How the Big Ten Can Beat USC in the Rose Bowl
Penn State loses to the Trojans
Not many people thought that the Nittany Lions were going to beat the USC Trojans, but they were out of the game from the start of the second half as they fell behind 31-7. Penn State rallied a little bit to make the score look somewhat respectable, but the analysts thought Penn State looked outclassed in the game.
Big Ten Lack of Speed?
While it does seem like the Big Ten teams that play USC in the Rose Bowl lack speed, Pete Caroll, head coach of USC, downplayed the advantage in his interview after the game on ABC with Lisa Salters.
USC is faster than pretty much every time in the country or just as fast at the very least, but the main thing that makes them so great is that they also have size and athletic ability as well as good fundamentals and great coaching schemes on top of their speed.
Penn State's receivers such as Derrick Williams and Deon Butler proved to be just as fast as their USC counterparts in the Rose Bowl game, but the difference in terms of speed might be with the linebackers and in some cases the defensive line.
The Penn State defensive line is actually very fast but the linebackers for USC were a huge difference, as were the safeties for USC.
USC Home Field Advantage
Travelling out to Southern California for a journey of more than 2,500 miles is a daunting task for not just a Big Ten team but for any team.
USC has a home field advantage as about 3/4 of the stadium was decked out in maroon from the ABC flyover. On top of that, USC is familiar with the area and the weather.
Not a whole lot of teams from any conference would be able to beat the stacked teams USC has in Pasadena, but the Big Ten has the misfortune of playing them every year.
Big Ten Needs More Superstars to Beat USC
The Big Ten needs to do a better job of getting the premium superstar-caliber prospects (5-star prospects) to come on to their teams' campuses to compete with USC and some other championship-caliber programs.
The Big Ten used to be much better off in bowl games because they had easier matchups, but with the BCS coming into play and big-money teams like OSU getting into BCS games on top of the Rose Bowl, the Big Ten often sends two teams to the BCS each year.
This messes up the matchups and sends teams like Michigan State up against powerful teams like Georgia.
If the Big Ten had sent just one team to the BCS (and Boise State or some other teams might have deserved the nod over OSU due to record), the matchups would have been much more favorable. But the Big Ten has the toughest bowl matchups every year.
Due to this problem, the league needs to start putting a premium on competing for national titles and getting more big-time prospects to come.
Terrelle Pryor for Ohio State is a good example of a world-class talent who picked Ohio State instead of going south to an SEC team for example.
Penn State had a very good team all-around but no true superstar like USC has with Taylor Mays, Rey Maluaga, and Brian Cushing for example in addition to some of their offensive skill players.
Penn State/USC Final Thoughts
Overall, the Big Ten needs to take the beatdowns at the hands of USC as a personal challenge to work in all areas of their program, or else they will continue to suffer at the hands of the Trojans every year and continue to hear the criticism.
They need to extend their recruiting bases down to big-time states like Texas and Florida and re-think some of their schemes in order to bring their programs to championship level.
The Big Ten isn't too far off, but there is still much room for improvement for the Big Ten to reach its former glory days.
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