Game Thread BCS National Championship Game: tOSU 24, LSU 38 (final)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

COmmentary
Buckeyes don't stand a chance against SEC

Sunday, December 30, 2007 3:49 AM

By John Adams




If it's bowl season, then it's the Southeastern Conference vs. the Big Ten. If it's the SEC vs. the Big Ten, then it's speed vs. toughness.
In last year's national championship game, you saw Florida's advantage in speed every time Ohio State target -- I mean, quarterback -- Troy Smith dropped back to pass. You saw Ohio State's toughness when All-America linebacker James Laurinaitis tried to tackle Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.
Laurinaitis looked so dazed when he finally gained his footing, he probably didn't realize the Gators had just scored another touchdown.
If you ever doubt the SEC is superior to the Big Ten in football, watch the Florida-Ohio State highlight video. Don't get the wrong idea. The Big Ten doesn't always lose to the SEC. Only Ohio State does that.
Even if the SEC does lose to the Big Ten, it rarely loses its sense of superiority. For example, in Tennessee's loss to Penn State in the 2007 Outback Bowl, the Volunteers merely fumbled the game over to their inferior Big Ten opponent.
Here are the Big Ten's five most humiliating bowl losses to the SEC since 2000:
? Florida 41, Ohio State 14: The Buckeyes entered last season's national championship game as an unbeaten favorite. Ohio State was so inept against Florida, fans of archrival Michigan felt embarrassed by association.
? Tennessee 45, Michigan 17: The 2002 Citrus Bowl was a classic when it comes to perpetuating stereotypes. The Vols looked really fast (see tight end Jason Witten outrunning Michigan's secondary). The Wolverines looked really slow (see tight end Jason Witten outrunning Michigan's secondary).
? Georgia 28, Purdue 25: In the 2000 Outback Bowl, Georgia spotted Purdue a 25-0 lead before rallying for an overtime victory.
? South Carolina 24, Ohio State 7: The Gamecocks beat the Buckeyes in the 2001 Outback Bowl, then OSU fired coach John Cooper.
? South Carolina 31, Ohio State 28: The Buckeyes had an entire year to figure out how to beat the Gamecocks. The best they could do was come close in the 2002 Outback Bowl.
John Adams is a columnist for the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ToledoBlade

Article published Sunday, December 30, 2007
1 trophy down, 1 to go for OSU
Henton named backup to Boeckman at QB

ASSOCIATED PRESS


COLUMBUS- Ohio State celebrated one major accomplishment yesterday. The Buckeyes will have to wait a little over a week to see if they can pull off a bigger one.

At halftime of the men's basketball game, the Buckeyes football squad received a 30-second standing ovation after presenting the Big Ten championship trophy to athletic director Gene Smith.

"It's been a long and fun season, but it's not over with yet," captain Dionte Johnson told a cheering crowd of almost 18,000 at Value City Arena.

The Buckeyes are in the midst of workouts for their Jan. 7 showdown with LSU in the Bowl Championship Series national title game at the Louisiana Superdome.

Dressed in scarlet warmups, the players and coaches came in from a practice yesterday morning and then left immediately after the presentation for the Woody Hayes Athletic Center to watch game films and attend meetings.

Continued....

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Big Ten vs. SEC



Sunday, December 30, 2007

In comparing the Big Ten and the SEC, it might be wise for Ohio State fans to lean toward expressing Big Ten pride. Since Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993, the SEC holds a 18-15 bowl edge on the Big Ten. Take out the Buckeyes' 0-5 record in that span, and the Big Ten leads. The Big Ten stalwarts? Minnesota is 2-0, and Michigan and Penn State are each 4-2 in the 14-season stretch. Here's the year-by-year breakdown, with the Big Ten record each year.




Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

OSU has Buckeyes backers, but LSU has the entire Southeastern Conference behind the Tigers. SEC fans are passionate to the point of rudeness, and if you don't root for their team, they can get spitting mad. JOHN BAZEMOREASSOCIATED PRESSLSU fan Terry Hicks cheers on the Tigers before the start of the Southeastern Conference Championship game against Georgia.

THE CULTURE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL IN THE SOUTH
Sunday, December 30, 2007Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter Columbus
- "Tiger bait" and "S-E-C" - Ohio State fans heading to New Orleans should hear those two chants for days leading up to the BCS National Championship game Jan. 7.
The two expressions reflect the two defining characteristics of LSU fans.
One is their relative, ahem, rabidity compared to the sometimes-gentlemanly qualities of other SEC schools, and the other is a conference pride that permeates the 12 schools and nine states of the Southeastern Conference. (The third thing is the fact that one of them might mail you a loogie. More on that later.)




Cont...

 

[ysubuck]

Dispatch

It never ceases to amaze me that this piece was this guys job for this week. That article probably took all of 3 minutes to write. I wonder what that tool gets paid a year.

 

[debrose]

Is this true?

