Ohio State: What Happened?

[SportsLegends 0]

As I was watching the BCS Title game, I couldn't figure out if a high school team had taken the place of the Ohio State Buckeyes, or if an NFL team had taken the place of the Florida Gators. One thing that I know for certain is that these were not the same two teams that I watched play throughout the course of the year. Not only did Ohio State have a 12-0 regular season, but they won with ease up until the Michigan game. Florida, on the other hand, could have had three losses this year had they been bit unlucky. Even though Florida does have a lot of tremendous athletes on their roster, I still didn't think that they had a legitimate chance of beating the Buckeyes. What happened??Without a doubt, the loss of Ted Ginn, Jr. on Ohio State's first offensive possession was an enormous loss, both emotionally and talent-wise. But Ginn could not have prevented the Florida defensive linemen from manhandling the Ohio State offensive line, or Chris Leak, who faced heavy criticism all four years at Florida, had the best game of his career. I can't imagine that Ohio State was unprepared or underestimated the Gators, since they have what Lee Corse calls "the best big-game coach in Ohio State history", Jim Tressel, on the sidelines.The only thing that I can come up with is that this game was a fluke; an abberration. Of course Florida had a chance to win the game, but there is no way that they are this good. I mean, they barely beat South Carolina!

[Saint_Michael 3]

Well lets break down Ohio's and Florida's schedule

OHIO

Sat, Sep 2 Northern Illinois W 35-12 -- Sat, Sep 9 at (2) Texas W 24-7 --
Sat, Sep 16 Cincinnati W 37-7 --
Sat, Sep 23 (24) Penn State W 28-6 --
Sat, Sep 30 at (13) Iowa W 38-17 --
Sat, Oct 7 Bowling Green W 35-7 --
Sat, Oct 14 at Michigan State W 38-7 --
Sat, Oct 21 Indiana W 44-3 --
Sat, Oct 28 Minnesota W 44-0 --
Sat, Nov 4 at Illinois W 17-10 --
Sat, Nov 11 at Northwestern W 54-10 --
Sat, Nov 18 (2) Michigan W 42-39

FLORIDA

Sat, Sep 2 Southern Miss W 34-7 * Audio Sat, Sep 9 UCF W 42-0 * Audio
Sat, Sep 16 at (13) Tennessee W 21-20 * Audio
Sat, Sep 23 Kentucky W 26-7 * Audio
Sat, Sep 30 Alabama W 28-13 * Audio
Sat, Oct 7 (9) LSU W 23-10 * Audio
Sat, Oct 14 at (11) Auburn L 17-27 * Audio
Sat, Oct 28 Georgia W 21-14 * Audio
Sat, Nov 4 at Vanderbilt W 25-19 * Audio
Sat, Nov 11 South Carolina W 17-16 * Audio
Sat, Nov 18 Western Carolina W 62-0 * Audio
Sat, Nov 25 at Florida State W 21-14 * Audio
Sat, Dec 2 (8) Arkansas W 38-28

As you can tell both teams had weak schedules in terms of the number of ranked teams they played against. Ohio biggest threats were Texas in week 2 and of course Michigan at Week 12. Other then those two games the rest were easy games as you can tell by the lopsided scores Ohio was producing.

With Florida they started the season ranked 5th, their biggest threats were from Tennessee, Auburn and Arkansas, With the Big loss to Aurburn which only dropped Florida to 6th, because of losses elsewhere in the top 10. You could say that Florida had the tougher of the schedules just due to those three games and some of the games they barely won, like the South Carolina game. Which means Florida was better prepared then Ohio was.

Now lets add in the next factor Ohio had 51 days off because they already clinch the big 10 championship. Although they prepare that is a long time either way.

The next factor were key losses throughout the top 25

Big Ten Standings

Ohio State (2) 8-0 12-1 Wisconsin (7) 7-1 12-1
Michigan (8) 7-1 11-2
Penn State (24) 5-3 9-4
Purdue 5-3 8-6
Minnesota 3-5 6-7
Indiana 3-5 5-7
Iowa 2-6 6-7
Northwestern 2-6 4-8
Michigan State 1-7 4-8
Illinois 1-7 2-10

SEC Standings

Florida (1) 7-1 13-1 Tennessee (25) 5-3 9-4
Georgia (23) 4-4 9-4
Kentucky 4-4 8-5
South Carolina 3-5 8-5
Vanderbilt 1-7 4-8
West Conf All
Arkansas (15) 7-1 10-4
LSU (3) 6-2 11-2
Auburn (9) 6-2 11-2
Alabama 2-6 6-7
Mississippi 2-6 4-8
Mississippi State 1-7 3-9
Other Conferences

As you can tell most of those teams were either ranked or were ranked through out the season and big losses to either lower ranked teams or unranked teams set this up.

Of course everyone thought including me it was going to be a close game but with Ohio winning it (opening kickoff proved that). However as we found it it was a lop sided Florida victory. I don't recollect a BCS championship that lopsided, yeah #2 teams have beaten #1 but not that badly. So the question remains what happen? Could it be that they to cocky about an easy victory? maybe but who knows, whats real sad their Heisman player was not doing good either. So who knows what happen maybe next year when schedules come out Ohio could either redeem themselves with stronger schedule or prove the point that they just got lucky.

[Plenoptic 0]

Like SM said I think the Florida Gators had the tougher schedule, not by much though. I am a big Gators fan though and even I expected it to be a good game but also ending in an Ohio win in the end. By the end of the second half though, it was allll Florida Gators. As for the 51 day off, if you look at the previous Fiesta Bowls Ohio has played in, they have had atleast 40 or more days off before hand. This leaves plenty of time for practice though as well but I think they had it in their heads that maybe it was going to be an easy win. But I don't know that for a fact. As for Ohio missing a player... that's why it isn't a one person team. It might have been a difference, but not by 27 points. Emotions I don't think could get in the way of the adrenaline of playing in the championship.GO GATORS!!