YEAR IN REVIEW
A foot, a bad defeat, a feat to get back
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter
"Are you saying it happened when your teammates were celebrating with you after the touchdown?"
When the No. 1 team in the country, which you've been following every day for five months, unravels over the course of three-and-a-half hours nearly 2,000 miles from home in a game that ends just before midnight, there isn't much time for reflection.
Attempting to chronicle Florida's destruction of Ohio State nearly 12 months ago, while looking up synonyms for "defeat," made for a dizzy night of chaos. Once I reached the locker room, slid in next to Ted Ginn Jr. and asked that follow-up question to confirm the cause of the now-infa mous, game-ending foot injury after his opening kickoff return for a touchdown . . . that brought the entire night into focus.
This is nuts. This is program-rattling. This might be a turning point.
Entering the game as 7-point favorites, Troy Smith was the Heisman winner, Jim Tressel was approaching Woody Hayes cult status and the undefeated Buckeyes, having already knocked off two No. 2 teams during the regular season, were making a case as the best team in Ohio State history.
Wrong.
After that 41-14 loss to Florida in which the Buckeyes were outplayed, outcoached and outgained, 370 yards to 82, I could see the game serving as a line in the sand, the Tressel Era possibly defined as Pre-Gator Humiliation and Post-Gator Humiliation.
cont'd...