CPD

OSU has Buckeyes backers, but LSU has the entire Southeastern Conference behind the Tigers. SEC fans are passionate to the point of rudeness, and if you don't root for their team, they can get spitting mad. JOHN BAZEMOREASSOCIATED PRESSLSU fan Terry Hicks cheers on the Tigers before the start of the Southeastern Conference Championship game against Georgia.

THE CULTURE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL IN THE SOUTH
Sunday, December 30, 2007Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter Columbus
- "Tiger bait" and "S-E-C" - Ohio State fans heading to New Orleans should hear those two chants for days leading up to the BCS National Championship game Jan. 7.
The two expressions reflect the two defining characteristics of LSU fans.
One is their relative, ahem, rabidity compared to the sometimes-gentlemanly qualities of other SEC schools, and the other is a conference pride that permeates the 12 schools and nine states of the Southeastern Conference. (The third thing is the fact that one of them might mail you a loogie. More on that later.)




Cont...

Do you agree with the writer - that Big 10 fans aren't really about the conference, but just about their own team?

My man and I are definitely exceptions to that...we want the Big 10 to do well. What's good for Illinois is good for the conference ($400K per team). We'll cheer for Meatchicken, we cheered last night for Joe Pa, we were disappointed in MSU's loss...

And, we'll be dodging the bullets throughout the quarter next weekend as we cheer on our Buckeyes!

 

[jwinslow]

Do you agree with the writer - that Big 10 fans aren't really about the conference, but just about their own team?

No. UM is the lone exception, and many try to root for the conference but hatred wins out in the end.

 

[Jaxbuck]

No. UM is the lone exception, and many try to root for the conference but hatred wins out in the end.

Also, PSU fans seem to by and large be very anti B10. Stems from:

-their genetic predisposition to be assholes
-their newness to a conference(and the resulting humbling of their program)
-their conspiracy theory that B10 officials are out to get them
-their belief that the B10 sportswriters didn't help them get at least a split NC in 1994

but mainly its just because they are a bunch of dickheads.

I personally root for all B10 teams in Bowl games or OOC games, even scUM. It just does not take much for me to enjoy scUMs demise when they lose one even though I know I should root for them to win.

 

[Mike80]

Also, PSU fans seem to by and large be very anti B10. Stems from:

-their genetic predisposition to be [strike]assholes[/strike] INBRED
-their newness to a conference(and the resulting humbling of their program)
-their conspiracy theory that B10 officials are out to get them
-their belief that the B10 sportswriters didn't help them get at least a split NC in 1994

but mainly its just because they are a bunch of [strike]dickheads[/strike] RETARDS.

I personally root for all B10 teams in Bowl games or OOC games, even scUM. It just does not take much for me to enjoy scUMs demise when they lose one even though I know I should root for them to win.

updated for accuracy

 

[BuckeyeCrazy107]

updated for accuracy

Very correct.

 

[JohnLSU]

Also, PSU fans seem to by and large be very anti B10. Stems from:

-their genetic predisposition to be assholes
-their newness to a conference(and the resulting humbling of their program)
-their conspiracy theory that B10 officials are out to get them
-their belief that the B10 sportswriters didn't help them get at least a split NC in 1994

but mainly its just because they are a bunch of dickheads.

So there is no love for Penn State as a Big Ten team? It was so long ago when the Nitanny Lions joined the Big 10 that I had forgotten they weren't a historic Big 10 team.

 

[BuckeyeCrazy107]

So there is no love for Penn State as a Big Ten team? It was so long ago when the Nitanny Lions joined the Big 10 that I had forgotten they weren't a historic Big 10 team.

Well for us Bucks fans, we all hate scUM. That's a given. A lot of us also hate PSU for the above reasons. I wouldn't say the entire Big Ten hates them though.

 

[Jaxbuck]

So there is no love for Penn State as a Big Ten team? It was so long ago when the Nitanny Lions joined the Big 10 that I had forgotten they weren't a historic Big 10 team.

There seems to be no love from the PSU side. Their fan base wants to get back to the '80's when they were a perrinial NC contender as a result of lots of games vs the Temples of the world.

2 B10 titles in 15 years has left them with a bad taste in their mouth regarding playing in a conference.

 

[Tonyank]

The State Penn problem lies with in old Joe Pa not being able to the players they need. Joe Pa need to go before State Penn has a chance. I don't mind them that much. I dont root for other teams to beat them. And its no where neat the hateness of the the Tsun!

 

[NastyDogg72]

So there is no love for Penn State as a Big Ten team? It was so long ago when the Nitanny Lions joined the Big 10 that I had forgotten they weren't a historic Big 10 team.

I certainly don't like PSU but having lived in Western PA for the past 9 years I have gotten to know alot of PSU fans, students and alumni and have been able to soften my opinion quite a bit. All teams have their out of control fans , see YouTube, but for the most part PSU fans are just like us. They HATE scUM, if you ask them who they hate the most their answer will be the same as ours and we have something in common in that if you ask who is next in line we say PSU, they say tOSU. I can say this for the PSU fans I know, they will all be pulling hard for us on Jan. 7. Just as they were in 2003 and last year.