Open-Mic: 2007 BCS National Championship Game—Disappointment in the Desert

Buckeye Nation (yours truly included) believed our beloved team to be unstoppable in 2006. We had a quarterback who’d eventually win the Heisman, a star receiver in Ted Ginn Jr., a star back in Antonio Pittman and began the season ranked first in most football polls, a ranking that would continue throughout the season. We were certain we would go wire-to-wire in the polls.

Our final mission was to play our third second-ranked team of the season. After steamrolling past Texas earlier, and a nail-biter against That School Up North in the Horseshoe on a cold November night, we were certain the Florida Gators would be a cakewalk compared to TSUN. Needless to say, there were many happy fans in Buckeye Nation when we learned we wouldn’t have to prove ourselves at TSUN’s expense for the second time that season.

If only we knew the disaster our hubris would bring us that brisk January night in Glendale Arizona.

Since that double-overtime upset over the Miami Hurricanes, Ohio State reigned supreme in The Valley of the Sun, dismantling Kansas State in 2004 and Notre Dame in 2006. The 2006 Buckeyes emerged from the regular season victorious, winning the Big Ten Championship outright and had a final opportunity to prove themselves once and for all with a potential victory over the Gators in what was  predominantly a hometown crowd.

So what went wrong?

The 2007 BCS National Championship Game started well for the Buckeyes when Ginn scored a touchdown off a 93-yard kickoff return only sixteen seconds into the game to put Ohio State up 7-0.

Then the unthinkable happened: Ginn limped off the field with an injury that cost him the opportunity to play in the rest of the game. The Gators fought back on a 46-yard drive that led to a 14-yard touchdown pass from Chris Leak to Dallas Baker to tie the score.

Ohio State’s offense was unable to break through the Gators’ defensive line, and Florida retaliated with another touchdown on a four-yard run by Percy Harvin giving the Gators a 14-7 lead.

Following another ineffective offensive drive by the Buckeyes, Florida moved the ball 71 yards on 10 plays, enabling DeShawn Wynn to score another touchdown for the Gators early in the second quarter.

Antonio Pittman closed the gap with an 18-yard touchdown run to bring the score to 21-14 Florida. The Gators punted, and the Buckeyes gambled on a play that would cost them the championship when Beanie Wells was unable to move the ball on a fourth-and-one at the Buckeyes’ own 29-yard line.

Gators’ kicker Chad Hetland scored another field goal to put Florida up 27-14. Another blown scoring opportunity for the Buckeyes occurred when Smith fumbled the ball after getting hit by Gators lineman Jarvis Moss. 

Florida recovered the ball on Ohio State’s five-yard line and scored another touchdown on a one-yard pass from Tim Tebow to Andre Caldwell. The Gators went into halftime leading the Buckeyes 34-14.

Tebow scored the last touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter, after the Gators successfully stalled the Buckeyes offense in the third to bring the score to 41-14.

When the massacre was finally over, Buckeye fans everywhere realized that the Gators were a true force to be reckoned with, holding Ohio State’s usually explosive offense to only 82 total yards. Smith would only have four complete passes for a total of 35 yards and one interception. Ohio State had possession of the ball for just 19 minutes.

In retrospect, there were too many factors working against Ohio State. It seems the Buckeyes were too complacent and lackadaisical when it came to practice.  The team had 51 days off between the Michigan game and the BCS National Championship Game. In that time, Troy Smith won the Heisman Trophy and would miss valuable training and practice time as he made appearances at black tie galas and other events celebrating his accomplishment.

The Buckeyes arrived in Phoenix ten days before the game, and rumor had it that most of that time was spent partying, partially helped by their familiarity with the city and its popular nightlife hangouts.

Since that game, the Buckeyes—and the rest of the Big Ten Conference—have paid for their embarrassment dearly. Ohio State looked antiquated compared to Florida’s speed and coverage.

It was obvious the style of play Woody Hayes initiated that had long been dear to the Buckeyes (“three yards and a cloud of dust”) was no match for Florida’s (much less the rest of the SEC’s) spread offense, and were even less prepared to get past the Gators’ defensive line when they had possession of the ball.

The 2007 BCS National Championship Game has haunted me as a Buckeye fan the past year-and-a-half and was only made worse by Ohio State’s loss to LSU in the 2008 BCS championship game. I can’t stress enough how awful my favorite team looked on the field that night in Arizona. We clearly had no business sharing the field with a far superior team from Gainesville.

Shortly after the second half began, realizing that the Buckeyes couldn’t get past the Gators, I started drowning my sorrows in a 12-pack of Rolling Rock. I’d received several calls from friends of mine that night, many of which had little-to-no knowledge of football, to express sympathy (some did so while trying to stifle laughter) over the fact that my favorite team was getting their ass kicked.

The Buckeyes blew the opportunity of a lifetime to put themselves among the elite of college football that night, after so much triumph during the regular season.

On a side note, I was living in California at the time, and I was determined not to miss what I was certain would be a Buckeye victory. I’d missed an opportunity to attend the 2003 Fiesta Bowl because of school, something that I regret to this day, and I wasn’t going to miss out again at the chance to celebrate with the rest of Buckeye Nation. I took two vacation days and stayed with my parents in Phoenix, only to watch disaster unfold.

I’ll never forget waiting in the airport the next day for my flight back to California. Sky Harbor Airport was packed with disappointed Buckeye fans waiting to go home, and there was an eerie silence in the terminal, as most everyone there wore scarlet and gray jerseys, hats, t-shirts and buckeye necklaces.

I was nursing a hangover, and there was a small group of people decked out in Gators gear sitting at the airport bar, loudly celebrating their victory the previous night. 

Upon hearing their celebration, myself and several other Buckeye fans waiting to board our plane looked at each other and nodded with the sad acknowledgement that we’d been thoroughly humiliated the night before.

Since I’d blocked out most of the 2007 BCS National Championship Game and needed something to refresh my memory to write this article, I was forced to relive the pain as I referenced the Wikipedia entry on that game, which can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_BCS_National_Championship_Game