One of the most anticipated games on the 2008 college football schedule is now only days away as No. 5 Ohio State (2-0) travels to Southern Cal to take on Pete Carroll’s No. 1 USC Trojans (1-0). Kickoff is set for 8:00 PM ET Saturday on ABC.

The biggest question surrounding this game is the health of OSU Heisman Trophy candidate Chris “Beanie” Wells, who sat out the Buckeyes’ win over Ohio last week with a leg injury. Wells has been able to run in practice and is expected to play, but the team is still being cautious with their top offensive weapon.

The Trojans come into this game well rested after having last week off. In Week 1, they routed Virginia 52-7 and promptly climbed into the No. 1 spot in the polls. Quarterback Mark Sanchez threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns on 26 of 35 passing.

The smack talk for this game started back in July when former USC quarterback Carson Palmer ripped the Buckeyes despite playing professionally in the state of Ohio. A Los Angeles radio station was interviewing Palmer when he had this to say about OSU:

“I cannot stand the Buckeyes. It’s amazing to hear what those guys think about that university and what they think about that football program and Tressel and all the crap I gotta put up with being back there.

I’m really getting sick of it, and I just can’t wait for this game to get here so they can come out to the Coliseum and experience LA and get an old-fashioned Pac-10 butt-whoopin’ and go back to the Big Ten.”

Palmer backpedaled a bit, but the damage was done. His comments set the stage for an incredible matchup. Below is a complete list of Ohio State and USC blogs and information sites to get you primed for the matchup.

Top Ohio State Buckeyes Sites
Bucknuts
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Around the Oval
BuckeyeBanter.com
The Buckeye Blog

Top USC Trojans Sites
LA Times: USC Trojans Page
Conquest Chronicles
WeAreSC.com
USC Trojans.com
FAN Nation: USC Trojan’s Blog

The storied programs have played each other a total of 21 times, but it’s been 18 years since their last meeting. USC beat OSU in back to back seasons in 1989 (42-3 in Los Angeles) and 1990 (35-26 in Columbus), as well as holds an 11-9-1 series edge over the Buckeyes. At the Coliseum, USC is 4-2-1 against OSU.

Oddsmakers have made USC a 10.5-point home favorite for Saturday night’s game.

Georgia played well this week, but not well enough to overtake USC at the #1 team in the country in the latest AP poll. Meanwhile, Ohio State’s sluggish performance vs. Ohio dropped them two spots to #5, setting up a #1 vs. #5 matchup at USC next Saturday.

Also, East Carolina cracked the top 25:

East Carolina’s latest big win was its third straight against a ranked opponent, dating to last season’s Hawaii Bowl victory against Boise State, and probably the Pirates’ most impressive.

East Carolina manhandled previously No. 8 West Virginia 24-3, shutting down Pat White and the Mountaineers’ speedy spread offense. That came a week after the Pirates took out Virginia Tech.

West Virginia dropped all the way to No. 25.

The last time East Carolina was on a roll like this was 1999, when the Pirates were ranked most of the season before falling out on the final poll of the season. East Carolina hasn’t been ranked this highly since 1991, when the Pirates finished the season at No. 9.

The Pirates now shift to being the favorite instead of the underdog. They open Conference USA play at Tulane this week, then travel to rebuilding North Carolina State. Their next home game is against Houston before they have a week off.

It’s nice to see new particpants in the national polls. We’ll see if East Carolina can keep this up.

FOX Sports.com complied 25 questions facing teams heading into the 2008 College Football Season. Below is the top two; click the link above to see all top 25.

1. Is Ohio State really on target for a third straight shot at a national title?
Start getting used to the notion of the Buckeyes being favored to return to the BCS Championship game, looking for redemption after losing badly to Florida and LSU in back-to-back tries. Ohio State is absolutely loaded with talent and has a massive scarlet and gray chip on its shoulder. A consensus favorite in the Big Ten, the Bucks will get tested in the league, but gets their best chance to quiet critics with a Sept. 13 trip to USC. Without nitpicking, it’s hard to find a glaring weakness other than the national perception. Now all Ohio State has to do is get back to another title game and close the deal this time.

