OHIO STATE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

[ItsBacon]

31-24 after 2 overtimes

[for-q-clinton]

It's funny I was saying all night that the refs weren't calling Miami's interference. It just finally caught up with them.

Go Buckeyes!

[Chi-townChief]

OOPS!!!!!


Buckeyes' armor starting to crack

January 2, 2003

BY RON RAPOPORT SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

I was having some sport with Ohio State football fans not long ago--was it mean of me to call the Buckeyes the worst unbeaten team ever?--and I was hardly surprised when I received some outraged and even profane responses. Buried amid the anger and the curses, however, a more reasoned line of thinking did emerge.

Jim Tressel had created such togetherness among his coaches and players, I was told a number of times. He was teaching them values that extended beyond the football field, that made for a sense of community the fans could be proud of.

But now that the dog ate the athletic department's homework--that is the excuse Ohio State is giving for Maurice Clarett not being able to attend a friend's funeral, isn't it?--that theory isn't holding up so well. Football more important than human life? That Clarett should even utter such words makes Tressel look less like a philosopher king and more like a garden-variety coach.

Poor Ohio State. Far from being a cause for celebration, its unbeaten regular season has turned into a nightmare. A month of listening to how badly Miami is going to beat up on it in the Fiesta Bowl on Friday night. Days of charges and countercharges revolving around some paperwork involving the team's best player. The national title could be lost for want of a competent secretary? How funny is that?

As for the Buckeyes' fans, well, this is where we came in, I'm afraid. Fear, loathing and nervousness are their now more-or-less constant companions. Take the poor souls who have been logging on to a Web site called bucknuts.com lately and who don't seem to know whether to spit or go blind.

Distracted? Who, us?

Here are just a few representatively nervous postings about Clarett on a couple of the site's chat threads, labeled IT'S OFFICIAL, THIS IS A HUGE DISTRACTION and WHEN WILL CLARETT SHUT UP?

"I hate to say this, but I'm not feeling very good about the vibes right now going into the game. Inner turmoil of any kind is never a good thing.'' ... "By next year, he better darn well learn to keep his mouth shut. I hope he's not taking this thing that personally. If so, I'd rather he just move on.'' ... "Mo is young, upset, on a slightly too long leash and most of all a little naive. He'll learn.'' ... "This is undermining everything Tressel has been trying to build for two years.'' ... "This stuff could alienate his teammates really quickly.'' ... "There should be some penalties for calling university officials liars.'' ... "I'm sorry for his loss, but this stuff he's spewing really has gone a little far.''

There were, however, a couple of ingenious fans who professed to finding a silver lining in the midst of this uproar.

"Mo is a genius for taking the media pressure off his teammates and placing it entirely on himself,'' one wrote. "Now his teammates can prepare and not worry about the media.''

E-mail Ron Rapoport at rjr@suntimes.com.

[freedom1st]

The refs were from the Big 12 Conference.

[Windshark]

Dumb statement. The worse call was the no-call at the 2 minute mark when the Miami guy held Gamble's jersey. Miami would never have gotten the ball back.

It sure seemed to me he was holding the guy from the line of scrimmage until just before the ball got to him.

Good call. Game not decided by the refs.

Great game. Won by the defensive call on the last play of the game.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

The offense on Miami's part was holding - whether the ball was in the air or not does not negate the penality - Miami hosed themselves! CNN is full of $hit! Same as they were in Florida re algore!

[meisterbrewer]

The reality is, the game should never have gone to overtime. The real bad call was the lack of an interference call on Miami on OSU's last series on third down. The Miami defensive player was holding the OSU reciever all the way. Had the call been made, OSU would have had 1st and 10 with 2:00 minutes to play. And that would have been the game. Too bad, but Miami was the one that got a gift from a bad call. They should have lost 17-14.

[for-q-clinton]

They did win fairly. What about all the earlier interference that wasn't called? I don't hear people complaining about that. Even the biased Miami supporting announcer mentioned that there was interference that Miami wasn't called for.

I'm not saying I like bad officiating, but don't say they won unfairly. Rather, just say the officiating was poor and it's a shame they impacted the game as much as they did.

[cactusSharp]

Keith Jackson was vintage as usual but Fouts was way too biased for Miami. Coulda been worse I guess,coulda been
Costas.

[tonmo]

Agreed. Everyone who says it wasn't a penalty was looking at the footage from within the endzone -- no penalty can be seen from that angle. It was the moments *just* leading up to that shot that caused the penalty.

And how about that knee injury??? YEEEEEOOOOOWWWWWCCHHHH!!!

[tonmo]

Correct!

[Windshark]

The non- Keith commentator was one of Winslows' (Miami tight end) fathers' best friends and teammates. He was saying garbage cause his emotions caught him rooting for his friend's team. Very unprofessional.

Keith let him know.

[cactusSharp]

also heard the point spread was like 14 points...
ouch to Vegas if that is accurate.

[anncoulteriscool]

YAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

We won, we won, we won, we won...yippeee!!!!!!!!...what an emotioanlly draining game for me (an osu graduate) to watch.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

"A molecular genetics major, he hopes to be a doctor. Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel says he has never seen anyone who makes better decisions when he steps behind center."

I took that off ESPN.com, it is about Krenzel, not to shabby for a basket-weaving major. God Bless

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

Miami is beneficially the recipient of calls by refs and votes by those who decide who is ranked - Miami would not have been a National Title contender if they played in a legitimate conference. (Flame away, but know I speak truth.)

[happydogx2]

Great Game! Obviously the refs missed calls on both sides of the ball.

Bottom line: Keith Jackson & Fouts have got to go. The USC/Iowa had great announcers...Keith had zero insight & was so canned (bottled?)...Fouts was so pro Miami (Winslow for President for cry'n out loud) that his analysis was tainted.

Sorry Miami - but you & your University President are not well liked.

happydogx2

[anncoulteriscool]

BWAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

[baseballfanjm]

Maybe it evens out then. The ref missed a holding penalty but called a bad pass interference. Anyway, I don't normally watch college football, but I'll watch any sporting event if the game is any good or if it's a playoff/championship game. And I'm trying to find some sort of filler 'till the Red Sox start again, since the Pats couldn't get in the playoffs.

[gswilder]

I don't have a dog in the hunt, but the ref blew it. The ref CLOSEST to the play didn't call anything. He saw the whole play from the snap. He was in the best position. Watching on the TIVO, the other ref was much further away, and didn't have a good angle. I think he just called what he thought happened. As someone else said, they do this a lot and are right most of the time. However, he missed it this time. </p></p>

This will be go down in sports history as one of the worst calls ever, I'm afraid. I'm just concerned what this kind of officiating is doing to the sport. If this call really wasn't that big, why do think we'll see the replay a hundred times this weekend? If it wasn't pretty questionable, they wouldn't keep showing it. Anyway, the refs spoiled what could have been one of the greatest college football games ever! Just a shame it had to end that way.....