Rose Bowl Preview!
I wasn't lying, I really do have some thoughts on the Rose Bowl.
The main question on everyone's mind is if Texas has a chance in this game or not. So let's look at the verdict.
We could go by the whole position-by-position matchup, or we could try to look at this with some intuition. I'm afraid, quite frankly, of both options, primarily because I don't think Texas has much of a chance to win what is essentially a road game.
The only real clue to how Texas might do in this game comes from Oregon, who has a lighter version of Vince Young with Kelvin Clemons, and Oregon got slaughtered. But Texas is a much better team than Oregon, so we don't really have much insight on how Texas will do.
What we do know is this: Texas will have to score all the points they can to win this game. USC won't be held to under 30. And Texas has shown consistently that they're quite capable of executing this task: they nearly dismantled an entire program (one that was coming apart at the seams anyway, but still) in Colorado during the Big 12 Championship. They've actually scored more points than USC this year.
But Texas hasn't seen a great running back all year, and they're stuck with two in LenDale White and Reggie Bush. And if USC gets on the board early, Texas will be under immense pressure to score, something they haven't had to deal with too much all year.
Unlike USC, Texas has had to play great defenses this year, and since SC isn't quite as proficient on the defensive end (UCLA and Oregon notwithstanding), we should expect Vince Young to be pretty good at running on the SC defense. He'll have to be.
Oh, this analysis gets me nowhere. Texas has a better secondary, USC a better offensive line... let's skip all of this.
What should happen intuitively happen?
Texas and SC trade TD's for awhile in the first half. USC ends up leading, maybe 24-14, when one of Texas's drives stalls out.
Under pressure in the second half, Texas turns it over. USC scores again, making it 31-14. The Longhorns bounce back, scoring a touchdown. Amazingly, they pick off Leinart, but can only get a field goal. Bush and White seal the Longhorns' fate in the 3rd and 4th quarters, rushing for maybe 200 more yards. Texas keeps pace, but is down too much. USC wins, 45-38.
But maybe I've underestimated Texas. I hope that's the case, and I hope they win. But I won't bet against USC until they lose. They haven't done that in a long time.
The main question on everyone's mind is if Texas has a chance in this game or not. So let's look at the verdict.
We could go by the whole position-by-position matchup, or we could try to look at this with some intuition. I'm afraid, quite frankly, of both options, primarily because I don't think Texas has much of a chance to win what is essentially a road game.
The only real clue to how Texas might do in this game comes from Oregon, who has a lighter version of Vince Young with Kelvin Clemons, and Oregon got slaughtered. But Texas is a much better team than Oregon, so we don't really have much insight on how Texas will do.
What we do know is this: Texas will have to score all the points they can to win this game. USC won't be held to under 30. And Texas has shown consistently that they're quite capable of executing this task: they nearly dismantled an entire program (one that was coming apart at the seams anyway, but still) in Colorado during the Big 12 Championship. They've actually scored more points than USC this year.
But Texas hasn't seen a great running back all year, and they're stuck with two in LenDale White and Reggie Bush. And if USC gets on the board early, Texas will be under immense pressure to score, something they haven't had to deal with too much all year.
Unlike USC, Texas has had to play great defenses this year, and since SC isn't quite as proficient on the defensive end (UCLA and Oregon notwithstanding), we should expect Vince Young to be pretty good at running on the SC defense. He'll have to be.
Oh, this analysis gets me nowhere. Texas has a better secondary, USC a better offensive line... let's skip all of this.
What should happen intuitively happen?
Texas and SC trade TD's for awhile in the first half. USC ends up leading, maybe 24-14, when one of Texas's drives stalls out.
Under pressure in the second half, Texas turns it over. USC scores again, making it 31-14. The Longhorns bounce back, scoring a touchdown. Amazingly, they pick off Leinart, but can only get a field goal. Bush and White seal the Longhorns' fate in the 3rd and 4th quarters, rushing for maybe 200 more yards. Texas keeps pace, but is down too much. USC wins, 45-38.
But maybe I've underestimated Texas. I hope that's the case, and I hope they win. But I won't bet against USC until they lose. They haven't done that in a long time.
posted by mike at 9:41 PM
1 Comments:
electric six in columbus!!!!!!! you have a place to stay!!!!!!!
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