In college football, everybody is allowed to have an off week
CHRIS DUFRESNE/ ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Ohio State struggles with Ohio, and BYU gets a break against Washington.
USC and UCLA had the weekend off, but it was all work and no play Saturday for the schools the Trojans and Bruins play next.
In Columbus, Ohio State got the Freddy Krueger treatment from The Ohio University of Athens before pulling out a 26-14 win that set off Dom Perignon corks at ABC headquarters, which very much did not want to televise next week a game featuring No. 1 USC versus a 1-1 team coming off a tough loss to a team nicknamed the Bobcats.
What should USC make of all this?
Keep reading.
In Seattle, Brigham Young, with no margin for error in trying to become this year's BCS buster, pulled out a 28-27 win over Washington that ended with a crash, boom, bam and another controversial call from a Pacific 10 Conference officiating crew.
Did the refs blow it again? Should there be an inquisition?
Should we "cc" a copy of the report to Oklahoma?
What should UCLA make of all this?
Keep reading.
In Columbus, the game Ohio State played without Beanie (Wells) almost turned into "Beany and Cecil."
Well, no wonder, you say, Ohio had Bo Jackson at quarterback.
Actually, it was Boo Jackson, a transfer from El Camino College in Torrance, who nearly led an upset that would have gone down like castor oil in Columbus.
Ohio State has not lost to a team from the state of Ohio since a 7-6 loss to Oberlin in 1921 -- and still (whew) hasn't.
Ohio had a 7-6 halftime lead in Saturday's game and held a 14-12 lead entering the fourth quarter, when the Buckeyes were apparently informed by public address that the game had started.
Ohio State didn't take the lead, at 19-14, until 14 minutes remained and then added a 69-yard punt return for a touchdown that put some finishing gloss on something that looked gross.
What should USC make of all this?
Not much, really.
Really?
Ohio State obviously had a serious case of the "look-aheads."
It's tough to ask a roster of young men to take seriously, with the USC game so close at hand, an Ohio team coming off a loss to Wyoming.
Will the Buckeyes play like this next week?
If they do, why bother fighting Coliseum traffic?
Look, if Ohio State brings its "B for Bobcat " game to L.A. next week, USC will win its second straight game by the score of 52-7.
But that's not likely to happen.
