[QUOTE=PeteBooth]
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The Big Ten is down. I will give you this: Tressel and his AD are smart as year in and year out (sine the Big Ten does not have a Conference Championship Game) sit back and wait for the SEC or the "other" conferences to "knock themselves out" and thus get into the National Championship game as evidenced by this year.
They were 10 and 1 but IMO that's not impressive because there out of conference schedule was a joke and the BIG Ten was down. Michigan was all "banged up" when they played them. They lost to Illinois who in turn got "manhandled" by USC.
The Championship Game should have been LSU vs. USC but that's another discussion (The BCS Fiasco)
Personally I am tired of seeing Ohio St in the Champoinship game each year. They did not deserve to go this year. The BIG Ten is down. Also, let's face it they got a REAL generous call when they beat Miami to win the Championship years ago.
Next year we will see what happens when the Buckeyes travel to USC. Finally a decent out of conference opponent.
Pete Booth
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I don't know what you mean by sit back in wait. In 2002 the Buckeyes were undefeated going into the Fiesta Bowl and last year were also undefeated before facing Florida. This year they had one loss prior to the Championship game. In all three years they were ranked number one in the BCS.
Ohio State has home and homes for the next ten years with Southern Cal, Miami, Virginia Tech, California, and Oklahoma. And prior to this year played Texas home and away. This year Ohio State did, indeed, benefit from a down year for Washington of the Pac Ten and a number of Big Ten teams who had key injuries. But the Buckeyes did not lose to the likes of Appalachian State, Stanford, or Pittsburgh and therefore wound up playing in the BCS Title game, even though it was a rebuilding year, simply because all of the other contenders lost two or more times. A healthy LSU probably goes undefeated and WAS healthy in the title game. OSU will lose some juniors to the NFL, they always do, but returns almost everyone on offense.
They are already fifth in some preseason polls. The difference next year is Southern Cal and a stronger big ten, especially at Illinois, Wisconsin,Penn State and Michigan State. If Rodriguez gets his wide open offense going at Michigan, 2008 will be a great football year in the Big Ten.