One Big Pile of "uh-oh"

Ohio State, the biggest, baddest, best team in the conference just got curb stomped by USC. We all know that, we all get it. Since that time, however, there have been several quotes that have bubbled up from USC and OSU players alike that tell it just how it (apparently) is:

"When we walked in at halftime, nobody was saying anything. I mean, what the [heck], we're Ohio State -- we should be screaming and swearing and saying everything evil you can think of...And guys are hanging their heads, and you don't know what to say to them. You try screaming, and they just put their head down even more. We can't play like that, and if we play like that the rest of the season, we won't be anything."

- Alex Boone, OT, Ohio State

“Easy” was one word defensive end Kyle Moore used after missing practice two days last week with back spasms before having the game of his life (eight tackles, a fumble recovery, two tackles for loss for 19 yards, including a sack for 15).

“You can tell they don’t practice full speed,” Moore said of the massive Buckeyes who made it “easy” to fly past them.

“They were still getting into their (first blocking) move, and we’d already be into our second move (on defense) and past them,” Moore said.

- Kyle Moore, DE, USC

"They did everything we saw on film -- nothing changed"

Rey Maualuga, LB, USC

Ohio State is not a bad team. In fact, I'm fairly confident that they remain the best team in the conference by some distance. These quotes, however, are not encouraging of Ohio State's chances at a BCS victory and, by extension, the entire Big Ten's overall goodness.

Ohio State lost. Bad. Alex Boone - who was largely responsible for the OSU collapse on offense - said nobody fought back in the locker room. Kyle Moore called the offensive line slow. Rey Maualuga noted that nothing changed from film to game. Add these three things together, and you get a big, steamy pile of "uh-oh" right there on the 50 yard line. As mgoblog pointed out, these are the very type of quotes that eventually led Lloyd Carr to his coaching demise. If I'm an Ohio State fan, I'm very worried that the coaches are resting on laurels and that the players don't have a true leader. I'm not usually a doom and gloom type person, but I really think that Ohio State stands on a brink right now: on one side rests the "highly talented but underachieving" path that I've seen so many Wolverine teams take. The other side points to a Big Ten Championship and a BCS Bowl berth. Either are completely within the realm of possibility - all we can do is wait and see which direction the team goes. Unless a leader steps up (Alert: Pryor isn't the answer) this Ohio State team is dangerously close to the former of the two paths.



Good luck, Buckeyes, and God Speed.