The LifeMaven

1. The O-line play by USC wasn’t too hot throughout most of the game until their game winning drive, where something just seemed to click and they put it together.

2. A lot of credit to the interior USC line for getting those tough 3 & 1’s and 4& 1’s. The QB sneak seemed to be there all game and Ohio State seemed to do little to try and stop it.

3. Still on the O-line, they seemed to be more unnerved by the crowd noise and hostile environment than freshman quarterback Matt Barkley seemed to be.

4. Barkley showed a lot of toughness out there today. He took some shots and got dinged up a little, but still toughed it out the whole game. He was very poised and calm and didn’t seem to unnerved by the crowd.

5. Ohio State quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, on the other hand looked a lot more jittery out there. He seemed to be pressing; trying to do too much, forcing some pitches on option plays that weren’t there and ended up hurting his team a bit in the field position battle. His footwork wasn’t so great and he missed some opportunities to do real damage with his arm and his legs.

6. Throughout the game, both defenses seemed to play very well.

7. Offensive play calling: USC’s play calling was very good, not asking too much of Barkley and letting his supporting cast take the load off of him. That game winning drive belongs to Joe McKnight just as much as it does to Barkley. Ohio State’s play calling on the other hand seemed to put a little too much pressure on Pryor tonight, and he just seemed to be overwhelmed by the moment.

Parting thoughts: Crowd noise was a factor most of the night. But it looked like Pryor was more unnerved in the big game than Barkley was.

Some quick thoughts on opening weekend:

The positive:

Some good ranked versus ranked games: Alabama vs. Virginia Tech; BYU vs. Oklahoma; Oklahoma St. vs. Georgia

It’s good to see some teams playing worthy opponents, and good hard fought matches.

Too bad the rest of the big name programs didn’t have the same kind of sizzle.

The rest:

San Jose State vs. USC; Louisiana Monroe vs. Texas; Navy vs. Ohio State (Upset alert!); Western Kentucky vs. Tennesse

With the exception of the Navy vs. Ohio State game, most of these were blowouts against lesser teams.

I mean, how can you feel good about beating an FCS team 63-7? And you pay them for that too? (Check out ESPN’s recaps for how much each school paid to bring in a cupcake) The student body should be outraged that their tuition dollars are being wasted on garbage games like that.

Some folks say that these are tune up games before the real thing starts in conference play. The “pre-season” if you will.

It builds the players’ confidence or something like that.

Frankly, I believe it’s garbage. Compete against real competition! You’ve got to challenge yourself if you want to get better!

And that leads me to the last topic of the night: Sportsmanship

Besides the controversy that happened in the Oregon vs. Boise State game that’s been all over the place recently, sportsmanship just seems like its on low supply.

It all starts upstairs with the coaches.

Just look at these scores from cupcake games: Notre Dame 35 vs. Nevada 0; USC 56 vs. San Jose State 3; Florida 62 vs. CSU 3

Hasn’t anyone ever heard of running the clock out, maybe letting some younger players get the reps?

Nope. Just good old fashioned running up the score.

And talking about coaches, what was up with Oklahoma State refusing to shake hands before the game with Georgia? “You won’t be able to control the players.”

Well, if you were any good at coaching you would! You would teach your team the value of sportsmanship and showing respect to your opponent regardless of the outcome. Instead, you create the very thing you claim to be trying to avoid. You create bad blood and tension and those opposing players will remember it the next time you meet them. As it is, you’re just making excuses instead of taking responsibility as a head coach of young men.