Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Best Team Didn’t Play in the Rose Bowl

By Mark Barnes

In deference to Matt Leinart, Vince Young, Reggie Bush, and a host of other truly great players for both national champion, Texas, and Rose Bowl loser, USC, none of these splendid young athletes play for the NCAA's best college football team. Now, I'm sure you may be on the edge of your seat ready to hurl something at your computer screen, wishing it were my head, but before you do something crazy, check out the rationalization behind this bold statement.

Ohio State is the best team in the land. Now, it's difficult to put the word undoubtedly in front of best, because of the ongoing menace to college football, known as the BCS. If the four best teams, OSU, Texas, USC, and Penn State, could have taken part in a playoff, the Buckeyes would have prevailed and proven that they were superior.

Now, the naysayer will certainly note Ohio State's two losses, one each to Texas and Penn State, as the most obvious evidence that the Buckeyes fall short in comparison to these other three. Remember, though, OSU played the national champs in its second game of the season with a confused Troy Smith, playing in his first contest of the year, and alternating possessions with sub-par backup quarterback Justin Zwick. In spite of this shortcoming, the Buckeyes dominated much of the game, which included a dropped touchdown pass by tight end Ryan Hamby that would have all but sealed a Buckeye victory.

There is no excuse for the loss to the Nittany Lions. I would simply place an asterisk next to the game with a note that Smith had not yet evolved into the remarkable quarterback that he is now, and this is where the argument turns.

The Buckeyes' talent is indisputable. Obviously, there is only one Reggie Bush and one Vince Young. It wasn't more than the blink of an eye, though, after OSU dismantled a very good Notre Dame team in the Fiesta Bowl, that experts were already calling Ted Ginn the new Reggie Bush and Smith a Heisman hopeful. Ginn's athleticism and speed are virtually immeasurable. He is a legitimate game-breaker. His counterpart at wide receiver, Santonio Holmes, who will gallop into the NFL draft a year early, just may be the first wide receiver taken. Throw in a host of stellar backup receivers and very able tight ends, and this receiving corps is unmatched.

Since the departure of malcontent Maurice Clarrett, the OSU running game has suffered. That is, until the emergence of Antonio Pittman, who shredded Notre Dame for over 160 yards, punctuated by a scintillating 60-yard jaunt in the waning moments that capped the 33-20 win, in a game that was never really that close. Pittman is no Bush, but he gives the Buckeyes a power running game that keeps defenses, frightened to death of the vertical prowess of the OSU passing game, completely off-balance.

And then there's Smith. Can anyone argue with the freakish evolution of this young man from the first seven games of the year to the last five? Early in the year, Smith looked as though he'd never seen a football. He ran with his head down, missed open receivers, and fumbled all too often. Somehow, in a little over a month, he has become a virtuoso in cleats. His accuracy is uncanny, he escapes would-be sackers with Houdini-like acumen, and he leads like the best generals in history. Smith is not only a candidate for next year's Heisman Trophy, he may enter the season as the prohibitive favorite.

Remarkably, all of this praise has come without mentioning A.J. Hawk — an absolute Superman at linebacker, who can break the backs of the best offensive weapons on the planet. Need an answer to Leinart, Bush, and Young? Hawk has it in a unique blend of speed, agility, and open-field awareness not seen since Lawrence Taylor. Hawk is part of the fiercest linebacking corp since some of the old Steeler teams. Throw in a fast secondary, and the mastermind of head coach Jim Tressel, and you have a top-ranked defense, built to stifle even the most explosive teams.

Speaking of Tressel, he never loses the big game. He's 3-0 in Fiesta Bowls, including a 2002 championship game victory over a Miami, regarded by many as one of the best college teams ever. Including his time at Division I-AA Youngstown State, Tressel has won an astonishing five national titles

This is the recipe of a team that finished 10-2 and was playing nearly flawless football. Disregard the two losses, throw the Buckeyes into a playoff, and Texas would still be searching for its first national title.

Mark Barnes is a novelist, regular contributor to fantasy football site 4for4.com, and NFL football radio analyst. He appears weekly on ESPN radio in High Point, NC and on WBAL in Baltimore, MD, where he discusses pro football and fantasy sports. Mark's novel, "The League," is the first-ever published work of fiction with a plot based on the dangers of a multi-million-dollar fantasy football league. Learn more about "The League" and Mark's work at NFLStory.com.