Ohio State vs. USC: Can Luke Fay Lead the Buckeyes?

Let's go to Southern California, where USC hosts Ohio State in one of the most interesting games of the college football season. This is two-verse unranked. Usually, we're not going to give you ranked unranked in our first game, but there's a little bit more to this here. Ohio State entered this game without Julian Sayen. And say what you will about Sayen. This is someone who went to New York last year as a Heisman Trophy finalist. 19 touchdowns on the year already. Another two on the ground. And has proven, at the minimum, an ability to be a part of Ohio State wins and get Jeremiah Smith. Now, we don't know. Luke Fahey checks into this game. An unproven freshman who threw the ball twice in the win over Indiana. Didn't complete either one of them. And a lot of people are left wondering, can Ohio State be trusted? In this spot, now, I just want to say, one of the reasons people might think, yes, is they're playing a USC team that seemingly everyone has given up on USC last week. We're a top-20 team going to Wisconsin, a win. We've had this team feeling amazing about their season, and instead of loss is Lincoln Riley, who screwed firmly, firmly on the hot seat. I want to stay on the Ohio State side here, though, Dave. What do you make of Sayen out, Fahey in? I look at it as Ohio State is one of those teams that they don't. They, they rebuild, you know, they reload, not rebuild is the saying. And, you know, do I know if he's going to be a good quarterback? No, I don't. Saw him throw two passes, but Ohio State has had the quarterback pipeline. They've had players come through and, and yes, it's going to be adjustment period. But I also know that I got number Mr. Smith over there in the corner that can throw the ball up to whenever I want. They've got a good offensive line. They have a top 10 defense. I think Ohio State would be fine. I'm actually surprised Kevin that their national title odds didn't. Move even longer than they were. Obviously, Notre Dame loses a game and they got shorter. I thought that people would give up on Ohio State a little bit more than they have, but I understand it. This is a factory. This is a team that year in and year out, even when they're not supposed to win the national title. They're there. So I think they will be fine. I'm not really worried about this spot versus USC because I don't necessarily think USC is that good. I'm one of those people who look at USC and say they have all the talent in the world. I don't know if Lincoln Riley is missing something here, if he's not as good as people thought he was. There's a reason he dropped Oklahoma and ran to USC. I heard the other day, I'm not going to name names, I'm not going to name networks. I just heard somebody with a USC background say they have a shot at the ball. The path is there, and I sat there and I thought for a second, really? Like, USC, who's beaten nobody, by the way. The only ranked game that they've played, they lost to a backup quarterback with Oregon when Dante Moore went down. They do play Ohio State number two in the country. They do play at number four, Indiana, and they do play at number seven, UCLA, right down the road in LA. So, is the path there? They win all three games, they only got the two losses they have, maybe. I mean, you win all three games, you're probably in the Big Ten title game. That said, I have zero confidence whatsoever that USC wins today at Indiana and at UCLA to do that. So, the word path is a tricky one there, because I guess technically, I guess I would ask you, Kevin, if they win all three games, I guess that's a path, but I don't think they're going to win any of them, more or less all three of them. Yeah, so on the USC path, all that matters is today. That's all that matters. If they win today, there's, in my opinion, if they win today, they don't have to beat Indiana. That's my opinion. We have to look around at the landscape here. A three-loss team getting in seems inevitable. I mean, everyone's taking lumps. Bama has two losses. Texas has two losses. LSU has two losses. Florida has two losses. I mean, at the end of the day, what are we going to do? I'm not sure. Do you think you put a three-loss USC team in there who, yes, maybe they've beaten Ohio State and beaten UCLA under your scenario, but they lost to Oregon. There. They're in over a three-loss SEC team? It's right there. The Ohio, I mean, it, it, it. It's going to be right there, in my opinion. If they beat Ohio State and UCLA, L.A. Like. I'm saying they have to win because if they don't win today, It is impossible to think they will win at Indiana and at UCLA. I think we completely agree on that, right? So if the resume is 9-3 with the win against Ohio State, who I don't think Ohio State are going to fall off a cliff. I think it's very likely that the Buckeyes, I mean, the Buckeyes are going to be favored around the table, right? I think 14-point favorites next week against Oregon are going to be favorites at home against Northwestern, at Nebraska, home against Michigan. They're going to be favorites in all these football games. The Ohio State win's not going to age for them.