Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Florida 41, Ohio State 14

What can you say, Ohio State deserved to lose that game.

All week long I've talked trashed about Penn State beating Tennesee and Wisconsin beating Arkansas. I've ripped on Florida's win over a 1-AA team. But ya know what? It doesn't matter.

Florida beat Ohio State in every way imaginable. Sure, losing Ted Ginn Jr. hurt. But that's a tiny excuse. Ginn doesn't tackle. Ginn doesn't block. As much as having Teddy out there would help the offense (just that deep threat being there), it doesn't really matter.

The game was won in the trenches. End of story. Chris Leak had all day to throw the ball, Troy Smith didn't. Smith was hounded all night long and never seemed to get comfortable in the pocket. Again, would having Ginn had helped? I'm sure here and there, but make no mistake, all the credit should go to the Florida defensive line. They got to Smith all game long and they provided the play of the game; forcing a fumble from Smith late in the second half, which led to a TD that put Florida up 20. If Ohio State had scored on that drive (or even stood pat), they would've had a shot at the game. But that touchdown seemed to put the game away.

However, it didn't help that OSU didn't score in the third quarter. Their defense came out and actually made a few stops for the first time all night, but the offense couldn't take advantage. Whatever slim hopes Ohio State had of winning the game were dashed when they couldn't score in the third period.

Trust me, I'd love to bitch about how OSU was screwed and how things just didn't go their way. I'd love to blame Ginn's injury or the 51 days off. But I can't. I never thought the game was going to be an OSU blow out. I figured the Buckeyes would win, but it would be a close/good game game. I definitely didn't expect this. But I can't blame those things. I can't point to injuries or to the number of days off.

Florida won the national championship. They beat OSU all over the field. Offense. Defense. Special teams (except for the first play of the game).

OSU fans can't bitch, can't complain and can't whine. Florida fans can chant their "just-like -bas-ket-ball" and all that crap. They deserve it. They won.

Hats off to Florida, they are the reigning champions in both football and basketball; which should really be a bigger deal than people are making it out to be. That is quite a feat.

Am I going to be sick of all the SEC talk? All the overrated talk? Sure. But ya know what? Ohio State got their asses handed to 'em. They should get the verbal beat down.

I do feel for the Buckeye team; they had a dream season ruined tonight. Their fans showed up to Arizona in droves. It had all the makings for a perfect season. But I can't feel that bad; they didn't block, they didn't tackle and they didn't throw the ball. They didn't play good football. Florida did. And that's why they won.

1 comment:

LargeBill said...

It's that simple. Florida played better in every facet of the game. We have no right to bitch.

A corollary to long lay off is the question of conditioning. It looked like Pitcock had packed on 20 extra pounds. The whole team seemed slow and lethargic.