Showing posts with label College Football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label College Football. Show all posts

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Latest of Jacory Harris Shows That Racism Is Still a Problem, Even In Sports

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Jacory Harris had a very disappointing game when the Miami Hurricanes took on Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Harris tossed four interceptions in the team’s loss. Although there had to be a negativity said about Harris, one man went overboard. The man sent a Twitter message to Harris’s Twitter account, saying that the reason the Hurricanes lost was because they had a black quarterback.

Now, to me, that just sounds terrible and it is something that is definitely not right to say in today’s world. Since this incident happened, all the players on Miami’s roster had to terminate their accounts on the social network. Harris said it didn’t bother him all that much.

“Not really worried about it,” Harris told the Associated Press. “I know people say things like that. It’s part of the sport. Got to get used to it.”

Nobody could ever find the tweet again since the termination of the account. It was recalled that this isn’t the first time that Harris has received racist comments.

“It’s flat-out wrong,” Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. “It’s sad. It’s disappointing. In a position that we celebrate, living in one of the most diverse communities in our nation, to have this type of behavior is appalling. It’s not tolerable. Jacory is a very talented young man. We’ll just continue on focusing to do the right things and rise above these type of comments.”

Harris said this is a final message on his Twitter.

“You see some things and you get kind of hurt, because sometimes it’s your fans that say the things,” Harris said. “It’ll be the ones that probably just before the game wrote you some encouraging message, then after the game say they don’t want a black quarterback here. Stuff like that. It’s cool.”

However, all the Hurricanes’ players’ Twitter accounts weren’t deleted because of the message Harris received, but it’s a good thing they deleted beforehand so the message won’t cause such a fuss as it already is.

“We choose to focus on those positives rather than one individual, who chooses to make such ignorant comments,” Shannon said. “It’s sad that Jacory would be exposed to those types of statements. They have no place in our society and are not tolerated at the University of Miami.”

Harris said he won’t let the comments affect him.

“It’s happened before, but it’s nothing that I’m worried about,” Harris said. “I’m not worried about it, so you guys shouldn’t be worried about it. I’m OK with it. It’s not a problem. Not with me.”

His teammates were furious of what happened, however.

“Hearing something like that, coming here to a diverse school, you would think we’re past that,” said defensive lineman Marcus Forston, who was Harris’ high school teammate at Miami Northwestern High. “That’s in the past. We all came to this school together. We’ve got a diverse locker room, and in there, you don’t want to hear anything like that.”

“We’re going to take it with a grain of salt and make it a positive thing. So they’re saying that we don’t need that type of quarterback or they’re saying we’re not good enough or that we’re supposed to be winning championships? It’s because we are supposed to be doing that,” said linebacker Jordan Futch.

Miami is the only team that has a basketball coach and a football coach that are African-Americans, which are Shannon and Frank Haith.

Harris is trying to focus on the team’s next game against the Pittsburgh Panthers and will try to not worry about the hate message he received on Twitter.

“It is disheartening. It’s something that you look it and it kind of brings you to tears, a little bit,” Harris said. “But at the same time, you know it’s just a comment. Nothing else will be taken after that. There will be no steps taken after that. That’s his opinion. That’s that person’s opinion. Got to live with it.”

This news easily shows that racism is a big problem in today’s world. When can people stop with race? Why do people need to keep creating walls to divide us from each other? What’s the difference about your skin color, religion, or anything. We are all human. And what makes it worse is that it is probably coming from some redneck white man.

The man should realize that his people did one of the worst things for the last 300 years. Slaves, name-calling, racial slurs, and a whole lot more. They went as far as to creating a clan and burning people’s houses down to hanging them to death. Seriously? What’s the deal?

And bringing this B.S. into sports just makes it a whole lot worse. When does a skin color matter? There’s so many bad things that go on in this world, and this has by far have to be one of the worst. And this man is probably very narrow-minded. No disrespect to white people, but a lot of them are just narrow-minded. I am Indian as my parents were from India. I have taken some racial slurs before, and seeing this just bursts my bubble.

A lot of white folks think that a colored person can’t come to America because they can’t speak English or anything. It just has to be owned and run by white people. Seriously? The racists out there should come out of their rock they are living in and see who are President is: Barack Obama, ladies and gentleman. Oh, and news flash: English is ripped off from many languages. Along with that, the white people stole the land. It was originally owned by Native Americans.

