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Being No. 1 in Big Ten is no longer enough
Published on Wednesday, Jan 09, 2008
NEW ORLEANS: Way back in September, practically eons ago it seems, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist took swipes at the Ohio State Athletic Department, and the football team in particular, for its success on the field.
He compared the Buckeyes to the great sports dynasties in the country, calling them the New York Yankees of college football.
The Yankees? More like the Indians, only fitting considering they're from Ohio. They tease. Tease some more. Get hopes up and eventually dash them.
In this case, the Buckeyes have only themselves to blame for the 38-24 loss to LSU on Monday night in the BCS National Championship Game at the Superdome.
This junior-laden OSU team found itself ahead 10-0 in the first quarter courtesy of some mistake-free, impressive play. It then fell apart when greeted with adversity.
Did the Buckeyes think the Tigers would curl up in a corner and meow when faced with that deficit? Instead, LSU turned around and attacked, gaining a tie early in the second quarter. How a team reacts in such situation reveals its character.
OSU?
It panicked. Freaked. Screamed like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. The Tigers scored 31 points in a row, dominated the game and cruised to what eventually turned into an easy victory.
How easy was it? The most rabid OSU fans will take heart in the fact the Buckeyes lost by only 14. The more realistic will dig a little deeper and come up with a different take on the loss. The fact is the Buckeyes got their hineys handed to them.
''They beat us and just out-physicalled us,'' OSU linebacker James Laurinaitis said. ''We had a chance late. LSU just made too many plays.''
Give him credit for honest self-assessment.
The key numbers tell the story. For LSU, 11-of-18 on third down; OSU, 3-of-13. Turnovers: LSU, one; OSU, three. Penalties: LSU, three for 36 yards; OSU, seven for 83 yards. That last number is particularly revealing because boneheaded penalties cost the Buckeyes in crucial situations.
Teams usually don't win championships with stats such as those. They also don't win when the quarterback holds the ball too long and when the defensive line rarely pressures the opposing quarterback.
Coach Jim Tressel was Michigan coach Lloyd Carr's albatross after arriving at Ohio State seven seasons ago. It's
quickly proving that the Southeastern Conference might be Tressel's. In two national championship games against SEC teams, the Buckeyes have given up 79 points. Buckeye Nation cannot be happy.
Players consoled themselves with the fact they won the Big Ten Conference for the second consecutive time.
''We've had a great season. We were outright Big Ten champions,'' Laurinaitis said. ''It just didn't end up the way we wanted tonight, but we have something to hang (our) hat on.''
Nice sentiments, but being top dog in the Big Ten isn't going to cut it anymore in today's college football universe.
That's not this writer's sentiment, but it is reality.
Whether the university's intellectual elite care to concede it, college sports, football in particular, are as ingrained in the country's bigger universities as English 101.
OSU is a fine university. It's also a fine football institution that is as committed to winning as every SEC school. It needs to start acting like it, though.
It's noble to want to help other Ohio colleges by putting them on the schedule, but when the Buckeyes spend much of the season beating up on also-rans, they don't exactly sharpen their skills.
USC looks nice on next year's schedule, but shouldn't OSU be scheduling two nonconference competitive teams?
All of this begs the question: Were the Buckeyes overrated? Possibly. But they played by the rules to get where they ended up, and in the end, they landed where they probably belong in this year's final polls — No. 4 in the coaches poll and No. 5 in the AP poll.
What's more important, however, is where they go from here. None of the juniors who requested draft evaluation from the NFL would talk about whether he is prepared to go play on Sundays. Tressel most likely is looking at a team without such key personnel as Laurinaitis, defensive end Vernon Gholston, defensive back Malcolm Jenkins and wide receiver Brian Robiskie.
A third consecutive appearance in the national championship game would seem unlikely. After the past two appearances, that might not necessarily be a bad thing.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/sportsblitz/.
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