The Offical BCS Championship Game Thread-OSU Buckeyes vs. LSU Tigers

[anthonypacino]

Guess I will start this one up now that we are a day away.
This bowl season has been as crazy as the regular season was, hopefully this year will have the Bucks coming out on top.

[Northman]

Maybe but i dont see it. I think LSU wins big 34-17.

[ohiobronco2]

I'm just hoping for a competitive game, which would be a change from last year. Even if OSU wins they will have to hear the, "Well you're 1-8 vs the SEC." and "You're lucky that USC wasn't in the national championship game because they would have crushed you." It's too bad that neither of these teams will actually be able to enjoy the victory, they will be busy hearing the crap that I listed above. Is it their fault, no it is the fault of college football who can't seem to put a half way decent system together to decide a true national champion. Also, I'm just curious, if LSU wins in overtime does that mean we split the national championship with them. I mean, come on, we didn't lose the game in regulation right, so therefor we are technically still undefeated. Right.

[Northman]

I'm just hoping for a competitive game, which would be a change from last year. Even if OSU wins they will have to hear the, "Well you're 1-8 vs the SEC." and "You're lucky that USC wasn't in the national championship game because they would have crushed you." It's too bad that neither of these teams will actually be able to enjoy the victory, they will be busy hearing the crap that I listed above. Is it their fault, no it is the fault of college football who can't seem to put a half way decent system together to decide a true national champion. Also, I'm just curious, if LSU wins in overtime does that mean we split the national championship with them. I mean, come on, we didn't lose the game in regulation right, so therefor we are technically still undefeated. Right.

You never know, OSU could go out there and bitch slap LSU. Technically Tennesse had the SEC Championship game won until Ainge gave it away.

[ohiobronco2]

You never know, OSU could go out there and b**** slap LSU. Technically Tennesse had the SEC Championship game won until Ainge gave it away.

Yeah, I think that this game can go either way. Obviously I'd like to have OSU win and do so in a blowout, hoping that would silence all of the people who state that OSU doesn't belong and that the SEC has the best conference in all of football. Listen, I know the Big Ten top to bottom isn't as good as the SEC, but I think the top teams in the Big Ten can compete with the top teams in any conference. As far as OSU belonging, hey they may have played a weak out of confernce schedule, but so did LSU. Yes LSU did have a tougher in conference schedule, but can you really blame OSU for the Big Ten being weak this year. OSU won their conference by best record and only lost one game. The team many people feel should be in the national championship game, USC, lost to Stanford. Don't give me that excuse that their quarterback was hurt either. I don't care if the waterboy is at QB, you should win that game. Georgia (Another team discussed), didn't even win their conference (Though I still think they got screwed by the media and should be playing in the big game). Unless you are undefeated, you are leaving yourself at the mercy of the BCS. Next year USC will get a crack at OSU and I think that should be one heck of a game depending on who declares between these two teams.

[SoCalBronco]

Geaux Tigers.

[ohiobronco2]

Geaux Tigers.

:P

[Bronco Jamus]

I think it will be hard for LSU to lose this one.

[Jens1893]

I'm just hoping for a competitive game, which would be a change from last year. Even if OSU wins they will have to hear the, "Well you're 1-8 vs the SEC." and "You're lucky that USC wasn't in the national championship game because they would have crushed you." It's too bad that neither of these teams will actually be able to enjoy the victory, they will be busy hearing the crap that I listed above. Is it their fault, no it is the fault of college football who can't seem to put a half way decent system together to decide a true national champion. Also, I'm just curious, if LSU wins in overtime does that mean we split the national championship with them. I mean, come on, we didn't lose the game in regulation right, so therefor we are technically still undefeated. Right.

You can settle that at the Coliseum and the ´Shoe in 2008 and 2009. Props to OSU and USC for scheduling those games.

[ohiobronco2]

You can settle that at the Coliseum and the ´Shoe in 2008 and 2009. Props to OSU and USC for scheduling those games.

Yes it should be games all football fans can enjoy, much like Texas vs OSU.

[Jens1893]

Looks like Delany let his emotions get the better of him

Big Ten-SEC ill will still burns
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
January 6, 2008

NEW ORLEANS – Still reeling from Florida running over Ohio State in last year's SEC-Big Ten battle for national supremacy, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany hammered not just the SEC's quality of play, but the character and intelligence of its players.

In a stunning "open letter to fans," the most powerful person in college athletics attacked SEC football players, particularly those with "speed" in a statement loaded with social stereotypes.

As the two rival leagues prepare to meet again for the Bowl Championship Series title Monday – this time Ohio State and LSU – Tigers coach Les Miles bristled at Delany's offseason comments, which are more relevant than ever.