So many racist things have been said, and in sports. Without a lot of the “colored” people, as you wish you may call them, we wouldn’t appreciate music the way it is, sports the way it is, entertainment the way it is, or the world the way it is. Since the many things that have happened to people like Michael Vick, or Terrell Owens, more racial slurs come up.

It is just not right. Racist is easily one of the worst things that has happened in sports. Easily. No question about it. From LeBron James’ decision to Jacory Harris, the racism continues. From Hank Aaron and his hate mails to N.W.A. and their support of the Oakland Raiders, the racism continues.

A lot of disrespect is still in sports. For example, take a look at three sports teams. They are pretty much showing huge disrespect to the Native Americans. The teams? The Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins, and the Cleveland Indians. All of them show Native Americans in their logo, and for years, there has been protest of the logo. It’s just terrible the way they show the disrespect.

It affects children in this way. I read a great report by Jody Wagner over at Bleacher Report. He found a report from Professor Cornel Pewewardy of how racist logos like what they show in the teams I just labeled affect the children of our society.

Jacory Harris had a very disappointing game when the Miami Hurricanes took on Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Harris tossed four interceptions in the team’s loss. Although there had to be a negativity said about Harris, one man went overboard. The man sent a Twitter message to Harris’s Twitter account, saying that the reason the Hurricanes lost was because they had a black quarterback.

Now, to me, that just sounds terrible and it is something that is definitely not right to say in today’s world. Since this incident happened, all the players on Miami’s roster had to terminate their accounts on the social network. Harris said it didn’t bother him all that much.

“Not really worried about it,” Harris told the Associated Press. “I know people say things like that. It’s part of the sport. Got to get used to it.”

Nobody could ever find the tweet again since the termination of the account. It was recalled that this isn’t the first time that Harris has received racist comments.

“It’s flat-out wrong,” Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. “It’s sad. It’s disappointing. In a position that we celebrate, living in one of the most diverse communities in our nation, to have this type of behavior is appalling. It’s not tolerable. Jacory is a very talented young man. We’ll just continue on focusing to do the right things and rise above these type of comments.”

Harris said this is a final message on his Twitter.

“You see some things and you get kind of hurt, because sometimes it’s your fans that say the things,” Harris said. “It’ll be the ones that probably just before the game wrote you some encouraging message, then after the game say they don’t want a black quarterback here. Stuff like that. It’s cool.”

However, all the Hurricanes’ players’ Twitter accounts weren’t deleted because of the message Harris received, but it’s a good thing they deleted beforehand so the message won’t cause such a fuss as it already is.

“We choose to focus on those positives rather than one individual, who chooses to make such ignorant comments,” Shannon said. “It’s sad that Jacory would be exposed to those types of statements. They have no place in our society and are not tolerated at the University of Miami.”

Harris said he won’t let the comments affect him.

“It’s happened before, but it’s nothing that I’m worried about,” Harris said. “I’m not worried about it, so you guys shouldn’t be worried about it. I’m OK with it. It’s not a problem. Not with me.”

His teammates were furious of what happened, however.

“Hearing something like that, coming here to a diverse school, you would think we’re past that,” said defensive lineman Marcus Forston, who was Harris’ high school teammate at Miami Northwestern High. “That’s in the past. We all came to this school together. We’ve got a diverse locker room, and in there, you don’t want to hear anything like that.”

“We’re going to take it with a grain of salt and make it a positive thing. So they’re saying that we don’t need that type of quarterback or they’re saying we’re not good enough or that we’re supposed to be winning championships? It’s because we are supposed to be doing that,” said linebacker Jordan Futch.

Miami is the only team that has a basketball coach and a football coach that are African-Americans, which are Shannon and Frank Haith.

Harris is trying to focus on the team’s next game against the Pittsburgh Panthers and will try to not worry about the hate message he received on Twitter.

“It is disheartening. It’s something that you look it and it kind of brings you to tears, a little bit,” Harris said. “But at the same time, you know it’s just a comment. Nothing else will be taken after that. There will be no steps taken after that. That’s his opinion. That’s that person’s opinion. Got to live with it.”

This news easily shows that racism is a big problem in today’s world. When can people stop with race? Why do people need to keep creating walls to divide us from each other? What’s the difference about your skin color, religion, or anything. We are all human. And what makes it worse is that it is probably coming from some redneck white man.

