Buckeyes-Trojans used to play for roses

Cleveland Plain Dealer columnists Bill Livingston recalls when Earle Bruce and the Ohio State Buckeyes used to meet USC in the Rose Bowl. Livingston also takes a pretty good shot at Jim Tressel.

Livingston says USC has replaced Notre Dame as the country's most glamorous name in college football.

"For a while, it looked like it was going to be Ohio State, but Florida changed that in one night. The fact that OSU was outrun, out-passed and, most critically, out-coached, made Jim Tressel, the most feared big-game coach in the sport before the kickoff, an overnight failure. His standing has never been as high since.

"The Buckeyes have lost their last five games against top-five-ranked teams. Penn State and Texas could have gone either way, but both national championship game losses to Southeastern Conference teams were over by halftime, as was last year's game in the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Chants of "Over-rated! Over-rated!" greeted the Ohio State players, hecklers playing the role of fortune tellers before the game even began.

Nothing less than OSU's reputation is at stake tonight."

Gameday has arrived for USC, Ohio State

Gameday is at hand and the biggest questions for tonight's game at The Horseshoe in Columbus seem to be how USC freshman Matt Barkley will handle his first road game and just how the Trojans can contain Terrelle Pryor.

Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times has a preview of tonight's game.

Klein also has a note on Pete Carroll's return to Ohio State, where he was an assistant for two seasons in the late 1970s.

Carroll also recalled when he saw Woody Hayes and ran out of his office to meet the Ohio State icon.

"I went running out there across the parking lot to catch him and intercept him and kind of introduce myself and talk to him for the first time -- just like a little kid, man, which I was at the time," Carroll told the Los Angeles Times. "That was very cool to come back. . . . It's exciting to be here."