The Ohio State University

Wall just called to drop a pretty good point on me. When your favorite Buckeyes are relegated to the JV, er, the NIT Tournament, you seek out small silver linings like this one, though this one in particular speaks to a much larger fact.

"Dude, it's pretty cool to sell out the Schottenstein Center for a Bruce Springsteen concert, then remember you've got an NIT game scheduled for the same night. I think they just said, 'Why don't we just go down the street to our other 13,000-seat, on-campus arena and play it there?' How many schools can do that?"

LIVE BLOG: BCS National Championship Game

I haven't live blogged since Ohio State won at Texas 16 months ago, but I'm not at the game, nor am I at a party. I just inhaled some pasta, I've got some beers here and I'm amped to watch this shite.

And for some reason, Chris Weinke and Danny Wuerffel escorted fellow former Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett to midfield for the incredibly weak pregame coin toss. This happened at 8:20 p.m. ET. More to follow:

8:26 p.m. -- Ohio State's Chris Wells bolts 65 yards for a touchdown on the game's fourth play from scrimmage. I don't want to get too excited about an early big play, because we remember what happened last year after Ted Ginn returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but I will say this: The Bucks did not lack speed on that play. Nor did any of them break an ankle during end-zone celebrations.

8:30 p.m. -- Not surprisingly, John Boel calls from a viewing party in Louisville, where the fellas estimated I'd be at BAC .12 by now, but they're all impressed when I tell them I've just finished dinner and haven't even cracked open my first Budweiser just yet. Then LSU puts the finishing touches on an unimpressive three-and-out and punts it back to the Buckeyes.

8:31 p.m. -- Cracked open my first Budweiser.

8:37 p.m. -- A huge pass from Todd Boeckman to Brandon Saine puts OSU in the red zone.

8:45 p.m. -- LSU has the ball and it's 3rd and 6. FOX play-by-play guy Thom Brennaman says, "Third and sex." Hee hee.

8:50 p.m. - 9 p.m. -- Sent out annoying text to friends letting them know about this weak liveblog.

9:13 p.m. -- Still sending out these annoying text messages. Sorry peoples! And in the meantime, LSU has tied the game 10-10 in the second quarter.

9:16 p.m. -- Wells delivers a stiff-arm that would make Peter North proud. First down, Buckeyes!

9:17 p.m. -- Boeckman passes to Brian Robiskie for another OSU first down.

9:27 p.m. -- LSU seems to have settled down and is playing well. The Tigers are moving the ball well after blocking an Ohio State field goal attempt a few minutes earlier.

9:30 p.m. -- LSU goes up, 17-10, and is fully in control of this game. A 10-yard touchdown pass from Matt Flynn to Brandon LaFell puts the Tigers in front.

9:32 p.m. -- I went to the fridge to pick up beer No. 2 and, even though I put on about 10 holiday pounds and I look like Valerie Bertinelli did a year ago, I returned with the beer, and some chips and salsa. Despite my gigantic new gut, I can't guarantee that the ice cream will go untouched later either.

9:52 p.m. -- I've lost a lot of interest in this dumb-ass blog. LSU is up, 24-10, at halftime. And Thom Brennaman is OK for a national-title game. He's done plenty of big MLB and NFL postseason games, but should Charles Davis really be the analyst?

10:02 p.m. -- Could intermission promotions be any more queer? It's so uncomfortable watching Chris Myers -- what happened to him, btw? -- try to get the crowd into a field-goal competition between former OSU and LSU kickers. And after Josh Houston won it for Ohio State, Myers put his microphone in front of him without asking any questions, producing a very awkward "Um, thanks a lot. That was fun."

10:22 p.m. -- LSU looks solid on its first two plays of the second half, unfortunately. I love the 30-minute halftimes.

10:28 p.m. -- Beer No. 3. I am so fat.

10:34 p.m. -- Consecutive personal fouls against OSU turn what should have been a change of possession to another trip to the red zone for LSU. This sucks.

10:37 p.m. -- Three different Buckeyes couldn't bring down a 210-pound LSU wideout, and the score is now 31-10. Now Googling images of Valerie Bertinelli.

