Buckeye Monday: Preview of the BCS National Championship

The battle for #1

I’m not going to spend a lot of time trying to explain how or why the Buckeyes ended up with another opportunity to play for the BCS National Title. I’m tired of hearing people say that Ohio State does not deserve to be in this game. Watching USC and Georgia totally destroy overmatched opponents earlier this week made me think the anti-OSU crowd may be on to something. However, the Buckeyes won the games they were supposed to win (except one) and even won a few games they may not have been predicted to win. All of the other teams (including USC and Georgia) cannot make that claim. I’ll say this once. There may be several other teams that can claim they should be in this game but no other team has a better argument. Period!!! Now….on to the game!!!!

My first thought when I heard we were going to play LSU was that we probably wouldn’t win. It wasn’t the “SEC Speed” issue or the fact that LSU was playing a virtual home game 90 miles from Baton Rouge or the fact that we have lost 8 consecutive bowl games to SEC teams that made me think that. Rather, it was a gut instinct telling me that was how it was going to play out. However, after having thought about it for the past 5 weeks I’ve changed the way that I feel. Here are several reasons why:

#1 “Defense wins Championships.” Ohio State comes into the game with the #1 scoring defense and the #1 overall defense in the country. LSU is a few spots back in both these categories but being the best defense in the country (statistically) has to mean something. LSU runs a fairly straight forward offense. Yeah, I know they can bring in Perrilloux to shake things up a little bit but Flynn is pretty vanilla and their running game doesn’t scare me that much. I think there offense vs. our defense is a good match up.

#2 Jim Tressel. He went into last year’s game being called one of the “best big-game coaches in the country.” Not that I think he took that to heart but I do think he’s smart enough to learn from his mistakes and he will not make them in this game.

#3 We’re the underdogs. We’ll have the chip on our shoulders. We played our best games this year when we were pushed into a corner a little bit. I’ve read several times that OSU players started thinking they were the better team last year and came out flat (other than that Ginn special to start the game) against Florida. I’m not saying that a fired up team could have hung with Chris Leak and the “Gator Speed” but I think the game would have been more competitive. Maybe LSU will come out flat after listening to how much better they are for the past 5 weeks. Two other things different about this year. We won’t have to deal with the Heisman Jinx (I was happy to give that to Tim Tebow) and we didn’t travel down to New Orleans until earlier in the week. I think we’ll all see a better prepared…….more focused team.

#4 West Virginia and Kansas. I watched most of the Fiesta and Orange Bowls and the thing I noticed about these two teams was the high level of intensity they played every down. I’m hoping the coaching staff is able to get the guys up (and keep them there) for the entire game.
I guess I didn’t have to watch these games to feel like we had a chance. I could have dusted off my DVD of the 2003 Fiesta Bowl and our terrific win over Miami. Come to think of it….I may have to watch that game again just to get in the mood.

Keys to the game:

§ Ohio State needs to establish the run early. If we can run the ball and get a few first downs early it will accomplish three things: It will help take their crowd out of the game; it will open up the passing game; and it will keep their defense on the field.
§ Stay disciplined on kick coverage. Much has been written about how fast LSU is. Long kick returns by Trindon Holliday would not be a positive sign for the Buckeyes. Of course….if they were to get an early return for a touchdown and then play like we played last year……that would be OK.
§ Be creative. The last time Ohio State played a Les Miles coached team, they unveiled the Shot-Ginn formation for the first time. It worked!!! I think Ohio State needs to be creative on both sides of the ball. I’m not talking about triple-reverses or half-back option passes from Wells. We just need to keep LSU guessing about what they’re going to see.
§ Todd Boekman. He showed poise and ability earlier in the season (especially in the Penn State game). We need that guy to show up and not the guy who played against Illinois and Michigan..

There are lots of other points that could be analyzed before the game. I’m not interested in that level of analysis. I’ll stick with my points made above. I have it OSU-31 LSU- 27. GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!

Buckeye John