One more Buckeye embarrassment

Embarrassing. No contest. Not even competitive.

The difference between a very, very, very good college team and the best college team – well it's evident in the Ohio State games against Florida, LSU and now USC. Big games, all of them. National championship games and the biggest of the big regular season games. Ohio State was drubbed.

Coaches and teams say never to panic from one loss. But three losses of this style are  a trend. Speed rules in college football, whether it's with the spread formation or with a pro-style misdirection offense run by USC. Speed rules. Speed kills. On offense and defense. Ohio State has enough speed and a style good enough to get the Buckeyes to a certain plateau, but not above the plateau. Yes, the Buckeyes won a national title, but the University of Miami will promise that they got jobbed by a bad interference call in the end zone. Whatever. When you see what a guy like Gary Pinkel has done at Missouri and what Pete Carroll has brought back to USC, it's evident that the Buckeyes need to re-assess the general approach.

Getting to that plateau means a lot. A ton. It's a testament to Tressel. He deserves credit. But if the Buckeyes want to get over that hump, they need to re-assess things. I don't see an overhaul of an offense during the season, but I do see Terrelle Pryor playing more. After the season, Ohio State needs to take a step back and assess its offensive approach. Michigan will have a tough season this year, but over time as the Wolverines get the players to fit the new system they are running, they will improve. And other Big Ten teams will catch on.

There's a lot of creativity in college football on the offensive side. The Buckeyes need to take a hard look to see if they need to catch up on offense, and they need to address the defensive philosophy to counter the speed they are facing.

This loss to USC was, to put it mildly, a gigantic disappointment. But it's now a trend. And it's time to put a stop to it.