The man should realize that his people did one of the worst things for the last 300 years. Slaves, name-calling, racial slurs, and a whole lot more. They went as far as to creating a clan and burning people’s houses down to hanging them to death. Seriously? What’s the deal?

And bringing this B.S. into sports just makes it a whole lot worse. When does a skin color matter? There’s so many bad things that go on in this world, and this has by far have to be one of the worst. And this man is probably very narrow-minded. No disrespect to white people, but a lot of them are just narrow-minded. I am Indian as my parents were from India. I have taken some racial slurs before, and seeing this just bursts my bubble.

A lot of white folks think that a colored person can’t come to America because they can’t speak English or anything. It just has to be owned and run by white people. Seriously? The racists out there should come out of their rock they are living in and see who are President is: Barack Obama, ladies and gentleman. Oh, and news flash: English is ripped off from many languages. Along with that, the white people stole the land. It was originally owned by Native Americans.

So many racist things have been said, and in sports. Without a lot of the “colored” people, as you wish you may call them, we wouldn’t appreciate music the way it is, sports the way it is, entertainment the way it is, or the world the way it is. Since the many things that have happened to people like Michael Vick, or Terrell Owens, more racial slurs come up.

It is just not right. Racist is easily one of the worst things that has happened in sports. Easily. No question about it. From LeBron James’ decision to Jacory Harris, the racism continues. From Hank Aaron and his hate mails to N.W.A. and their support of the Oakland Raiders, the racism continues.

A lot of disrespect is still in sports. For example, take a look at three sports teams. They are pretty much showing huge disrespect to the Native Americans. The teams? The Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins, and the Cleveland Indians. All of them show Native Americans in their logo, and for years, there has been protest of the logo. It’s just terrible the way they show the disrespect.

It affects children in this way. I read a great report by Jody Wagner over at Bleacher Report. He found a report from Professor Cornel Pewewardy of how racist logos like what they show in the teams I just labeled affect the children of our society.

“Children’s self images are very pliable and susceptible to external forces, especially if they are steeped in violent and negative images. Unfortunately, for Indigenous Peoples many false images of ethnicity still dominate the consciousness of the American psyche,” he said.

Here was the following I read in Wagner’s report of what others have said:


LA Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke said, “It’s a horrible derogatory name towards Native Americans!” and “I can’t believe it’s been allowed to go on this long.”
Writer Suzan Shown Harjo said, “The r-word is the most derogatory thing Native Peoples can be called in the English language.”
Artist Charlene Teters said, “American Indians are human beings, not mascots.”
Xavier University Professor David Rider said, “Negative images and attitudes toward American Indians have served precisely the same function: To protect the historical oppressors from a sense of guilt over the atrocities committed agianst Indians and to justify further exploitation.”
It’s time to put an end to racism, especially in sports. I know there are still some really dumb people out there who still haven’t come to the fact that their time with bossing around the “colored” people is now over and they will continue to be the dumb redneck racists they continue to be.

But I hope one day this all stops.

Because it’s getting annoying.

And it could ruin our world as we know it.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Hoosiers' Football Plans To Prove Naysayers Wrong

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It has always been known that the Indiana Hoosiers sports programs are mostly known for their high-class basketball team. They have had a rich history with them, winning multiple NCCA championship titles and with the likes of Bobby Knight and such. But the school's football program has been known for very little.

IU has had their moments in football, most recently going to the Insight Bowl back in the 2007-08 season, led by Kellen Lewis and James Hardy. But since then, Indiana has played some pretty mediocre football. Many stars have gone on defense, like Greg Middleton, Jammie Kirlew, and Ray Fisher.

However, the offense is stacked. The offense will be the big reason of why the Hoosiers can have success this year. Many of the naysayers think IU will finish somewhat of the same season they had in the last two previous ones. I for one am not going with the crowd. I am not a follower, and neither are the Hoosiers. With a commitment to excellence, Indiana can succeed and reach to a bowl game. Bowl games can accept teams as low as a 6-6 record, and that is all IU needs. But they can win much more than that, easily.

First of all, Indiana is led by Ben Chappell. Chappell showed that he is capable of starting and being a productive Big Ten quarterback last year, completing over 62-percent of his passes, throwing for 2,941 yards along with 17 touchdowns and only 15 interceptions. This went for a 126.43 rating, which would equal a 81.5 rating in the National Football League. Looking for a bigger year and trying to be one of the Top Five quarterbacks in the Big Ten (up there with Terrelle Pryor and such), Chappell will have to go all-out in the Hoosiers' hopeful passing attack. Chappell was also selected as one of the possible nominees for this year's Johnny Unitas award.

