Ohio State-Alabama BCS Showdown? Could State Go 0-10 in Bowls with SEC?

On Jan. 7, 2008, two unlikely teams took the field in the Louisiana Superdome to battle it out for the BCS Championship.

For weeks it looked like matchup would have been Missouri and West Virginia but in the last week of the season, Missouri was upset in the Big 12 Championship Game by Oklahoma and West Virginia was shocked with a loss to Pittsburgh.

Suddenly the college football world was thrown into chaos. After much speculation the BCS decided on a one-loss Ohio State team and a two-loss SEC Champion LSU. Ohio State had earlier stumbled against Illinois after dominating the rest of their schedule and LSU came to the game with overtime losses to Kentucky and Arkansas and some close calls to a bunch of other SEC teams.

Ohio State fans and press were thoroughly insulted to be rated by Las Vegas as a four-point underdog to a two-loss team that struggled for other wins during the season. Many thought this was the year that Ohio State could break the "SEC Curse" going back eight games in different bowls.

Since 2000 and throughout the Jim Tressell era, Ohio State was winless in bowl games against the SEC including several embarrassing blowout losses to teams like South Carolina (which has actually beaten them twice in recent bowl games) and Florida who literally stomped so badly that they they have been thought of as an over-hyped bowl team every time they play an SEC team.

This game was not only going to win the Buckeyes the National Championship, but win back the respect they felt had lost on the national stage and early on it certainly looked like that would be the case as they jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead.

However, what came next was 24 unanswered points before half time and another national embarrassment at the hands of yet another SEC team. The final score of 38-24 was in no way was that close, as Ohio State got a late game meaningless touchdown against LSU's third string.

With all the experts pointing toward an Ohio State team that could be easily be in the BCS Championship Game yet again this year, the likely opponent at this point would be Alabama. If not Alabama, then the SEC Champion.

Can Ohio State deal with the anticipated jokes and talk if in fact that game transpires, or will they go 0-10 against the SEC in bowl games and worse, be embarrassed again?

The Big Ten is sub .500 in BCS Bowl games overall while the SEC sports the league's best mark at almost .750. But that is only history and has nothing to do with either team that will take the field this year.

Such talk is dangerous not only for Ohio State, but for Alabama as well. It would be far too easy for the Crimson Tide or any SEC team to get caught up in such talk and expect an easy win.

It's far too early to say how this game would play out and even if it will play out at all. But Ohio State's history against the SEC will certainly be fodder for the press and media as the season goes on and such a matchup begins to shape up and it could be equally dangerous to both teams.