2. How will Georgia manage a nasty schedule and a year-long target on its chest?
As far back as last November, Georgia was being considered a presumptive favorite for the 2009 BCS championship. Back then, the Dawgs were too young and having too much fun to think about expectations. This fall, they’re going to hear about it from fans and the media every single day. While there’s certainly enough talent to come through, the Bulldogs will have to prove they can handle an immense amount of pressure and scrutiny, while navigating a slate that includes trips to South Carolina, Arizona State, LSU and Auburn, visits from Alabama and Tennessee, and one titanic game with Florida in Jacksonville.

If the Buckeyes beat (I hesitate to use the word “upset” because the programs are 2-3 in the polls) USC, they should be on easy street the rest of the year. The Big Ten is a joke, even though Wisconsin is a solid program. The Badgers are incredibly beat up (especially on the defensive line) for this early in the season and even though they’re OSU’s biggest threat in the conference, the Buckeyes still have the better talent.

And it’s going to be hard for Georgia to stay atop the polls all season. Not only do they have a brutal schedule, but also the offensive line is largely inexperienced and it might take time for the unit to gel with two ’07 starters switching positions. The Bulldogs are loaded with talent, but they’ve got a minefield ahead of them playing in the SEC.

SPORTSbyBROOKS has the lowdown on what’s going on in Southern California these days. Apparently the Trojans have been suffering from a rash of jock itch.

Because if you’re in SoCal and playing college football right now, the “boys” probably aren’t feeling too swell. The LOS ANGELES TIMES, itching for real news stories, reports that over a quarter of the team are walking around campus like they just got done riding a seven-foot-wide horse for a few hours:

As much as 25% of the team has been affected by the apparent run of tinea cruris, kicker David Buehler estimated. The condition seems to have spread by way of new compression shorts, or tights, worn under their football pants.

Tailback Joe McKnight and receiver Travon Patterson were sufficiently afflicted to spend Wednesday’s practice on the sideline.

“It burns,” Patterson said.

First I tried to make a Simpsons joke, then I was going to make a BOC joke, but instead I think I’ll just laugh. And wonder how the hell such a privately possessed problem is spreading like wildfire across the entire team.

Pete Carroll claims that itch nation was caused by new equipment, but clearly USC is boning (there’s a joke somewhere in there) up on their excuses as to why they might lose to No. 3 Ohio State on September 13.

Could you imagine Carroll after the Buckeye game, explaining to Erin Andrews why Beanie Wells ran for a buck-20 and two touchdowns on his vaunted defense? “Listen Erin, as you know, we had that rash of jock itch in preseason practice and clearly my boys were still affected by it tonight. Wells isn’t a Heisman candidate – he just took advantage of my defense having their hands down their pants all night.”

Former USC Trojan and current Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback Carson Palmer had some choice words for the Ohio State football program in a recent interview with a Los Angeles radio station.

I cannot stand the Buckeyes. It’s amazing to hear what those guys think about that university and what they think about that football program and Tressel and all the crap I gotta put up with being back there.

I just can’t wait for two years from now when SC comes to the ‘Shoe and hopefully we’ll have a home game that weekend, and I can go up there and watch us pound on them in their own turf.

I’m really getting sick of it, and I just can’t wait for this game to get here so they can come out to the Coliseum and experience LA and get an old-fashioned Pac-10 butt-whoopin’ and go back to the Big Ten.

Shortly afterwards, Palmer did his best defensive back impersonation and backpedaled:

“I’m a Trojan all the way, and I was talking to a Trojan audience in California. I guess I got a little fired up, as all good fans will do. But I really do respect the Buckeyes, and I know their fans are passionate, too. I hope they all understand I’m just looking forward to a big game for my school against a very tough opponent, and that it’s all in the good fun of a rivalry. You don’t have a real rivalry unless both sides are great teams.”

In the immortal words of White Goodman (Ben Stiller) from Dodgeball: You don’t crap where you eat, Palmer. You might be a Trojan through and through, but you make your earning in the state that Woody Hayes built. Better choose your words carefully.

Actually, I love what Palmer said (pre-backpedal). Current and former USC players should hate Ohio State and vice versa. Rivalries are part of what college football is all about.