Think about this… Coming off of their National Championship run in 2002, Ohio State endured more off the field distractions than ever imaginable in college football. Although their starting QB returned, they lost their star RB and the focus of their offense in Maurice Clarrett. Want to talk about respect, that team got ZERO respect despite the fact that they hung around the Top 5 for most of the year. Ohio State 16 - San Diego State 13 (at Ohio State) - It takes a 100 yd. interception return for a TD and 3 field goals to top the lowly Aztecs. Ohio State QB throws an interception on the first play of the game and the Buckeyes have to come from behind to win their 16th straight game (8 of which were decided by 7 points or less). Ohio State commits 2 turnovers – total yardage favors San Diego State 216 to 196. Ohio State QB goes 5 for 20 for 76 yards and an interception. What do you think the 105,000 fans were thinking after this game? Ohio State 44 - North Carolina State 38 (3 OT) (at Ohio State) – It takes a 4th and 1 goal line stop in triple overtime to win this one. The celebrated Ohio State defense blew a 24-7 lead with 11 minutes remaining in regulation after holding NC St. to 97 yards in the first half and -1 yards on the ground. Ohio State QB throws 3 interceptions and the Buckeye offense manages a mere 44 yards rushing. The defense set up most of the scoring and had another long interception return. I imagine the 105,000 fans feel lucky as they leave the stadium. Ohio State 24 – Bowling Green 17 (at Ohio State) – Ohio State almost blows a 17 point lead (24 – 7) and once again rely on an interception to seal the deal for the Buckeyes. Bowling Green QB completes 33 passes for 330 yards. Bowling Green out-gained Ohio State in total yards 366 to 323. Ohio State managed only 118 yards through the air for the game. Ohio State 21 – Penn State 20 (at Penn State) – Ohio State scores with 1:35 left in the game on an off-balance, falling-backward catch in the end zone to pull ahead of an awful Penn State team. Penn State misses a FG as time expires. Penn State was up 24 - 10 with just over 10 minutes to play and Paterno (and most of the country) is livid about the bad officiating. Bottom line, OSU gets the win. Ohio State 16 – Purdue 13 (OT) (at Ohio State) – With the score 6 to 6 in the 4th quarter, Ohio State gets yet another defensive TD on a fumble recovery in the end zone to go up 13 - 6. The Ohio State kicker hits a 36 yard FG in OT despite the Purdue defense getting a big piece of the ball at the line. Purdue kicker misses a 37 yard field goal just wide to the left to give Ohio State the victory on Senior Day. These are close games and most were at home. Ohio State won these games, played with guts and heart and defended their National Championship extremely well. Ohio State lost on the road to a very good, 23rd Ranked Wisconsin team on an 80-yard TD pass by the Badgers’ backup QB – final score 17 – 10. The only other loss of the year came on the road in the Big House at the hands of arch rival (and eventual BCS #4) Michigan. The Buckeyes went on to earn another BCS berth and defeated Kansas State 35 to 28 in the Fiesta Bowl. This was a great Ohio State team that was doubted and left out of all the NC talk even before they had their second loss. Kansas State was being stroked by the media and Ohio State won their 2nd straight Fiesta Bowl to finish the season 11 – 2. Not too shabby. Thinking about this makes me feel better about the victory we pulled off on Saturday night against a highly underrated opponent…
when its all said and done, a win is a win is a win. LSU will hopefully learn from this, mature and improve overall which I think they do. I'm more than happy about the fat W after watching all the other teams this weekend. This game may go a long way for the maturation of this team.
I remember back in 92 when Bama won the NC, they had some HORRIBLE games. Almost lost to Vandy I believe and barely won a couple others. They ran the table though and won it all. We can do the same thing. A win is a win no matter how bad it looked because in the end its not going in the L column.
The 2002 Miami team defended their 2001 NC by going undefeated until losing in OT to Ohio State in the NC game.
Thats an excellent point to bring up. College football is tough, it's a season long playoff and all you have to do is win the games . . . stats and style don't really count if you just win the games. Not to mention that LSU will be seeing the best these teams have to offer in games all season.
With all that being said, I'd still like to live to see 21. I can't have any more heart attacks like i had last Saturday night. I prefer we win big in our games from now on... if at all possible of course.
Maybe LSU isn't that great a team this year and doesn't deserve any more respect than they're getting... A BCS Bowl Win 2 years in a row is something to respect. 11-2 is a good record with wins over Washington, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State, Purdue and Kansas State. They slipped once against a good Wisconsin team in a close game on the road - they win that game they are ahead of us in the BCS with one loss to Michigan and LSU and USC look like inferior teams with losses to Cal and UF. They deserved respect...
