BCS Champ Loses to Kentucky!

Yes, I know that headline doesn't play anywhere but here. But here is where I am and I doubt (I didn't bother to check) that UK has ever beaten a national champion in football so I went in that direction to kick off my post-championship analysis.

I was surprised that LSU was able to move the ball so easily against the Buckeye D. I thought LSU's weakness was at the QB spot and Ohio State would be ready for a steady diet of Hester between the tackles and Doucet to the outside, but they seemed back on their heels for the entire first half. I was also surprised at the way LSU corners dominated the Buckeye wideouts--OSU had nothing there all night long. They were stuck with the middle of the field and that gave that big Tiger D line all they needed to plug the running lanes. The roughing the punter penalty really killed the Buckeyes: instead of stopping LSU cold on their first drive of the second half, they were able to eat up more time of possession and stick another 7 on the board. That hurt bad. What would've been a momentum booster became a deflator instead. The Buckeye D was much more effective in the second half but that opening drive was too much to overcome since the Buckeyes had no big play ability.

My prediction incidentally was something like (I've forgotten which file its in) Ohio State 28-20. I thought it would be LSU that would get a quick lead and then fade as the Buckeye D re-grouped and the offense found a few holes in the Tiger secondary. There were no holes to be found and Broeckman just ain't the guy to find them. He held the ball too long too many times. This was due to the coverage, not his fault, but the ball is in his hands and he's the one that's got to deal with the action--dude, even on 4th down you've got to get rid of it.

This was the strangest year of college football I've ever witnessed. I was visiting a friend the night Ohio State lost to Illinois and the commentators were saying that the Buckeyes were now clearly out of the championship picture. My friend, a sporting novice, asked why they were saying that and I replied, 'I don't know. I don't think they are out because there's a lot of losing left.' I don't think that at that moment I particularly thought that Ohio State would actually get back to the top of the rankings but I can't say I was too surprised. Everybody lost this year. Everybody. Even the teams that never lose, they lost too. It wasn't that long ago that Kansas-West Virginia seemed like the championship match-up. As disappointing as that would've been to a lot of people (re: the grumpy national media that can't see beyond big stars and traditional powers), it would've been more representative of what this year was really like rather than the match we got. But it didn't happen because Kansas just couldn't keep it together against a feisty Missouri squad (Missouri played Championship spoiler--see what I'm saying?) and West Virginia had one of the worst choke performances I've ever witnessed--and I'm a Buffalo Bills fan! Everybody lost this year, even the underdogs.

Everybody had their chances--even Kentucky!--so you can't feel sorry for anyone except for 1 team: Oregon. If Dixon doesn't get hurt, he wins the Heisman and they probably end up facing Ohio State instead of 2-loss LSU. They limped into the bowl season and acquitted themselves nicely by pummeling upstart South Florida but they were one injury away from getting some glory.

This season reminded me of the 2002 World Cup. There were a lot of early exits by the major players that year: Argentina, France, Portugal all got bounced in group play. And they were replaced by wacky non-traditional squads like USA, Mexico, Turkey, South Korea, Senegal and Sweden. It was exciting to see the crazy upsets but in the end who played in the final? Brazil and Germany, which even soccer hating Americans know are the 2 top powers in the 'football' world. In the really crazy years I guess it's even more likely that the old schools finagle their way in to the big game.

One last snarky comment about this season: Tim Tebow did not deserve the Heisman. Don't get me wrong, he's the best player in college football and I have no doubt if he stays for 4 years he will go down as one of the all-time great college QB's. And may well win 3 straight Heismans! I'm sure his staggering stats looked great when you're sitting in an air-conditioned office in New York but down south we know he ran it up on Vanderbilt, Kentucky and South Carolina and got clobbered by Auburn, Georgia and LSU. How the hell you gonna give the Heisman to a QB with 3 losses? Yeah, his numbers were great but so were Colt Brennan's and he went undefeated! I know he got smooshed like a grape in his bowl game--uh, so did Tebow--but Brennan's the one that dragged Hawaii into a game they didn't deserve to be in and that's actually a pretty impressive feat in a world where that spot is usually reserved for Notre Dame.

So another tough loss for Buckeye fans. But don't worry, you've got a great shot at getting back next year! My pre-season top 3: Florida, USC, Ohio State as we get back to more predictability in the college gridiron game. I'll take Southern Cal over Florida in the Championship with Tebow winning back-to-back Heismans.