"Mr. Delany is sitting on the outside not knowing of what he speaks," Miles said Saturday.

The rivalry between the Big Ten and SEC is real, on the field, in the living rooms of recruits and perhaps even in upcoming negotiations over an expansion of the BCS. But it became painfully personal with Delany's broadside shot that SEC players may be fast but they lack the academic acumen and character to play in the Big Ten.

"I love speed and the SEC has great speed, especially on the defensive line, but there are appropriate balances when mixing academics and athletics," Delany wrote on the league's web site during the offseason.

"Each school, as well as each conference, simply must do what fits their mission regardless of what a recruiting service recommends … winning our way requires some discipline and restraint with the recruitment process.

"Not every athlete fits athletically, academically or socially at every university. Fortunately, we have been able to balance our athletic and academic mission so that we can compete successfully and keep faith with our academic standards."

For Miles, the assertion that his fast players are, by Big Ten standards, not academic or social fits (essentially dumb thugs) is as absurd as it is insulting. He's a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he played under icon Bo Schembechler and later spent 10 seasons as an assistant. Now he is in his third year at LSU, giving him perspective.

"(He's) misinformed," Miles said. "All I can say is this, getting a degree of choice, a competitive degree that allows you to compete in society, while playing championship football (is what) I think this conference represents fully."

Delany's statement carries additional weight because it didn't come during the heat of an interview. This was a deliberate, purposeful, public letter.

Big Ten spokesman Scott Chipman said Saturday that Delany was responding mostly to a newspaper story which claimed the SEC had signed better and faster recruits in February. The league, he said, stood by the letter, which remains on the web site.

But the Big Ten, an elite conference, never should resort to such a tactic.

Delany's assertion of his league's academic and behavioral superiority among football players is open for endless debate – both conferences can point to various statistics and awards to make their cases.

Conversely, both leagues deal with some low graduation rates (the latest numbers have LSU and Ohio State at 51 and 53 percent, respectively), occasional academic fraud and various player suspensions and legal issues. The SEC and Big Ten have long ranked 1-2 nationally in total major NCAA infractions.

There are no angels in college football. No pure devils, either. In terms of football rosters, there is little difference between conferences, but Delany chose to throw rocks in his glass house anyway.

Of course, this is how the powerful in college athletics long have dealt with defeat they can't fathom; they tear down the mostly powerless athlete, often with sweeping generalities that stick.

When writing the book "Glory Road" about the historic 1966 Texas Western basketball team, I came across scores of comments from NCAA officials and rival coaches dismissing the first all-black starting five with the old, same loaded code words.

When the Miners won the national title, the NCAA even dispatched an investigator to campus to dig for academic misconduct under the premise that a team like that couldn't possibly be legit.

Indeed, the team was.

These pathetic attacks on the kids by the establishment suits should have ended long ago. College athletics should be better than this, yet here we went, right back in the gutter.

There were real players with real families and real reputations getting hit with Delany's wild claims.

Unfortunately for Ohio State, which tried everything imaginable to limit potential bulletin board material this week, some of those real players are going to show up Monday at the Superdome perhaps with even more to prove in the next clash of this ever-intensifying rivalry.

That would include 25 seniors, all of whom Miles claims could earn their diplomas by the end of summer.

"He doesn't know," Miles said, shaking his head.

They never do.

[Rohirrim]

LSU, 44 to 10.

(props to SoCal)
Geaux Tigers!

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

Just like last year. o$u gets there hopes up and then the real talent shows up.

[bpc]

I think OSU has some great talent. Hard to believe Beanie Wells is a true sophomore... kid runs like Eddie George of all. Looks like a man. He is going to have a very good NFL future.

If we were looking BPA this draft instead of trying to fill 5 or 6 different holes, I would love to take Jenkins with our first pick. Him and Champ Bailey together would be destroying people.

I'm underwhelmed with OSU's DT's... they are getting killed out there. People are getting on Laurinitis and he doesn't use his hands well enough IMO to get off blocks. He's good at running around people and taking down the ball carrier but i'm iffy on his ability to sit in the middle. Especially in our defense. His drops in the pass game are average at best too. Maybe its just LSU throwing a lot of looks at them. WHo knows.

On the flipside, he's small but man, Highsmith looks like he is shot out of a cannon when he plays.

[Requiem]

Highsmith would be nice in round two. :)

[Master___Pain]

I was watching Laurinaitis exclusively last night when osu was on defense. Seeing as how I feel my man Dizon was snubbed, last night only confirmed that. I'll admit that this was the first osu game I've watched the entire game, but Laurinaitis was pretty underwhelming.

[ColoradoBuff]

Highsmith would be nice in round two. :)

Yes he would.....Phillips or Clady in round 1.