BCS Championship Game: The Long Layoff Comes to an End
Posted January 7th, 2007 by George Thomas
You can tell a coach is getting antsy when he opens a press conference with the lines:
"I don't know what else to say except that we've received terrific treatment as always." So said Jim Tressel in his last pre-game press conference before tomorrow's big rumble in Glendale, Ariz. Those words alone suggest he's ready to get this thing over. I know the players have been ready to go for some time, they said as much during the media day in Columbus last month.
Any reasonable football fan would have to wonder how a 51-day layoff would effect the team and even Florida has been idle for more than a month. Fun, fun fun. That begs another question. Has the time lapsed between the end of the season and now led fans to have a ho-hum attitude? You couldn't say thate judging from those that attended the Buckeye Bash at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
But if you look at the on-air advance play on the host network, FOX, there isn't one-tenth the build up we've seen in other games. Remember the game-of-the-century hype for OSU vs. Michigan just this past November? Instant classic they said?
I think that part of the collective yawn that there appears to be out there comes courtesy of a belief by many that the Buckeyes will systematically dismantle Florida. I am going to repeat this one more time. Remember the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. Folks said the same about the Miami Hurricanes. We all know how that ended.
There are significant differences, however. Ken Dorsey was no Troy Smith, he lacked the toughness, mentally and physically, that Smith possesses to spare. This Buckeyes team has too many weapons. Rushing? Antonio Pittman with Beanie Wells backing him up. At receiver? HAH!! Although Dallas Baker, Jemalle Cornelius and Percy Harvin are impressive, if Smith can't hit Ginn, he'll hit Gonzalez. If he can't hit Gonzalez, there's Roy Hall. What, no Hall? There's Robiskie. No Robiskie? Hartline. 'Nuff said.
If there is a weak link, and they've heard this all year, it's the Bucks' defense. This is likely where the game will be won. You have to know that University of Florida Coach Urban Meyer has been studying the film from the Michigan like a teen-ager watching The 40 Year Old Virgin for the 50th time on DVD. Like any football game it's simple. They control the line of scrimmage (along with minimizing the effect of trickeration) and OSU wins.
