|
The Game Previews the Title Game
By Paul Smith
Share Your Feedback: collegeblitz@gmail.com
COLUMBUS, THEN WILLOUGHBY, Ohio -- There will be dissenting precincts, the residents of which mostly will offer their opinions with southern-fried dudgeon.
But make no mistake, top ranked Ohio State's 42-39 victory Saturday over its classic archrival Michigan, unmistakably the nation's second best team, was but a preview of the national championship game.
From the rocky shores of Maine to the swirling sands of Pacific Beach, from the Upper Peninsula to the Florida Keys, anywhere you find individuals who appreciate The College Game, this one will be emblazoned in memory.
As he addressed a humanity crush in the tower of Wolstein Center in historic Ohio Stadium's southeast corner, Jim Tressel wore the look of a glazed doughnut, but the smile of the Pillsbury doughboy.
Happy, coach? It was a loaded question, maybe the same one an Ernie Pyle might have asked Gen. Eisenhower on May 9, 1945.
War analogies are trite 99.9% of the time, but the bare-your-soul, all-out 60-minute battle between college football's two heavyweights, all due respect to the U.S.C.-Texas national champinoship game last January, became the first 21st century entry into college football's All-Time Classics.
"I don't really know what to say beyond (his ready-made stock-but-classy praise of Michigan and college-heavyweight analogy) what to say," O.S.U. coach Jim Tressel said after building his incredible record against Michigan to 5-1.
A lot of Ohio State players groped for words. It was as emotionally-draining, in perspective if you please, as "Saving Private Ryan" or "The Longest Day."
New that we've gotten all the war analogies behind us, anybody who watched this game could see the emotions flowing on both sidelines.
From the point of dead silence in tribute to the fallen Michigan (and before that, Ohio State assistant) coach Glenn "Bo" Schembechler, who died Friday, a moment that saw Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr's eyes welling up, to heavily-muscled former wrestler Dan Wonders of Hudson, Ohio, dutifully dotting the i in Script Ohio to the reactions to The Game's operatic twists and turns, Ohio State/Michigan 2006 was truly a keeper.
"The feeling is unparalleled," said Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, whose 29-for-41 passing stats for 316 yards and four touchdowns virtually signed, sealed and validated his Heisman Trophy candidacy.
"You wouldn't be able to understand it unless you ran the (July/August) gassers we ran, ran the hills we ran, pushed the sleds," he added with an almost Shakespearean eloquence.
"When that heat and sun is beating down on your back in the summer, the commitment and the focus...Words can't express what I feel right now."
This game answered a whole lot of questions skeptics across the nation fired Columbus-ward with a collective, edgy scowl. Was a rematch possible?
"Beforehand," said former O.S.U. quarterback Kirk Herbstreit, a truly objective journalist these days (altho, sure, he still bleeds scarlet and gray underneath) on E.S.P.N., "I'd have said no way. But that game changed a lot of minds."
Indeed the public outcry is strong.A shakily-assembled poll had the nation split on such an encounter, but as you eyeballed Florida's overly special-teams conscious Gators bare squeakby huge underdog South Carolina, you knew Fla. was not up to the task. Arkansas has had a terrific season, but got crushed by U.S.C. At home. And the Trojans lost to Ore-friggin'-gone (e intended) State.
This game simply grabbed a nation's attention starting with the Ohio State Marching Band's precise, riveting "Script Ohio" drill and didn't let go until the victorious Buckeyes and about 30,000 of their closest friends, with surprising orderliness, assembled at the Stadium's south end to sing the most heartfelt rendition ever of "Carmen Ohio".
It was a day that neither camp will ever forget. "I'll probably be wearing my smile for the rest of this week," Smith continued. "I love every single one of my teammates with the deepest passion you can possibly have for another person."
It was a game that started ominously for the Bucks, as Michigan's brilliantly-conceived blend of power, speed and execution resulted in an opening seven-play, 80-yard drive that sobered the record Ohio Stadium crowd of 105,708.
After brilliant junior Mario Manningham gathered in a Chad Henne pass and appeared to carry two O.S.U. defenders into the end zone, Mike Le Monnier's officiating crew spotted the ball on the one and Mike Hart scored easily for a 7-0 Michigan lead.
A lesser team (Florida, for sure, one would think) might have wilted under the constant, pressing pressure created by the Wolverines.
But the one particular advantage Ohio State had was Smith's ability to spread a defense from sidelline-to-sideline. Four differen Buckeyes caught T.D. passes. Roy Hall caught a one-yarder that enabled the Bucks to tie the score after grabbing a drive-sustaining 27-yard dart. Ted Ginn, Jr. (a perfectly feathered 39-yarder just beyond two defenders' reach to build a 21-7 second quarter lead), Anthony Gonzalez, whose 8-yard T.D. grab put O.S.U. up 28-14 at halftime gave Ohio State a near knockout punch, Brian Robiskie, whose critical 13-yard strike from Smith with 2 minutes, 16 seconds left gave the Bucks a 42-31 edge just strong enough to withstand Henne's final thrust, his second T.D. pass and a two point conversion toss to Steve Breaston that brought Michigan within a failed on-sides kick of tying the game.
"This was a fast-break game," Tressel said. "I would think (Smith) clinched the Heisman Trophy. I don't think there'd be any question. He's the best player in college football."
With a support cast that included a rushing game that trashed Michigan's extremely stingy run defense at times, including backbreaking long touchdown runs by freshman Chris "Beanie" Wells (52 yards in the second quarter to break the 7-7 tie) and a 56-yard boltby Antonio Pittman late in the third when it seemed the Bucks offense was bogging down...AND Smith's spread-the-field passing game, the Buckeyes stated their case for No. 1.
But the Wolverines stated theirs by bouncing back and playing with a hungry desperation that some felt was missing from the U-M sidelines in the last couple Ohio State games.
The game wasn't entirely without other controversies. Although Le Monnier's crew would get generally high marks, there was a striped moment that earned Carr's ire late in the fourth quarter as linebacker Shawn Crable banged helmets with Smith along the sideline on a third-and-long play where the Wolverines' defenders seemed to have forced a punt.
"I feel like when a quarterback's in the pocket and he's getting hit, the rule has to protect him," Carr said. "But when a quarterback is scrambling, when he's running around, I'm not exactly clear why that rule is."
The Buckeyes wouldn't quibble, that's for sure, because the automatic first down and 15-yard mark-off pumped new life into Ohio State's last T.D. drive.
"They played an exceptional game," Carr assessed. "Give all credit to Ohio State -- they were the better team today."
But the pure charm of this game is the margin was razor-thin and the national cry for an encore was unmistakable.
Notes | Ohio State will welcome what may be its very best recruiting class ever, which should give pause to those who think next fall will be a total rebuilding year...Some Buckeyes fans were pretty teary-eyed during the pre-game honoring of Schembechler as well...Smith is only the third O.S.U. quarterback to beat Michigan three times in a row. The series now stands at 57-40-6 in Michigan's favor, but the Buckeyes have a 27-26-3 lead since 1950.
Paul Smith covers the Big Ten, Notre Dame and the rest of the national college football scene with his View From the Midwest.
» Share Your Feedback: collegeblitz@gmail.com |
|
|
|
|
|
