What the Buckeyes Need to do to Limit USC's Jayden Maiava on Saturday

· Yahoo Sports

USC's quarterback Jayden Maiava is one of the highest-touted quarterbacks across the entire country, and on Saturday, he is going to get the opportunity to put his skills on display against one of the elite defenses.

Maiava is regarded as a potential first round draft pick, and is absolutely playing like it to this point in the season. 

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Or, at least he was.

Coming into Saturday, he has 2,302 yards, 19 touchdowns, and just five interceptions for the year. Statistically speaking, he has all the goods, but the production on the field doesn't look all that good. 

There is a bad taste in everyone's mouth for Maiava because of last weekend's performance against the Wisconsin Badgers, who just beat him all the way up. 

He finished the game last week 31 for 50, for 258 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He was sacked 5 total times, and they were all huge sacks. It was a brutal display of offense for him and the Trojans that they are trying to rebound from.

So, the question is, what do the Buckeyes have to do to replicate that performance? 

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It is actually a fairly simple answer and one of the reasons why I believe that the Buckeyes are going to win easily on Saturday. If Ohio State is able to take the run game out of the equation and put everything on the back of Maiava, it is a major advantage for the Buckeyes. 

Removing Maiava's sack yardage from last Saturday's box score, the Trojans rushed for just 40 yards on 20 carries. Woof, that is horrible.

Once the Badgers totally shut off the run game, it was all on the back of Maiava, and the Badgers just teed off on him. That is absolutely the formula that the Buckeyes need to take into this matchup.

The Buckeyes have the No. 11-ranked rush defense in the country according to yards per game, just a couple of yards per game worse than the No. 7-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. 

Once Ohio State takes that rushing attack away, it needs to become a race to the quarterback. The Buckeyes have been average to below average in terms of getting to the quarterback this year, and they have a chance to totally flip that script come Saturday afternoon. 

For the Buckeyes to slow down Maiava and the allegedly potent USC offense, it will start at the line of scrimmage. If they choke out the Trojans up front, then it will be a major advantage for the Buckeyes in the pass game.

I expect a dominant defensive performance with a couple of forced turnovers to boot. Should be a fun one for Ohio State's defense and a tough one for Maiava and the USC offense.

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