Ohio State versus USC: The Homers Chime In

A Tormented Buckeye: Trojans Will Fight On To Victory - By Matt Baxendell

Thus far, I’ve written every article that you’ve all read wearing my neutral sportswriter’s hat. This time, I’ve got my Ohio State hat jammed down upon my head and my scarlet and grey glasses on. As part of an agreement with my buddy JP Homonai from WeareSC.com, we’ve decided to preview the game by arguing why the opposing team will win. Very high school English class, I know, but even though both JP and I both believe that our respective teams will emerge victorious, you’re going to get some of the most honest observations on this game that you’ll find anywhere.

A Tormented Buckeye: Trojans Will Fight On To Victory - By Matt Baxendell

Buckeyes wrap up Trojans: A USC fan's sad admission - By JP Homonai

When Bax and I came up with the idea to co-write a preview for the coming showdown between the Ohio State Buckeyes and USC Trojans, I thought it was going to be fun. With the added twist of writing the other teams previews, I was suddenly presented with the task of trying to explain why the Buckeyes will win this game. Still, I thought, I am a college football fan and the Buckeyes are a great team. It should be no problem giving reasons why they could prove victorious this Saturday.

I was very wrong.

It became increasingly obvious that trying to give reasons why USC will lose this Saturday was railing against every fiber of my fandom. I am a USC fan, how could I come up with reasons why my team is going to lose? The very definition of a fan is that we are fanatic about our team; it is the nature of the fan to believe their team will win each and every game, each and every week. Even the most hapless fans in college football (cough, Notre Dame, cough) still come up with fantasies as to why their team is going to win each Saturday.

The law of Any Given Saturday is what fuels all this. In any given day, between any two teams, the underdog can pull off the upset and be kings for a day. In short, every team always has a fighting chance. That’s why the games are decided on the field and not on the message boards.

But I am a Trojan fan; my team is actually pretty good. So why would I sit here and write a preview detailing the reasons my team may come up short on the thirteenth? Well, in short, because it would be a challenge. It has not been easy setting aside my Trojan passion, and in some parts my loyalties may still shine through, but at least I tried.

It goes against my nature as a fan to write all this, but the fact remains that Ohio State has the same chance of winning this game as the Trojans do. ESPN, and all other sports markets, can come up with all the different statistics trying to determine who has the edge this weekend but when the players march into the Coliseum, the scoreboard will stay have all zeroes on it. Numbers don’t give any advantage, they only fuel beliefs.

Once the players are in uniform, Coach Tressel is in his sweater vest, and Coach Carroll is in his khaki’s, everything else stops mattering. That means it is game time and all the previous records and numbers go out the window. 8 p.m. Saturday, the game is going to be played, and it is going to be one hell of a game.

Buckeyes wrap up Trojans: A USC fan's sad admission - By JP Homonai

> Find a great selection of USC apparel and buy Ohio State clothing online here through College Sports Fans today!

Many Thanks to JP for contributing and may the best team win on Saturday night! - Matt

Matt Baxendell is collegesports-fans.com’s newest staff writer. If you’d like to join his college football therapy group, email him at matt.baxendell @ gmail.com with all your questions, comments, and anything else you would like to share. Also be sure to check out Matt's 2008 conference previews and college football Top 25 rankings here at CollegeSports-fans.com!

More college football articles from Baxendell:

• 2008 College Football Week #3 Preview
• College Football Top 25 Rankings after Week #2
• 2008 College Football Week #2 Preview
• College Football Top 25 Rankings after Week #1
• 2008 College Football Week #1 Preview
• College Football Preseason Top 25 & National Title Contenders
• 2008 college football conference previews
• NCAA Football 2009 video game review