Ohio State is a lock to beat Southern California on Saturday – or to get humiliated again – depending on which stat you choose.
Since a cranky Denison University coach named Wayne Woodrow Hayes came to Columbus in 1951, on 10 occasions the Buckeyes have lost to a team by at least 25 points one year and then come back to play them again the next.
They’re 9-0-1 in those games.
That’s revealing since this Saturday’s marquee opponent at Ohio Stadium is No. 3 USC, which embarrassed the Buckeyes 35-3 last year at the L.A. Coliseum.
But not all the numbers support No. 8 Ohio State.
For instance, USC has beaten the Buckeyes six times in a row, and has won its last nine games against Big Ten opponents – by an average of 24 points. The Trojans have also won their last 11 games overall and their last nine nonconference road games.
—
plan is to move Decker around a lot in different spots in new coordinator Jedd Fisch’s pro-style system.
“I think the biggest thing we’ve got to do with Eric Decker is not allow the defense to identify him from an alignment standpoint,” coach Tim Brewster said. “We’ve got to make him a moving target. What we want to be able to do with Eric is, by formation, motion and shift, create space for him.”
Decker caught nearly one-third of Minnesota’s completed passes last year: 32.6 percent. His 1,074 yards receiving, which led the Big Ten despite being ineffective for one game with a sprained ankle and missing another with the injury, accounted for 37.7 percent of the team’s passing yardage.
—
MICHIGAN’S MONO MAN: Losing a school-record nine games last season was miserable for every player and coach at Michigan.
Junior Hemingway, though, had it especially rough.
“It was unbearable,” he recalled.
The receiver missed the last eight games of the season because of mononucleosis and said he wasn’t allowed to be around his teammates for at least a month and a half. His roommate, safety Mike Williams, was an exception. But they took the preventive measure of labeling their video-game controllers to cut down of the chances of sharing the virus.
ver Western Michigan last week.
Hemingway, who got an extra season of eligibility because of his illness, had career highs with five receptions for 103 yards and two touchdowns.
—
CELEBRATION: Indiana expects about 400 former football players, coaches and managers to attend Saturday’s game against Western Michigan for a celebration of its 125th year of football.
Some of those on the guest list include former coach Bill Mallory, the school’s career leader in wins; Eric Stolberg, Harold Mauro and John Isenbarger from Indiana’s only Rose Bowl team; George Taliaferro, the first black player drafted by an NFL team in 1949; Austin Starr, who kicked the winning field goal to send Indiana to its last bowl in game 2007; and Harry Cherry, a two-time letterwinner who played on Bo McMillin’s first team in 1934. Cherry, now in his 90s, is believed to be the oldest living Hoosier football alum.
—
QB SHUFFLE: Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi and Iowa State’s Austen Arnaud, the starting QBs in Saturday’s annual rivalry showdown, could have very easily wound up playing under the coaches who’ll be roaming the opposite sideline.
Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads helped Pittsburgh recruit Stanzi, from Mentor, Ohio, back when he was an assistant with the Panthers. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was similarly interested in Arnaud, from Ames, Iowa, and the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year back in 2005.
er side had much of a chance. The Hawkeyes swooped in early to land Stanzi, and the Cyclones had one distinct advantage in getting Arnaud – his father.
John Arnaud, nicknamed “The Landshark,” started three seasons in the secondary at Iowa State in the early 80s.
“I don’t know if the legacy part factored in. I would assume it would,” Ferentz said of Arnaud.
—
NITS’ BRIT HIT: No. 7 Penn State’s British import on the defensive line is a big hit in Happy Valley.
End Jack Crawford made a smashing debut as a starter last week against Akron with a two tackles for a loss, including one sack.
And to think, the lean, 6-foot-5 London native has only played football since 2006 after moving to the United States. Intending to concentrate on basketball, Crawford joined the football team at St. Augustine Prep in Richland, N.J., and hasn’t left the gridiron since.
It took the sophomore a little while to pick up the rules, though. American college football doesn’t have much of a following in the British Isles.
“Once I came over to America, I better understood the rules,” Crawford said. “I wondered why more teams didn’t take more chances on fourth down, but it makes sense to me now.”
—
QUICK-HITTERS: The Badgers are under the weather, with at least 10 players suffering from flu symptoms believed to be from the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu. … Players of the week: Penn State QB Daryll Clark and Purdue RB Ralph Bolden, Minnesota LB Lee Campbell, Iowa LB Jeremiha Hunter and Minnesota K Eric Ellestad.
—
AP Sports Writers Mike Marot in Indianapolis; Dave Campbell in Minneapolis; Luke Meredith in Iowa City, Iowa; and Larry Lage in Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Associated Press Writers Tim Martin in East Lansing, Mich.; and Genaro Armas in State College, Pa.; contributed to this report.
Add A Comment