BCS National Championship: Post-Mortem

I’ve had a few hours to digest what played out during the National Championship game and I’m still not quite sure what I saw. A beating for sure. And not just a regular beating. Florida was the Kobra Kai dojo and Ohio State was Ralph Macchio. Except in this version of the movie, Ohio State didn’t know how to do the one-legged crane kick. They just bounced up and down on one leg. Then Johnny sweeps the leg, kicks Daniel in the “the valley”, steels his lunch money, and slashes the tires on all of Mr. Miyagi’s cars.

I don’t know how many people caught this, but the Ohio State marching band played music from the movie “Titanic” during their halftime show. Wait, it gets even more ironic. At the conclusion of their show, the band (in the shape of a ship) slowly moves toward the sideline and moves under the cover of giant blue tarps, intended to represent the ship sinking into the ocean. I can honestly say I’ve never seen a football game during which the band visually depicts the outcome of the game during the halftime show. The only thing that could have been more prophetic is if there was a blue (and orange) iceberg depicted somewhere on the field. Seriously, assuming the Band Director caught any part of the first half, he should have pulled the band together, scrapped the show and just played the fight song 10 times or so. Or, they could have played three notes and left the field, just like the Ohio State offense did for most of the game.

Saying that Ohio State couldn’t get anything going on offense would be a disservice to Florida’s defense. Ohio State was completely inept. And Florida was absolutely brilliant. The Heisman Trophy winner was running for his life most of the game. Ohio State probably would have been better off running the ball every down. Based on the offensive performance by Ohio State after Ted Ginn left with an injury (1st play from offensive scrimmage), Ted Ginn should have been the team MVP. Ohio State was abysmal without him.

All season long analysts pointed out how teams had trouble dealing with Ohio State’s 2nd, 3rd, & 4th receivers because of their focus on Ginn. Ted Ginn’s injury completely inverted the mathematics of the matchups and threw Ohio State’s gameplan seemingly out the window. Except, for some reason it didn’t seem like Ohio State made any adjustments; or couldn’t.

On defense, Ohio State couldn’t get any degree of pressure on Chris Leak. The secondary looked completely lost at times, confused at others. Florida’s offensive gameplan was a brilliant compilation of unbalanced sets, misdirection, and constantly shifting personnel. My favorite was the 3-back diagonal set where they used Leak, Tebow, Harvin, and Wynn in dizzying combinations. The Gators clearly worked short timing as the focal point in the passing game. Most passes were screens or flares and when nothing was there, Leak simply launched the ball out of bounds. Troy Smith wished he had enough time to throw the ball out of bounds.

It seemed as if everything that could go right for Florida did. Chris Leak was poised and accurate, directing the offense with assassin-like effectiveness. All of the receivers did their part getting open (across the middle). The defense was smothering. Even their much-maligned kicker was possessed with the spirit of Lou Groza as he nailed two 40+ yard field goals. It looked like he could hit ten in a row from the 50-yard line while holding a soft pretzel in one hand and a beer stein in the other.

All of this should leave college football fans wondering “What the hell just happened?” Three of the BCS bowls were complete blowouts when you consider the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. After a dramatic regular season, I feel cheap and cheated after what the bowl games delivered. Based on how Florida played last night, I don’t know if USC, Boise State, or LSU could beat them, but I’d sure like to see them try.