Wounds to be licked...

It's no secret to the Project 119 "community" that I am a huge Buckeye fan. It's also no secret that the Buckeyes have been anything but stellar in the last two National Championship games. Going into the game, I felt actually better this year because of the whole "underdog" thing. Last year was like watching the buildup to the 2003 Fiesta Bowl against Miami in which the Buckeyes came into a situation that they were the deserved underdogs, except replace "Miami" with "Ohio State" and the "Buckeyes" with "Florida" and you'll get the idea. Last year's National Championship game was a clinic on how to rush the passer and keep a defense on its heals presented by the Florida Gators.

A bunch of Big 10 fans got upset last year because a few people pointed out how there was a mismatch in that game between the Ohio State offensive front and the Florida defensive front. A few poorly phrased comments by Jim Delaney and overreactions by fans of Big 10 teams, and we all of the sudden have the most obnoxious, over-hyped argument I've ever seen in college football. Big 10 fans started frothing at the mouth claiming that nobody should talk about their Big 10 like this (this = slow, behind the times, bad at football, etc.), and it continued to mushroom into what we have today -- every single person with a platform talking about how their conference is better than everyone else's. Fans of SEC teams never cared about the Big 10 before this ridiculous discussion started, and with good reason. Honestly, it is the biggest exercise in hyperbolic nonsense to argue passionately for your conference when your conference tends to house your rivals.

So I will not dignify, nor have I ever dignified, the same stats that are used to present two sides of an argument. I refuse to discuss whose conference can beat up whose conference and think that these internets could be used for much more exciting things.

So in conclusion for this year's National Championship game, I only offer the following: I've never seen a Tressel-coached team get that many personal foul penalties -- especially at such critical junctions. Chris Wells is more of a grown man than I possibly ever will be, Todd Boeckman is who we thought he would be, and if the Juniors on our defense feel that they've finished business enough in Columbus to move on, then more power to them. I'm still pleased with winning a Big 10 championship and still feel nothing but pride for the Buckeyes.