10:46 p.m. -- There's seriously nothing to blog about, especially since I'm fielding all kinds of text messages from trash-talking friends. I called out a friend who went to Ohio University, a notorious party school, for being anti-Ohio State. I enjoyed his reply: "Not at all. I went to OU for the weed, not the football."

10:50 p.m. -- Malcolm Jenkins, who's been beaten for at least one of LSU's touchdowns tonight, returns an interception to the LSU 11-yard line. And on 3rd and 1 from the 2 a minute later, Chris Wells is knocked backward for a three-yard loss. I agree with Tressel's call to go for it on 4th down, and it pays off as Boeckman finds Robiskie in the end zone to make the score 31-17 late in the third quarter. Sportswriting is easy when you're in your living room.

11:02 p.m. -- I held my hand up in the air with my fingers pointing skyward, and my thumb tucked underneath. I'm not indicating which quarter is beginning, but I'm letting the fridge know I'm coming for beer No. 4. Sincerely, Rich Decker.

11:03 p.m. -- I vow to begin my New Year's situps tomorrow, or sometime thereafter.

11:23 p.m. -- Is it 9:30 already?

11:29 p.m. -- There's 5:50 left in the fourth quarter, but I think Ohio State thinks it's the third quarter. That's the only explanation I can think of when I see the Buckeyes, trailing by two touchdowns, taking their sweet-ass time.

11:58 p.m. -- If they ever make a movie about Les Miles, I think Kurt Russell has the lead role locked up. Goodnight now.

The Need For Speed

Let me tell you a little bit about speed as it pertains to college football.

Speed changed the game of football about 15-20 years ago. Smashmouth style was the norm for decades, but then Bill Walsh perfected the west coast offense in the early 1980s. Once the popularity spread, all those speedy athletes growing up in Florida suddenly had NFL futures.

But first they had to play in college, so Florida, Florida State and especially Miami grabbed them up by the dozen. And once schools outside the Sunshine State took note of the need for speed, NCAA football became a track meet.

Ohio State's John Cooper was probably the first Big Ten coach to bring in "athletes," those not necessarily dedicated to one position or another. They ended up playing skill positions for sure, often wideout or cornerback, and they usually returned kicks. He's known more for his awful record against Michigan and in bowl games, but Cooper doesn't get the credit he deserves for being a good recruiter, for helping bring speed to the Big Ten.

And Jim Tressel picked up right where Coop left off, as far as recruiting players with game-breaking wheels.

But let's not forget that speed is rooted in the south more than any other area. Sure Texas and California have plenty of it, but as far as an entire region, the south is where it is, and the SEC is Exhibit A.

Everybody wants to talk about how Florida's speed is what killed Ohio State in last year's national championship game. This is actually not true. Florida's team is what dominated the Buckeyes. Sure I'm a diehard OSU fan, but I have no problem admitting where the fellas might be weak. If you want to talk about a decisive edge in speed that resulted in an embarrassing Buckeye loss, we can talk about Florida State's dismantling of Ohio State in a Sugar Bowl 10 or 12 years ago. Cooper and the boys had no answer for Peter Boulware and company. Few did in the 1990s, and you can thank speed above all else for that.

Last year, OSU was slower, sure, but the Buckeyes simply played bad football. Missed assignments, ill-timed turnovers and other mistakes gave Florida several scoring drives on short fields. Certainly the Gators had a lot to do with OSU playing poorly. They were far hungrier, partly a result of hearing for six weeks how inferior they were to the favored Buckeyes. This time around, OSU has heard for a month how it will be overmatched, and for a year how it was slow and weak and undeserving.

But nowadays in the sport, the playing field is much more level. Just ask Michigan, or Appalachian State. Or plenty of other teams this year who were involved in any of the many upsets. Recent scholarship limitations haven't only made it possible for middle-of-the-pack squads to pick up higher-quality players they weren't getting five years ago, but by so doing, they're also taking away a blue-chipper from one of those Florida schools, for example. Just look at Louisville since 2000. Lots of Sunshine kids are leaving burn marks on the Cardinal Stadium turf in recent years.

