Joey Bosa and Ezekiel Elliott, from Ohio State roommates to Sunday opponents

There’s a place for everything. When you’re in college, that place is often the floor.

“I remember stepping over boxes to get to the couch,” Joey Bosa said. “I was like, ‘Ah, whatever, I’ll figure that out later.’”

Bosa’s roommate was Ezekiel Elliott. Each was the master and commander of his side of the ball at Ohio State in 2015. The Buckeyes won the first College Football Playoff championship.

In the spring, the Chargers picked Bosa No. 3 in the first round of the draft, and the Cowboys followed by picking Elliott No. 4. So far, Bosa and Elliott have made $36 million in guaranteed money.

Trash disposal is easier when custodial help is affordable.

“I’m sure he’ll say I was the messier roommate, but we were both pretty terrible,”  Bosa said. “There is not a winner in that. Luckily, that has changed over the years. No more pizza boxes on the floor.”

Defensive end Bosa hasn’t had the privilege of tackling running back Elliott since their training days in Columbus. That changes Sunday at SoFi Stadium, where the Chargers try to alter their tradition of dismembered Septembers.

Elliott’s Cowboys are coming off a 31-29 loss at Tampa Bay in which they cruised the field at will. Bosa’s Chargers are coming off a 20-16 victory at Washington, in which he got whistled for two roughing-the-passers but his defense gave up just one touchdown.

The 2015 Buckeyes are a prime example of how talent seeks out talent in today’s college football. Cornerback Eli Apple was the 10th pick in 2016. Tackle Taylor Decker was 16th. Linebacker Darron Lee was 20th.

There were four other Buckeyes picked in Rounds 2-3, including Michael Thomas, who went to the Saints at No. 47 and has twice led the NFL in catches, with a league-record 149 in 2019.

The NFL mined Ohio State for three more first-rounders in 2017.

“My brother Nick (the No. 2 pick in the draft for San Francisco in 2019) and I played different competition in college than my dad did,” said Bosa, referring to John Bosa, a first-round choice by the Dolphins in 1987 after he played at Boston College. John’s NFL career spanned 31 games.

“Every day I was lining up against Taylor Decker (Detroit) or Pat Elfein (Carolina) and other guys who are playing in the league,” he added. “But we also had great coaches like Larry Johnson, who were technicians, who knew what they were talking about when it came to technique and how to play the position.”

This is how college football’s rich get super-rich. Who else but Alabama can promise a young cornerback the chance to guard DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle on a daily basis? Who else but Clemson can tell a wide-out that Trevor Lawrence will be delivering footballs his way each practice? That is sometimes the tie-breaker in recruiting, a self-fulfilling prophecy that creates a College Football Playoff club almost as exclusive as Augusta National.

“It breeds excellence,” Bosa said. “Kind of a corny line, but it’s true.”

But not all excellence is bred in that playoff club, nor in the first round of the draft. Jared Goff and Carson Wentz were the first two players taken in 2016, by the Rams and Philadelphia. Late in the fourth round, Dallas thought Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott would be a decent investment. From the first play of Prescott’s first preseason game, against the Rams in the Coliseum, he has looked like he just came off the assembly line. He put last year’s injuries aside and threw for 403 yards at Tampa Bay.

“It’s the story of the D-line every week,” Bosa said. “Keep the quarterback in the pocket. Yeah, they’ve got weapons, but if we neutralize Dak, he can’t get the ball to those weapons. We just have to be sound as a group and not give up those gaps or get too high.”

Through the five-game mark, the Chargers are 10-20 in their past five seasons and were 3-2 only once. That’s why the win at Washington, homely in some ways, was such a keepsake.

They hogged the ball for the final 6:43 and Justin Herbert picked up third-down conversions of 16, three, seven and four yards.

“When you’re mixing up the snap counts and the tempo of the throws, it’s good,” said Joe Lombardi, the Chargers offensive coordinator. “But the biggest thing is your protection holding up. That builds confidence.”

So would a win over Dallas, with a trip to Kansas City looming. Joey Bosa and Zeke Elliott might be landlords now, but there’s still trash to discuss.