***Sigh***

Let's recap, shall we?

If the offensive line can protect Todd Boeckman... Nope, although he would throw from his back foot even if he didn't get any pressure.
If the running game is effective enough to keep USC honest...At times, but not after 14-5
If Beanie is healthy enough to help in that effort... Nope
If the WRs can get separation against man coverage... Big Nope- the way to beat OSU is play man or man free and bring the sink at Boeckman.
If the offensive gameplan looks more creative than the past few big games... At the start, but not after 14-3
If the defensive front 4 can get pressure on Sanchez... In the first quarter- after that, Nope
If the DBs can play man coverage without issue... I actually didn't see any problems here- Check
If the defense can force turnovers, and the offense can convert into points... Nope
If the defensive gameplan looks more creative than the past few big games... Not too bad, but not too good
If it's a low scoring game, we win. If not, well... You know the rest.

Last time (and yes, there were last time) I wrote.

This year, though, was different. This year, Ohio State stood toe to toe with one of the two teams that played in New Orleans. Problem is, the other one beat them...But, like I said, they could have played with LSU but they couldn't beat themselves as well.

This goes double for today. There were so many drives stopped by stupid penalties, that I had to check to see if it was indeed our mostly senior offensive line on the field (yes, unfortunately). While a lot of people also point to the Pac 10 officials, I simply say that great players play greatly in big games.

And that didn't happen.

So, I tip my hat to the men of Troy, and hope that they win out and pound either Oklahoma or an SEC team in Miami in January. And find some way to keep from choking in conference against tooOSU or Stanford or UCLA like they always seem to do.

And in case you forgot- Michigan still sucks.