3rd Times a Charm

Another college football season begins and, again this year, there are many questions surrounding each team. Can Georgia fight through the suspensions and live up to expectations? Can Tim Tebow match Archie Griffin and become the second player ever to win two Heisman trophies? Can USC settle on a quarterback and be crowned King of the Pac 10 for the 7th straight year? With many new questions this year, Ohio State is still looking to answer questions from seasons past. Will their dominance over their big ten foes continue? Can they compete with the speed of the SEC? Will the voters even give OSU a shot at a third straight National Championship? Again this season, to the dismay of most college football fans, Ohio State is in the hunt for the National Championship. Last year the buckeyes were a bit of a surprise having had to replace so many stars on offense and defense. The Heisman Trophy Winner, Troy Smith, and the likes of Ted Ginn and Anthony Gonzales all found themselves selected in the NFL draft. The Buckeyes sent 8 draft picks to the NFL and many fans, including me, thought the Buckeyes would finish the 2007 season with two losses. It was exhilarating to see a team with just 11 returning starters excel a year earlier than expected. But all alliteration aside, it was troubling. With the success came some confusion. Questions arose and the chance that James Laurinaitis, Malcolm Jenkins, Alex Boone, Vernon Gholston and Brian Robiskie could all leave early for the draft. Gholston could not pass up the chance to be a Top 10 draft pick, but to the delight of all Buckeye fans everyone else returned. This Ohio State team returns an astounding 19 starters and, two National Championship games later, loads of experience. An undefeated march through the Big 10 and a record breaking third straight title are most certainty on the horizon. At just about any program, across the country, making it to the National Championship would be a success but now it’s different. The fact of the matter is that we have not returned any favor to the Big 10. In past years we received the benefit of the doubt that the Big 10 conference is a BCS conference. This year I would not expect that same sentiment to be present in the mind of the voters. This is the year for Ohio State to take a stand and to return some credibility to the conference. This offseason the Buckeyes brought home some interesting hardware; they were named the most hated team in College Football. Honestly, who can blame the voters the Buckeyes have been an embarrassment in the NC. I have tried to find a flaw in this team, something that assures me we will not make it to another National Championship game but I can not. This is one of the most talented and complete teams that have ever played under Jim Tressel and that is saying a lot. Let’s just hope they can live up to these lofty expectations. If they are the best team on the field in Southern California on Sep 13th there is nothing standing in their way of disappointing the general public once again.