Buckeyes would be a near-lock for national championship game bid with a 12-0 regular season. Saturday's game is the first big test in trying to duplicate 2002 season title run that was capped by epic win over Miami.
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes begin to celebrate their 31-24, double-overtime win over Miami in the national championship game on Jan. 3, 2003.Cleveland, Ohio -- Most NFL Super Bowl champions lose three or four games during a season.
In the long, virtual game-a-day baseball season, seldom does the eventual World Series champion lose fewer than 60 games or so.
The analogies may be a stretch, but the point is, the college football season is quite unforgiving as to who even gets to play for the national championship.
Ohio State, the nation's second-ranked team, hosts No. 12 Miami (Fla.) in Ohio Stadium on Saturday. Both teams are 1-0. The last time the teams played, both were undefeated going into the game -- the 2002 season national title game -- the Fiesta Bowl classic won by Ohio State, 31-24, in two overtimes.
The Buckeyes have legitimate national championship hopes again. It's no certainty that it will take a 12-0 regular season to play for the grand prize, but for Ohio State, that record would all but assure the opportunity.
Jason Lloyd writes for the Akron Beacon Journal that center Mike Brewster and the Buckeyes realize a loss to the Hurricanes would dim OSU's national title hopes:
(T)he players understand one slip — even this early — could ruin everything. The Big Ten's still-anemic perception nationally means there is little margin for error if Ohio State is going to play for the national championship in January.
''We know this is championship week,'' Brewster said. ''If we lose one game, they're not going to let us in. We have to be perfect.''
That makes the clash Saturday with the Hurricanes even more crucial.
Jim Tressel loves scheduling a nonconference powerhouse every season, but he has misplaced the formula for slaying the giants. Since 2005, the Buckeyes have faced four highly ranked teams in September. They've lost three of the four.
Plain Dealer Ohio State coverage includes beat writer Doug Lesmerises' story on center Mike Brewster and the offensive line; Bill Livingston's column, speculating on how Boise State would fare in the Big Ten or SEC.
Pryor report card
As in any game, the quarterbacks will be key to the outcome. Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor is considered a leading Heisman Trophy candidate, while Miami's Jacory Harris is a dangerous playmaker.
Pryor completed 17 of 25 passes for 247 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in the Buckeyes' season-opening rout of Marshall last Thursday. John Kampf writes for the News Herald and Lorain Morning Journal how difficult it is for a quarterback to be a "winner" in Ohio State's grading system:
No criteria has been explained or distributed on just what constitutes a "winning performance," but Coach Jim Tressel pointed the finger in the direction of quarterbacks coach Nick Siciliano — who apparently, by his grading scale, would be the teacher kids feared most had he gone into the field of education.
"Coach Siciliano is a harder grader than I was," Tressel said. "In fact, you'll have to ask Coach this, but I think it was (Pryor's) best grade he's had since he's been here, which means he did a lot of little things. Because that's where you lose points (in grading), some of those things that no one sees but we need to.
"He graded solid."
Tressel said former OSU quarterback Craig Krenzel graded out with a winning performance only once — and he was under center for the undefeated 2002 national championship team.
Real winners
Tom Archdeacon of the Dayton Daily News writes about some of the OSU-Miami pre-game hype, and -- playing off a quote from Buckeyes cornerback Chimdi Chekwa -- not-so-subtly disses a former Cleveland athlete:
And then there’s James, who fled the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat this summer in a move that left raw feelings in his home state. Last week on a twitter post, he said he was interested in coming to Columbus and that “O-State will prevail for sure.”
“I have no idea about that,” Chekwa shrugged. “I don’t follow LeBron’s twitters.”
This team is interested in aligning itself with the Bucks of eight years ago — players who actually have won a title.
Watched history
Ohio State's national championship game win over Miami eight years ago is considered one of the greatest games ever, and also an upset, as Miami went into the contest as the defending champion and on a 34-game winning streak.
The players on today's Buckeyes and Hurricanes' rosters were 10 to 15 years old, but many of them have been asked this week about their memories of the Jan. x, 2003 game.
Adam Rittenberg writes for ESPN.com, quoting Ohio State wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher, and referring to a controversial penalty call that went OSU's way:
"I was in seventh grade," said Sanzenbacher, now a senior wide receiver for Ohio State. "I was over at my friend's house, watching with his family."
Sanzenbacher watched in his hometown of Toledo. About 200 miles away in Cincinnati, Tyler Moeller also tuned in for Buckeyes-Hurricanes.
"A couple of us got together and hung out to watch it," said Moeller, now a senior safety/linebacker for the Buckeyes. "I wasn't really too big of an Ohio State fan, so I was kind of neutral on the whole thing. But it was an exciting game to watch.
"We always see clips of it, like the pass-interference play."
Sideline to sideline
Miami will learn more about how good it really is when it plays the Buckeyes, writes Heather Dinich for ESPN.com.
Where Terrelle Pryor stands in Cory McCartney's Heisman Watch for Sports Illustrated's SI.com.
Ken Gordon of the Columbus Dispatch writes about some Buckeyes and Hurricanes' memories of the 2002 season national title game.
OSU's Terrelle Pryor is a mobile quarterback, the kind that has given Miami problems, writes Manny Navarro for the Miami Herald.
The approach Miami coach Randy Shannon is taking to Saturday's game, by Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch.
Mark Podolski of the News Herald writes about Ken Dorsey, the quarterback for Miami (and later a Cleveland Brown) in the 2002 national title game.
John Kampf writes for the News Herald that OSU coach Jim Tressel can't dodge questions about the game of nearly eight years ago.