The Cotton Game

Trojan Family, I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. It’s nearing a month since the Trojans last took the field and became Pac 12 Champions. In a 3-point victory over the Stanford Cardinal, USC claimed the title and was rewarded with a bid to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas to face Ohio State. Outside of the two playoff semi-finals, this bowl game should be one of the most exciting in the postseason slate. The game falls on Friday the 29^th and with an 8:30ET kickoff, USC once again has a prime opportunity to perform in front of a national audience.

A win won’t come easy though as USC faces a salty OSU team who feels that they deserved a spot in that final four. Buckeye coach Urban Meyer is one of the countries best and when given a month to prepare, we can expect he will have a good game plan. Led by quarterback JT Barrett, the Buckeyes have a tremendous offense. Barrett has already thrown for just under 3000 yards, and rushed for over 700. Their attack is comprised of a stable of receivers. Seven wide receivers have over 20 catches on the year, and the 8^th who has 18 catches has 8 TD’s on the year. The whole unit averages 42.5 points per game, good enough for 5^th in the nation. USC averages 34.5 per game, 23^rd in the country.

It will be a true quarterback showcase as Barrett is playing his final game for Ohio State, and Sam Darnold could very well be doing the same. We are not sure yet of Sam’s decision to return to USC or head for the NFL, but he will undoubtedly do his best to log a great performance for Coach Helton, and any NFL scouts on hand. One of the biggest keys, as it’s been all year for USC is to control the clock by establishing a solid ground game early. The last thing we want to do is get into a fast-paced shootout with the Buckeye’s as our secondary has shown some weak spots and injury lately. If USC can limit OSU’s number of possessions, and defend the deep ball, then there is no reason we can’t be competitive in this contest.

In the end, this game is all about respect for each program. USC holds a series history lead of 13-9-1 with a winning streak of 7 meetings dating back to 1975. While most meetings have taken place in the Rose Bowl, AT&T Stadium is a fitting venue for a contest featuring two of the countries blue chip programs. All year there has been some bias against the Pac 12 and nothing would be better for our conference than going out and beating the Big 10 conference champions. Conversely, Ohio State will want to prove that they deserved better and won’t be looking to take their foot off the gas. It promises to be a good one Friday night, and I look forward to my next posting after we know the winner and other decisions surrounding our program.

FIGHT ON