another nice Boom Herron run up the middle.

On the first play of the second quarter, we saw a questionable false start call against Alex Boone.  He was signalling to another OSU lineman and then when he stopped and took his stance, he helmet went up a an inch or so.  The series ended on a roll out pass by Boeckman that was stopped by a nice play in the USC secondary against Brian Hartline.

On the next OSU possession, a nice roll out pass to Ray Small was dropped on the sideline after Small was hit in the hands.  No one was around Small.  It was purely a mental mistake.  But then Boeckman threw another nice ball to Robiskie over the middle and almost go the first down.

Then came a play that was typical of the evening.  No. 70, Bryant Browning, got blasted sideways into the hole Boom Herron was running through.  This brought everyone down in a heap.  Fortunately for the Buckeyes, the USC tackler used Herron’s facemask to pull him down and we got the first down off the 15 yard penalty out to the OSU 48.

But on the next play, 71 Steve Rehring was beaten to the inside after first turning outside as the ball was snapped as if that was his assignment. 

A really nice pass and catch by Ray Small was then negated when Sophomore WR Dane Sanzenbacker clearly grabbed some jersey on Charice Wright in the USC secondary.  Wright, under indictment for felony resisting arrest charges, was somehow playing in the game.    I mention this only because people criticize OSU whenever a player (like Defensive tackle Doug Worthington) gets a DUI (a misdemeanor) and Tressel pulls the player from his starting position until the case is resolved, and then punishes accordingly.  As an attorney, I do believe in the concept of innocence until guilt is proved, but it hampers OSU they way they do not follow this ideal of our justice system.

Todd Boeckman then threw a pass to Brian Robiskie which was caught in the end zone, but called back because 63 Ben Person was called for holding.  Looking at the play in slow mo, what happened was that the USC player turned Person to the USC player’s right.  Person’s left arm came around onto the back of the USC player, but remained straight.  There was no grab or pull.  I can’t fault the referee there because at first glance it sure looked like holding.  But to blamer Person for that one might not be fair.

On the next series, Alex Boone got flat beat for speed by Clay Matthews coming around the left side.  More on this later.

On yet  another drive, this one resulting in a fumble by Todd Boeckman, this came because 75 Alex Boone simply ignored Clay Matthews coming in from the left and instead chose to double team a man that Steve Rehring was blocking just fine.

With 3:20 left in the first half, 75 Alex Boone and 70 Bryant Browning both threw look out blocks (that’s where you miss your guy and you turn and yell “Look out!” at the QB. 

On the defensive side of the ball, there were a lot of times when we got good penetration, and were inches away from Sanchez.  But to Sanchez’s credit, he could get rid of the ball into the hands of his receivers at will.

The running play that the OSU defense had the most problem with was when McKnight lined up as a receiver, then went back into the backfield and became a running back.  OSU just didn’t seem to have an answer for this.  At least four plays gained significant yardage, one for 18 yards on second and 20.  On the positive side was the very next play on 3rd and 2 when #51 LB Ross Homan pushed his blocker back into McKnight and allowed 33 James Laurinaitis to tackle McKnight with no gain.

On USC’s first touchdown, they simply got a mismatch.  OSU had two defenders on the left side of the USC line, DB #2 Malcolm Jenkins and LB #1 Marcus Freeman.  They were tasked to cover a WR and a TE.  The TE went over the middle, and Jenkins took the TE.  That left a LB matched up on a WR and the speed just wasn’t there.  Jenkins showed the speed to cover all of USC’s WRs throughout the first half.  Had they matched up correctly, the result of the play might have been different.

The second TD was worse.  OSU #99 LB Curtis Terry stood before the left side of the USC line and watched their TE go past him.  He didn’t hit the guy.  He didn’t rush the QB.  He just stood there.  That was the TE that caught the pass over the middle for the second USC TD.

As the half came to a close, Chimdi Chekwa made two very impressive plays, one to high point the ball and knock it away from the USC receiver, and two plays later, to intercept the ball in the endzone on the other side of the field with 14 seconds left in the half.

That was the first half, which ended 21-3 USC over OSU.

Watching the game, I think it was a combination of mental mistakes in the first half, along with mismatches in speed that stopped us and put Boeckman and Pryor under so much pressure. 

But Kirk Herbsteit made some very cogent comments here in Columbus in the days after the game.  First, he said that when he was out visiting with the Trojans in the past, he noted that all of their offensive linemen were “flat bellies.”  He meant of course that that they weren’t big fat guys.  He asked about it and was told that when USC recruits offensive linemen, they look for tall TEs that weigh about 250-260 and then they try to bulk them up to 280-290.  A look at their roster shows only three guys on the entire team at 300 pounds and one guy at 305, but these were not the starters.  They were all 6-5.

Perhaps this is the better way to go when recruiting OLs.  Our jumbo guys at 335 and 325 just can’t match the speed of top opponents, and they are not getting downfield quick enough to throw any kind of meaningful block.

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