While everyone in Bristol lines up to suck off a true freshman that went 3-for-5 on the team’s only true scoring drive of the night, Joe McKnight is getting snubbed out of his props for bailing out his team by earning half of his total yards during Southern Cal’s fourth-quarter rally against Ohio State in Columbus Saturday. The junior running back had two disappointing seasons as the heir apparent to another overrated Man of Troy–Reggie Bush–and yet nobody seemed to be paying attention when McKnight finally delivered in the clutch.

McKnight’s numbers were modest against Ohio State, 105 yards from scrimmage on 18 touches. But here are the numbers that count: On USC’s 14-play, 86-yard, game-winning drive, McKnight touched the ball six times and gained 53 yards, then caught a pass and scored a 2-point conversion.

“We knew from the start they’d get the ball to McKnight,” Ohio State linebacker Austin Spitler said. “We did a good job the whole game on him but we just didn’t get it done at the end.” via.

I don’t know when a 100-yard game became “modest” but be that as it may, if you will, so to speak. Everyone seemed so pleased that the game wasn’t a total blowout, but the truth is that if Jim Tressel wasn’t so hell-bent on playing Tressel-ball and Terrelle Pryor wasn’t so busy mastering the “fade-away incompletion,” Ohio State would have won that game. Now we have to hear about Matt Barkley being compared to Joe Montana…at least until they soil the bed against Washington next week.