By: Adam Rittenberg (ESPN.com) -- Throughout Big Ten football history, the league's value directly correlated to strength of its two highest-profile members. As Ohio State and Michigan went, so did the Big Ten. If today's performances by the Buckeyes and Wolverines are any indication, the Big Ten isn't very good at all. It's important to note that the league's power balance could be shifting toward Penn State and Wisconsin. Few teams have looked as impressive as Penn State, despite poor competition. But, like it or ... Read More

By PETE THAMEL (The New York Times) -- LOS ANGELES — As college football scripts go, this potential blockbuster never would have made it to the big screen. With No. 1 Southern California meeting No. 5 Ohio State for the marquee event of college football’s regular season, the much-hyped matchup turned into a big-time bust. In U.S.C.’s 35-3 mauling of the Buckeyes before 93,607 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the characters were too familiar, the results too predictable and lack of drama too obvious. Coupled ... Read More

By: The Associated Press via ESPN.com -- LOS ANGELES -- Southern California turned the most anticipated September game in years into a mismatch. Mark Sanchez threw four touchdown passes, Joe McKnight rushed for 105 yards on 12 carries, and the top-ranked Trojans crushed No. 5 Ohio State 35-3 Saturday night in a matchup of two of college football's most successful programs. Ohio State played without star tailback Chris "Beanie" Wells, sidelined with an injured right foot. But moving the ball wasn't the Buckeyes' biggest ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland.com) -- LOS ANGELES -- For one drive, Ohio State had two quarterbacks and a prayer. Running in and out with each play, Todd Boeckman and Terrelle Pryor marched Ohio State down the field in the first quarter and Jim Tressel's innovation looked like some sort of solution to the absence of star running Beanie Wells. It was a mirage. As it had in the desert of Arizona in the national title game two years ago and again in downtown New ... Read More

By Gary Klein (Los Angeles Times) -- Dick Butkus remembers the feeling, remembers the pride. Early in his storied career with the Chicago Bears, the Hall of Fame linebacker cherished playing against the Green Bay Packers because he could watch, measure and compare himself to another all-time great, linebacker Ray Nitschke. "You just use it as a little incentive," Butkus said. "It gives you a little extra juice to do well." Butkus, the namesake of the award presented annually to the top linebacker in ... Read More

BY DREW SHARP (DETROIT FREE PRESS) -- LOS ANGELES -- The so-called "Collision at the Coliseum" is more like a fender bender. There hasn't been this much local anticipation of a regular-season college football game in a while. But No. 1 USC's game tonight versus No. 5 Ohio State has created an opportunity to cement a popular national perception that the Big Ten is the most overrated "power" football conference in the country. I've never felt more welcomed anywhere in my life. The Trojans maintained ... Read More

By Gary Klein (Los Angeles Times) -- Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel will have his sweater vest, but he will be without his Beanie. Tressel took steps to end two weeks of suspense by announcing that running back Chris "Beanie" Wells would not play for the fifth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday against top-ranked USC. Wells, who rushed for 1,609 yards and scored 15 touchdowns last season, suffered a foot injury on Aug. 30 in Ohio State's season-opening victory over Youngstown State. He did ... Read More

By: Campus Watch student bloggers via SportingNews.com -- Grant Tunkel, USC: USC's defense will be too strong for Ohio State to handle, smothering the Buckeyes from the get-go and giving USC a big win. USC 27, Ohio State 17 Caleb Troop, Ohio: The Buckeyes needed five turnovers just to get by the Ohio Bobcats, so what evidence is there for us to believe OSU can cross the nation and beat the Trojans? USC 31, Ohio State 17 Bryan Wheeler, Kansas: Ohio State, despite ... Read More

By: Ted Miller (ESPN.com) -- Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg has been in Columbus with the Buckeyes all week, while I've been in Los Angeles. It seemed like we should catch up. Ted Miller: Folks over here in beautiful Southern California are feeling pretty confident -- read: really confident -- about their Trojans' chances to not only beat but whip Ohio State. What's the feeling over there in the Midwest? Adam Rittenberg: The feeling here in flyover country is a little more tense. ... Read More