So for a month now, the common wisdom has been that speedy LSU will run circles around Ohio State's cornfeds. Not so fast. If LSU wins, it will be because its Glenn Dorsey-led defense will have rattled OSU quarterback Todd Boeckman into making mistakes. If the Tigers can't pressure Boeckman, he'll have a nice night finding guys like Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline. And if they're doing that, that means running back Chris Wells is probably chewing up nice gains on the ground as well.

So while Boeckman might be OSU's X factor, its defense has no X factor. The Buckeyes have future NFL stars on each layer. End Vernon Gholston and linebacker James Laurinaitis are studs, and cornerback Malcolm Jenkins is among the finest cover guys in the country. The Bucks didn't give up too many big plays this year, but even if they give up two, maybe three, tonight -- which is possible because the Superdome's turf track will reveal a slight edge in speed for LSU -- I still think Ohio State has enough firepower to get its score into the middle 20s. And if that happens, then the Bucks will silence those with the gigantic SEC boner and hoist another national championship trophy.

And finally, here's a video clip we shot at work a month ago when the BCS bowl pairings were announced:



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Fallout: OSU-Michigan

Let the fallout begin, first with the resignation of Michigan coach Lloyd Carr.

As a fan of college football, it's a sad day, as Carr was known around the community as a player's coach, a Michigan man, a guy who didn't necessarily care about an occasional rift with a reporter here or there. He always had his players' backs, and ran for the most part a clean program that earned him a national championship 10 years ago.

But since that championship, Carr picked up an illness known as John Cooper Syndrome. Nice guy, good recruiter, wins lots of games. But those that matter most -- the season-ender against a bitter rival and a subsequent bowl game a month later -- have been unfriendly to Carr in recent years. Once Jim Tressel replaced Cooper at Ohio State, Carr fared poorly against the Buckeyes. He lost his first two, then won once in Ann Arbor with a far superior team in 2003, then dropped his last four to the Buckeyes. And the Wolverines have lost their last three bowl games under Carr.

But as a fan of Ohio State, it's an even sadder day, for the reasons mentioned above. Those in the Columbus camp rooted for a Carr contract extension. In a rivalry as big as this one, it became psychological. Michigan doesn't have weak recruiting classes. The maize-and-blue is always loaded with talent. For some reason, however, the Wolverines couldn't come up big in big games under Carr. Handing Penn State its only loss in 2005 is about the only big win in recent years I can think of off the top of my head.

OK, onto Friday . . . the group was quite busy on the emails. Nervousness and excitement ruled the day. Lots of folks sent the usual jpegs of the anti-Michigan pictures (the 3rd-grade class picture with the Michigan kid sitting by himself, the picture of Osama bin Laden wearing a Michigan sweatshirt, etc.).

No one was doing any work that day. My boy Bruce put it best when he said Friday that he "spent more time dressing for work than actually working."

And from Abby, who works in a hospital: "I'm not even listening to what my patients are saying today. I'm just focusing on the game!"

Now, onto Saturday. It began with 10 friends in the crib at about 10 a.m. I've never been a fan of Bloody Marys, but others like them, and my apartment is close to the bar where we watch the Bucks. So my place it was. And of course Erin brought a very cool bootleg DVD of Jack Nicklaus dotting the I in the Minnesota game last year. And I didn't need to fret too much about having misplaced my OSU Marching Band CD, as Steve had all the staples on his iPod, which he plugged into my stereo.

The surprise of the day came when homeboy Bruce produced a nifty little bookmark for both Steve and I. On first glance, just a little ticket. Take a second look, though, and you'll find it's an unused Appalachian State-Michigan ticket from that enormous upset on the season's first weekend. Very cool move, Bruce.

So the noon hour approached, and most of us walked the cold, eight blocks with open containers on busy Upper East Side streets to Blondie's. Steve is well known at the bar, and his standing table of six was accommodated. It amazed me though, how about 15 of us walked in at different times and told the same manager checking names at the door, "We're with Steve's table."