Chappell is going to have a lot of help, with a rushing attack led by Bryan Payton and having two awesome receivers in Tandon Doss and DaMarlo Belcher. Both are well over 6'3" tall, and can really be trouble for defenses and those small cornerbacks. Both had pretty decent seasons last year, and are in for some solid ones and hopeful breakout ones this year. Everything seems in place for the Hoosiers.

Indiana can reach a solid record. They open up easy against Towson, and then head on over to face Western Kentucky. Both are relatively easy wins right off the bat. Akron may be a tough one, but I see Indy getting out of there. The big test will be against Michigan in Week Four. I will take a leap, as IU prevails. They came close last year, but there was a call that called a lot of controversy. I think IU will bring revenge there.

So that is 4-0 right there. Surprising to some, but next week I see the Hoosiers getting steamrolled by Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Then they face Arkansas State with a win, followed by two close wins to Illinois and Northwestern. At 7-1, IU will go on a losing-streak however, with losses to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Penn State. It won't matter what they do against Purdue in the last week as they are 7-4. But I see the Hoosiers winning the Battle of the Old Oaken Bucket. In my prediction, Indiana ends with a 8-4 record.

Many of you readers could say I am far-fetched, but I am not. This is the year where the Hoosiers will be known for both sports: football and basketball. It's time to realize that Hoosiers' football is back again and ready to roll like a few years ago.

Watch out naysayers.

It's time that you are proven wrong.
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Saturday, August 7, 2010

Joe Paterno: A Seemingly Ageless Lion of a Man; Penn State Head Coach Forges Ahead and Continues to Inspire


STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 12: Head coach Joe Paterno  of the Penn State Nittany Lions talks to recruits along the sideline before the start of their game against the Syracuse Orangemen at Beaver Stadium  September 12, 2009 in State College, Pennsylvania.  (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
During the Big Ten Conference Football Coaches’ Media Day this past Monday, Joe Paterno was asked numerous questions about his health and age. The questions about his health mainly stemmed from his recent bout with intestinal flu that forced him to cut back on some of his summer travel and public appearances, while the questions about his age were simply the usual.

Despite his still sharp wit and great sense of humor, the venerable 83-year-old grandfather still faces such questions with regularity, and seems to use such subtle attempts at painting him as “over-the-hill” as opportunities to display his sharp wit, as when he recently said, “What did Mark Twain say? The rumor of my death has been over-exaggerated.”

The questions, though, are rather valid to many, as Paterno will be enjoying his 45th year in coaching this coming season. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard of anyone coaching that long, ever.

JoePa has no intention of retiring, either; None, nada, and that actually amazes me.

One woman asked Paterno at a recent press conference I watched (and I’m paraphrasing here), “So, are you going to be coaching Penn State until the day you die?”

JoePa simply treated the question as if it were rhetorical. In his mind I believe he wonders why anyone would believe anything different. Of course he’s going to coach the Nittany Lions till he dies. At this point, he is the Nittany Lions.

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald believes he’s even more. As he told ESPN’s Gene Wojceichowski, “Joe Paterno is football…I couldn’t think of it without him. I think every coach in this profession aspires to be Joe Paterno”

He’s had more influence over the Penn State program than most people have had over anything in their lives. He’s also greatly influenced college football as a whole, including numerous coaches. His influence is likely felt even outside the college football ranks. I’m sure there are coaches all over the world from a myriad of sports who have been influenced by his coaching style and his attitude of never, ever giving up.

If I had to list all the accomplishments of Joe Paterno in his time with Penn State, this article would literally be ten pages long. Instead, I’ll simply note that they are nearly unequalled in college sports. Few have done as much as JoePa.

Since he became Penn State’s head coach in 1966 there have been 860 coaching changes among all FBS programs. Not for the Nittany Lions, though. They’ve had no coaching changes whatsoever, and that consistency has helped them become a perennial contender.

Hopefully JoePa’s 45th year at the helm will help guide Penn State to another great season in the tough Big Ten Conference, which also features one the nation’s best teams in the Ohio State Buckeyes. He’ll have his work cut out for him, but I’m sure he’ll relish the challenge.

