The Ohio State defense has done it again, shutting down Notre Dame’s high-powered offense in a 34-20 victory in the Fiesta Bowl. All season Brady Quinn and the Fighting Irish looked unstoppable on offense, but things changed once the faced a tough, physical and fast defense led by A. J. Hawk.
The performance of the Buckeye defense reminded me of their performance against the Miami Hurricanes on the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. Everyone thought Miami’s offense couldn’t be stopped. After the game everyone realized that Miami just hadn’t been tested by a real defense.
That’s the real story of the Rose Bowl coming up Wednesday night. USC has an incredible offense, but they play in the pass-happy Pac-10 where nobody plays real defense. Will they look the same against the tough Texas defense?
Texas has a great offense as well led by the amazing Vince Young, even if it’s not as dominating as the Trojan offense. It might not need to be, since USC’s defense is average at best.
So let’s see how good the Trojan offense really is now that they’re facing a real defense.
