Chaos in Columbus: What Ever Happened to Buckeye Football?

The Ohio State Buckeye's 2011 Season will be different, to say the least.

Jim Tressel, the beloved, sweater vest-wearing head coach who led the team to its first National Championship in over three decades, will no longer be on the sidelines.

For the first time in three years, Terrelle Pryor won't be taking snaps as the Scarlet and Grey's QB; Pryor will be gone before the season begins thanks to the notorious scandal that has made him a pariah to fans.

Alas, things have been unstable in Columbus for a while, even before those fateful exchanges in a Columbus tattoo parlor.

Since winning the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, OSU's on-field performance has been unsatisfying, regardless of what the win/loss records show.

The past few years seem to follow a copy-and-paste formula: the Buckeyes begin on a tear, fans and critics start putting them in the National Title picture, the team suffers a heartbreaking loss, and eventually settles for a lesser bowl game.

It's tolerable for most teams, but unacceptable for one of college football's most storied dynasties.

Everyone knows the apex of the mediocrity.

In 2006, we were promised it was going to be a banner year for the Buckeyes. Ranked #1 from wire-to-wire and powered by an offense spearheaded by eventual Heisman winner Troy Smith, blink-and-you'll-miss-him WR Ted Ginn, and workhorse Running Back Antonio Pittman, the Buckeyes steamrolled through the season. One highlight was a pulse-pounding win over arch-nemesis Michigan, a game cited as one of the greatest in history.

The Florida Gators won the right to face this unstoppable force, and OSU fans expected a blowout.

Pfft, just hand us the title.

What started off as promising as as it gets (with a 96-yard opening kickoff return for a touchdown by Ted Ginn) soon evaporated into a nightmare. For the remaining duration of the game, OSU found themselves being manhandled by a bigger, stronger, and faster Gator squad. After a Pittman TD closed the gap to seven, the Buckeyes never inched any closer. Florida ran away with a 34-14 victory. Most fans had given up long before the finish.

The next year, OSU found itself in the title game again. The Buckeyes prepared for LSU with redemption on their minds.

In an almost terrifying replica of the prior year's embarrassment, OSU started off with a solid 14-3 lead before the end of the 1st quarter. The Tigers responded with 31 unanswered points and an eventual 38-24 win.

Ohio State hasn't sniffed a National Championship game since, and probably won't for a while.

In fact, it's unlikely many people will pay much attention to what goes on the field. Instead, the lingering side effects of one of the darkest scandals in College Football history will dominate the headlines. It's a plague that might cost OSU its only title in the last generation.

Will the team respond with a surprise season, or will the disappointments continue?