Worst Moments in Big Ten Football History #4: Ohio State Loses Back-To-Back Title Games

FanHouse is counting down the ten best, ten worst, and ten weirdest moments in Big Ten football history.

Yes, here's another moment you just knew was coming.

Anything I can possibly say about how awful it is that Ohio State lost back-to-back BCS Title Games must, of course, be tempered by the mandatory statement about how unbelievably hard it is to make it to one such game, let alone making it to two in a row. Thus if we're going to hail on the Buckeyes for giving a new layer of meaning to the term "epic fail," we owe them ... well, we owe them 50% of the respect we give to the early-90s Buffalo Bills. Or the same amount of respect we give to Bob Stoops' Oklahoma Sooners, who have the same resume (one title, back-to-back title game losses).

So you can't say the Buckeyes are bad, not even if you're an SEC fan, and you can't say that Jim Tressel isn't a very good coach. You can, however, wonder what went wrong. The answer: Lots. In both 2007 and 2008, the Buckeyes were undone by a combination of bad execution (which was within their control) and an imploding hype machine (which wasn't).

There was little question that the Buckeyes belonged in the 2007 title game. They were the #1 team in the nation for the entire season thanks to a very un-Tresselish, explosive offense. People were less sure that Florida belonged in the game; many were hoping for a rematch between Ohio State and Michigan.

(Remember the 2006 OSU/Michigan game? "#1 versus #2, in one of the most storied rivalries in college football history? " You don't remember it? Tune to your local ABC station. This game was so breathlessly overhyped it wouldn't surprise me if ABC was still running promos for it. )

Urban Meyer worked the media like he was running for president. Some poll voters listened. Others probably just didn't want a rematch. Florida got in; Michigan had to settle for the Rose Bowl, a place where they'd had their problems.

You know what happened. 41-14, and it wasn't that close. During the run-up to the 2007 season all eyes were on Columbus, and we heard about how the code to get into the Buckeyes' practice facility was '4114' (has anybody tried getting in with '3824' recently?) just so the players wouldn't forget the rank humiliation of getting pantsed by a team nobody really thought should be there.

Motivation is a good thing. It's a dang poor substitute for speed, though.

The good news about the 2008 title game is that this time the general consensus was that neither team really belonged there. LSU had lost twice, while the Buckeyes' berth was greeted with all the enthusiasm of yet another Atlanta Braves NL East pennant. It was supposed to be Mizzou versus West Virginia, but both those teams lost in their final games.

The Buckeyes went up early, 10-0, then proceeded to give up 31 straight points while their offense collapsed like day-old Dream Whip. OSU was 3 for 13 on 3rd down conversions, a lousy performance for any game but totally inexplicable in a title game. Did they not face a really good defense all season? Apparently not. They faced four ranked teams (including LSU) and only converted more than 50% of their third downs against Penn State. They were 5-14 against Purdue. Purdue! And that's why Jim Tressel looks like that in the picture above.

Santayana may have said "those who cannot remember the passed are doomed to repeat it," but mere remembrance isn't enough. You also have to change the present to avoid repeating the past.