The USC Trojans handily beat the Michigan Wolverines in early October, and their game plan should be one the Buckeyes mimic.
The Michigan Wolverines went across America in Week 7 in a marquee matchup against the USC Trojans. Instead of making a statement with a huge win, the Trojans took it to Michigan and sent them packing after a 31-13 victory inside the LA Colosium.
How did they get it done and make it look so easy?
The Trojan game plan was a simple one of a nearly one-to-one balanced attack that led to 258 passing yards and 224 rushing yards.
The 224 rushing yards came on 36 carries and were made up of just two chunk runs of a 49-yarder and a 29-yarder. The remaining 140 yards came methodically on a 5.29 yards per carry average.
Through the air, Trojan quarterback Jordan Maiava was solid. He was 25-32 for 258 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. He was efficient and clean in his operation while head coach Lincoln Riley protected him with several easy throws.
Misdirection, motion, and play action were the name of the game for the USC offense. Motion was a staple of their offense during that Week 7 matchup. They consistently forced the Wolverines' defense to communicate when positions changed on the offensive side.
RIVALRY WEEK IS HERE | OSU Turns Page to TTUN | WR Health is a Concern | Bucks Need to ATTACK TTUN
The Ohio State Buckeyes have finally arrived at the game that they have been waiting 365 days for. Inside the Horseshoe last year they were embarrassed by th...
Then, after they forced some communication, they majored in misdirection and hammered it all game long. When they caught the Michigan defense in man-to-man coverage, they used switch releases and down field routes that are near impossible to cover.
When they caught Michigan in zone coverage, they had several play-action passes that helped create huge spaces throughout the field. The very clear element of the Michigan defense that Riley's Trojans were attacking was their aggressiveness. They play downhill fast, and USC used that to their advantage.
In the run game, USC didn't do anything special; they just used a lot of Michigan's strengths against them. The first is that because Michigan's defense plays so aggressively downhill towards the football, they can have bad discipline in their pursuit lanes. If they overlap too much in their fits, one broken tackle can lead to a massive gain.
USC was the recipient of a lot of poor tackling and they made the Wolverines pay.
Overall, USC didn't do anything wildly unique to beat Michigan. They used simple presnap motion, misdirection post snap, and lots of play action to throw it.
Is this someting the Ohio State can replicate? Absolutely.
The Buckeyes have not been a big motion team this year, but that is not a hard thing to add to an offensive game plan, especially if it leads to a direct advantage. Ohio State is one of the best teams with its downfield route concepts and misdirection. This is something that they will absolutely be able to replicate.
The lone question mark is their ability to run play action. For successful play action, you need to have a good run game. They have shown to have a solid rushing attack, but they have to do it against Michigan, which has been a problem in the past.
The only negative of making play action a focal point of their attack is that if their run game doesn't get off the ground, they have to abandon it early. They can't fall in love with the idea of running the football if it isn't going well, as it has in the past.
There should be no concern about what the Buckeyes can do on offense, especially if No. 4 is on the field. Along with each of those specific elements, if the Buckeyes just come out and be themselves, they will not have a problem taking down the Wolverines.