[PGalt]

Great game.

[John D]

You beat me

[DWar]

The Greatest National Champiionship Game EVER !!!

[chance33_98]

GO BUCKS!!!! WOOOOHOOOOOO!

[Physicist]

Two overtimes.

Miami got hosed. No way was that pass interference in the first overtime. The game should have ended there. It was an Al Gore recount.

Ah, well. Go Hokies, next season.

[Clemenza]

WOO HOO!!! Convict U, another Flori-duh "University" GOES DOWN BABY! THANKS BUCKEYES! --- Clemenza in Brooklyn, who follows NO college football teams but HATES the Canes!

[rdb3]

THE Ohio State Buckeyes

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

[hellinahandcart]

You have to admit, I picked a winner. ;D

[John Lenin]

OSU National Champs Yahoo !!

[RCW2001]

Only two occasions that I will cheer on Ohio State. When they are playing Michigan and in a bowl game (except in the unlikely event that they are playing Michigan State)...

Great game !!!

[InvisibleChurch]

will there be a columbus, ohio in the morning?

[Pukka Puck]

Bad call in the end zone gave them the game.

[Enough is ENOUGH]

Ohio State got screwed toward the end of the game when a Miami player pulled on a guy's shirt and the ref didn't call a penalty. Can't remember I think it would have given them a first down and Miami may not have gotten the ball back to make a field goal. Glad the Buckeyes prevailed in spite of the blown call by the ref.

[July 4th]

Nice to see the Big Ten do some real damage this year. Good work, 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.

[anncoulteriscool]

YAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

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

[chimera]

Geez, there sure is a lot of sore-loser whining on this thread. C'mon, guys, get over it. Its a game, you know. Miami won last year, and this year they didn't. Either way, its no big deal. Nobody died, and the world will keep turning and the sun will come up in the morning.

That said, let me say that as a loyal OSU alum I have followed the team all year and, week in and week out, the Bucks just did what they had to this year to win games. That's what champions do. They find a way to win. It doesn't matter by how much or if they win ugly or win pretty.

So let the kids celebrate for a little while. Let them have their moment. They don't come very often and they never last, but you're only young once and championships are a relatively rare commodity.

[MoJo2001]

I'm so excited!! I must say that the same people complaining about OHIO STATE were the ones that said OSU shouldn't even be on the field and would get skunked. Ohio State won the game. Congratulations to all long suffering Buckeye Fans!! Woody is smiling!

[Cap'n Crunch]

YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

Gee, wasn't it obvious that everyone wanted Miami to win? I'm surprised they didn't have Brent Musburger in their with Fouts. Or Costas and Joe Morgan.

As far as penalties, I was wondering why the refs didn't throw any flags on Miami for all the holding they were doing. It's hard to sack the QB when you have to run with an offensive lineman on your back.

Bad calls went both ways. As far as the interference call in the endzone in the OT, they only showed the angle from the endzone, which didn't look like much. When they showed it from the field view the Miami player was all over the OSU reciever.

Even when we win we get no respect.

But the only thing that matters now is the final score!

GO BUCKS! NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

[Nuke'm Glowing]

JFFC. CONGRATS. Damn if this one does not hurt more than any than any other. Enjoy the trophy, we would....Cane nation signing off.....