I got shut out of my usual seat, but that was OK, because I just bellied up with Carly and Monica, two lovely friends in our group. The game was actually pretty boring, but the atmosphere was far from it.

And thank goodness for digital cameras and cell phone outgoing/incoming call logs, because I was able the next day to somewhat piece together what happened to everybody after about 5 or 6.

Saturday's victory was especially outstanding because 2008 is a leap year, allowing OSU fans one extra day of gloating before the next meeting.

Our boy Wall writes in to say he "will now be refering to the big game as the most tradition rich game in all of sports. it is no longer the greatest rivalry since michigan sucks so bad they can't compete with the bucks." Good point.

And just for a stroll down memory lane, here's my PAE entry last year after OSU beat Michigan in Columbus, 42-39:

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I've got a camera bag on one shoulder, a camera on the other shoulder and another camera with a heavy-as-hell 500mm lens mounted to a monopod in one hand, so the video taken by my small-time Canon PowerShot G5 in the other hand isn't great, but here are two clips from the moments after Ohio State beat Michigan.





I heard Jerry Bruckheimer is looking for a director of cinematography for his next $250 million movie. Do you think I should drop him a resume?

Ohio State

Ohio State's NYC alums recently sent out a note suggesting the Upper East Side's official game watching gatherings would be moved to the weak Times Square area.

So Steve and I began the effort a week or two ago to try to find another establishment in the neighborhood that would like to call itself an Ohio State bar on autumn Saturdays.

OK, I said I'd help, but Steve actually took some action. And last night, we ended up at The Back Page. Steve is Mr. PR. I was his muscle in case things got dicey.

But there was no need for my usual tough-guy abilities. Rich assured us he'd be more than happy to host our group. He and Steve spoke on the phone on Monday, and our visit Wednesday night seemed very positive.

"I already ordered an Ohio State banner," Rich told us, saying he felt pretty good after Monday's conversation with Steve that he thought he'd get the ball rolling quickly.

So if you're in New York and you like the Bucks, come on over to The Back Page on gamedays. Just look for Steve in the silver pants. I'll again be the muscle.

The Ohio State University

In a time of national crisis when security is at an all-time high, I have a recommendation, on behalf of all Buckeyes football fans, for the Ohio State athletic department: Keep doing what you're doing.

Several years ago, friends Matt and Al slid down to the turf of Ohio Stadium moments after an OSU-Michigan game, then joined some of the players -- complete strangers -- in the walk toward the locker room. After Al feasted on the post-game spread and Matt snuck punter B.J. Sander's jersey into his coat, the pair joined hands with still-dressed Buckeyes players in a postgame prayer.

And nine months ago, I snuck into the media reception room in Times Square's Hard Rock Cafe minutes after Troy Smith won the Heisman Trophy.

The latest security breach took place last week, when ad tycoon and good friend Steve Susi slithered into the Big 10 preseason media luncheon at just the right time: As Jim Tressel was addressing the crowd of nearly 1,000. Here's a description from Steve:

Last week I came back from Rio de Janeiro and went straight to Chicago for meetings at our office there, which is connected to the Hyatt Regency downtown, the site of the Big 10's annual Media Luncheon.

I got wind of it going on, ran downstairs, and snuck in just in time to watch the last three speakers (yeah, they went on in alphabetical order): Paterno, Tiller and The Tress.

Attached is a super high-quality camera phone movie (Ed note: sarcasm is suspected here) I took of The Vest talking about the excellence of football in the state of Ohio. Listen closely and you'll hear him bring up Miami.

P.S. -- It's a long story, but last month I was informed by ESPN that I'd won the grand prize in the ESPN Ultimate Rio Sweepstakes that I entered online, which sent me and a guest (Anthony) to a deluxe, five-star-everything week in Rio for the Pan Am Games. Absolutely incredible. If not the best ever, then definitely one of the top three weeks I've ever experienced. It happened so fast that I didn't really get a chance to tell anyone about it.

And since we're showing video clips today, why not enjoy this one sent in by PAE correspondent Lee Gerowitz?