Simply put, Joe Paterno is one of the most dedicated people you could ever meet. He is well-thought of by all for good reason. He is a good man. He has over 117 children under his care at some time or another. Seventeen of them are his grandchildren. The other hundred?

Why, of course, the Nittany Lions players.

Paterno may be 83, but he acts like he’s only getting younger every day.

A recent film starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson titled The Bucket List dealt with the idea that those who are nearing the end of their lives should have a “Bucket List” on which they list all of the things they’d like to accomplish before they pass. In reference to that film, JoePa had only this to say:

“I’m not looking around for a bucket, I know that.”

You gotta love that. You go, JoePa!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

4 College Football Underdogs to Win Saturday



LSU +3 @ Georgia: This line is low because of the devalued opinion of LSU based on last weeks struggle at Mississippi State where LSU won 30-26. The Tigers have a big game at home against Florida that everyone has circled and there is a thought that they’ll be looking ahead and not coming in focused. They also have the pressure of being a top-5 team now which has turned bad for five other teams this season. All past trends, including Les Miles poor record as a road underdog (0-3) in SEC play, make it a tough position for LSU. This is why LSU will win this week, if that makes any sense.

Cal +5 vs. USC: USC is in a tough position here. After winning ugly late against the Buckeyes, the young Trojans have struggled to recapture the same type of Championship mentality in their last two games against Washington and Washington State. Cal just got embarrassed by Oregon, but should be better in this match despite going 1-7 against Pete Carroll. This isn’t the same USC squad of years past. Their Freshman QB play has been awful this year other than one late drive in Columbus. Jahvid Best will continue his Heisman run with a great day against a good defense.

UCLA +5 @ Stanford: The Bruins are the only undefeated team in the PAC-10 and have won five straight over Stanford. Rick Neuheisel has something brewing in Westwood and the defense will carry them to victory this week. A great money line play with an under rated UCLA squad.

Syracuse +6 vs. South Florida: This is a perfect let down spot for the Bulls after their huge win at Florida State last week. Cuse QB Greg Paulus has put up 35 points in back to back games and the Carrierdome should provide a hungry atmosphere for a win. A good money line play this week, but getting six in what should be a close game is even better.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Just Not in the Cards? The Disappointing Letdown of Matt Leinart's Career

Matt Leinart was once the man. He was, no doubt, the best quarterback in College Football when he was playing with the USC Trojans. Along with his stellar running backs in LenDale White and Reggie Bush he was part of one of the most explosive offenses around.

When he came into the National Football League, nobody expected him to go to the Arizona Cardinals. Most predictions had him going to the New York Jets. Instead, the Jets ended up with a very successful left tackle in D'Brickashaw Ferguson, and the Cardinals got what they believed was their franchise QB.

His rookie year for Arizona wasn't bad, either, as he tallied 2,547 passing yards, eleven touchdowns, and twelve interceptions, to go along with a 74.0 quarterback rating.

In fact, his passing stats were comparable to Vince Young's 2006-07 Rookie season, who won the Rookie of the Year honors that year. Some people even questioned Vince Young winning the award over Leinart.

The next season, in his sophmore year, Cardinals fans were in high hopes Leinart would entertain them like he had the Trojans fans back in California.

Unfortunately, those fans would meet only with disappointment in the 2007-08 season. Leinart only played in five games for the team, and was sidelined for the remainder of the season after posting a paltry 647 passing yards, two touchdowns, and four interceptions through those first five contests, with a QB Rating of only 61.9.

Where his rookie stats had fans filled with hope, his sophmore numbers had fans blurting out the words "bust" when his name was mentioned.

It got worse.

In the 2008-09 season, Leinart lost the starting quarterback job to veteran Kurt Warner for good. The Cards made the right choice starting Kurt, who was a star in the Arena Football League (and with the Rams), as Arizona had a Cinderella season to the Super Bowl despite a 9-7 record.

The Cardinals lost the Super Bowl in a close game to the Pittsburgh Steelers and their Cinderella season came to an end.

Of note? That year, Leinart had 264 yards, one touchdown and an interception, along with a 80.2 quarterback rating (a career high).

This is precisely why for the 2009-10 season, Leinart will remain the backup QB.

So far this season, Matt has only 22 passing yards with a 59.0 QB Rating. So, it begs the question; considering how talented and hyped he was coming out of college, is Matt Leinart a "letdown" as a pro?

To me, it's pretty clear he is. To me, he is a complete disappointment to the franchise, and frankly I don't know if he can lead the Cards.

