Joey Johnston

It’s like choosing between cake and ice cream. Your taste buds really can’t go wrong. And make no mistake, when it comes to Saturday night’s mega-matchup, these are two very sweet college-football programs.

Ohio State at USC.

Who do you like? Let’s start at the top, the coaches, the biggest reasons why these programs really matter again after a brief spiral into irrelevance.

Give me a big game, and I’ll take USC’s Pete Carroll over Ohio State’s Jim Tressel. In the BCS era, this is the coaching version of Athens vs. Sparta. Perhaps it’s only fitting that the 2008 championship race will take its first meaningful shape after Carroll meets Tressel.

Ironic, isn’t it? About eight years ago, this game would’ve retained the sizzle, but not the substance. It wouldn’t have been a huge deal.

Ohio State couldn’t beat Michigan.

USC couldn’t beat anybody, really.

But that’s when everything changed.

That’s when both schools, tired of seeing their tradition trampled, made moves that provided field days for the skeptics.

Ohio State hired Tressel, a Division I-AA coach.

USC hired Carroll, a guy twice fired by the NFL, the school’s fourth choice.

And college football’s modern era never has been the same.

How has Carroll revived a once-slumbering USC program? Players, players, players. The Trojans have redefined recruiting dominance. In fact, USC doesn’t so much recruit as it does select the needed players.

The quarterback doesn’t seem to matter — whether it’s Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, John David Booty or now Mark Sanchez — because that offense is going to move. The USC defense has ranged from stingy to spectacular.

USC’s confidence was restored, and now it more closely resembles a swagger.

As closely as Carroll seems to fit the USC mold — freewheeling, flashy, thriving in the Hollywood spotlight — Tressel seems made for Ohio State. Mr. Sweater Vest has a button-down reputation, and a taste for fundamentals that provides a stop-us-if-you-can persona to Ohio State football.

Most times, the opponents can’t.

Still, Tressel’s program has something to prove. It has dominated the Big Ten, but nationally, Ohio State is painted as an underachiever. With convincing losses to SEC teams in two straight BCS Championship Games — one was a blowout (Florida) and another spiraled out of control (LSU) — the Buckeyes actually get mocked these days.

That’s what happens when you can’t close the deal.

That’s why USC has the edge here. No program is better at closing a deal, particularly against the Big Ten (Carroll is 4-0 in bowl games against the conference). USC is at home, the closest thing to a mortal lock in college football.

Ohio State at USC.

It just sounds like a classic game. These programs could line the field with Heisman Trophies, national-championship hardware and individual awards.

It’s a really big deal, as it should be. It might be college football’s latest Game of the Century. That’s why it’s semi-astounding to recall each program’s struggle at the turn of this century.

Both schools made the correct coaching hire — even with the amount of initial skepticism those moves generated.

You can’t go wrong with either coach. But in this case, we’re siding with Carroll, one of the best big-game coaches of our generation.

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