Leinart was picked ahead of many good and great players who were taken in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft.

Players like Jay Cutler, Haloti Ngata, Antonio Cromartie, Tamba Hali, Manny Lawson, Laurence Maroney, Davin and Jonathan Joseph, DeAngelo Williams, Joseph Addai, Nick Mangold, Marcedes Lewis, and Mathias Kiwanuka.

All those players mentioned have had, by far, much more success than Leinart.

Entering his fourth season as an NFL quarterback, Leinart's stats, 3,480 career passing yards, 14 touchdowns, and 17 interceptions, with a QB Rating of 71.6, are actually rather deceiving, not showing how big a disappointment he's been.

Take away his rookie year, and Leinart looks like an Akili Smith.

When Kurt Warner retires, I don't think the Cards will look to Leinart to lead the franchise. He hasn't shown anything in his time with the National Football League.

Heck, maybe bringing Chris Leak from the Canadian Football League would be a whole lot better!

I really wouldn't be surprised if Arizona drafted another quarterback next year. I don't think they'll have such a bad record they'll be able to pick up someone like Sam Bradford, however, perhaps Tim Tebow will be an option.

An even better proposition would be waiting a couple of years and possibly picking up Robert Griffin, who could be a standout.

Matt Leinart hasn't lived up to his potential. One of the issues from ESPN the Mag from about a month ago predicted NFL's quarterbacks' stats and said that Leinart will probably retire in his late-20's or early-30's with 18 touchdowns and 25 interceptions, something along those lines.

His future isn't looking good, and when Kurt Warner retires, he'll have to make a move. He has a second-chance, but if he doesn't take advantage of it, someone else will and it'll all be over.

Wasted talent is rising, it's up to Matt to fix it.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Buckeyes Home Crowd Waiting For USC's Barkley

The Buckeyes got a nice wake up call last week with a scare against Navy. The Columbus faithful have had this game circled since getting buried 35-3 in Los Angeles last year. The Buckeye faithful feel that since USC lost most of it’s defense from last year as well as their starting QB to the NFL, that they’ll be just fine at home with their own seasoned QB running a swanky new offense.

Apparently, Las Vegas doesn’t agree with Columbus. The game originally opened up as USC a -3 point favorite on an early line two months ago raising a few eye-brows that such a young team would be favored in Columbus. The combination of the occurrences from last week in each of their games made the opening line on Monday -7 where it has stayed all week.

USC reloads every year and they showed it last week with Freshman QB Matt Barkley leading the charge with 56 points against San Jose State. The greatest stat of the week involves USC and Pete Carroll in their last nine games against the Big 10 that has seen the Trojans win and cover all nine. In all nine instances, USC won by double digits.

On a positive note for Ohio State, their 12th man, the Fans - all 106,000 of them get to rattle a freshman QB. No matter what Barkley says to shrug off the daunting task of calling plays in front of what is arguably the most hostile crowd in College Football, he’ll still be affected. He may have all the tools and make up to make him great down the road, but not in his first road game as a collegian, and not there.

This is only the third time the Buckeyes have been a home dog under Jim Tressel’s watch and overall, Tressel is 55-8 at home. With the spread being relevant this week getting +7, only two times has a Tressel team been beaten by double-digits (11 and 12) at home.

There lots of reasons why USC should be favored, but I’ll base my choice of Ohio State winning the game on my faith in the crowd to do their job and create easy opportunities for Buckeye scores by letting the Freshman have it. He's bound to have a few mistakes and in agame like this, sometimes taht's all it takes is a few turnovers on your side of the field.

This game is under the lights which means most of the older alumni and supporters stay home because night games bring out the freakiest of freaks in Columbus. They‘d rather not get caught up I the drunken craze that goes on before and after a big night game in Columbus, so they give them away to younger friends of the family .

Another positive is that the Columbus Fire Department is already on alert with extra staffing for the anticipated Columbus ritual of burning couches in the streets. Yes, that’s couches, as in what most of us sit in to watch TV.

After big wins in games of this magnitude, the entire city goes nuts and they pull couches off their porches, and sometimes bring out from inside their homes, and set them on fire in the streets.

Needless to say, there haven’t been many big wins the last few years for the Buckeyes that have excited Buckeye Nation to get the ritual started again, but if Firemen are standing by for a burn-fest, that’s a good enough sign for me.

Ohio State 24, USC 16