Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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Do you really want to talk about Ohio State’s latest loss, a 20-14 setback to the criminal entity from State College?

Yeah, neither do I. So let’s not. Let’s, instead, talk about the apparent new man who will lead Ohio State football starting in 2012. It isn’t official yet but it seems cast in stone that by next week Urban Meyer will be the next head coach of the Buckeyes. In terms of prestige and prior accomplishment it’s the biggest head-coaching hire in the history of the program. Paul Brown was a top-flight high-school coach, Woody Hayes was a winner at the O.G. Miami and Jim Tressel racked up four Division I-AA National Championships at Youngstown State. But Urban Meyer has enjoyed ultimate success at the highest level of the sport.

Can he get Ohio State to that level? It isn’t a cut-and-dried “yes.” Meyer burned out at Florida within a few years and the state of the Gators today offers a vivid illustration of what happens to a program when its leader no longer has his heart in the work. That is my main worry more than anything else; more so than Meyer’s habit of job-jumping (Where else is he going to go?) or his spread offenses (which would have worked fine for Rich Rodriguez had the ex-Michigan and new Arizona coach bothered to put a defense on the field in Ann Arbor.)

In a sense it’s a high-risk, high-reward hire. The risk is that Urban will stay a couple of years, quit for the same reasons he quit Florida and hang the program out to dry. The reward is, well… we all know what the reward is. Even with the downside it’s a no-brainer hire for this program at this time, just as Jim Tressel was a no-brainer hire in 2001. With a long frustrating season drawing to a close, it’s just the tonic Buckeye fans needed.

Just the thought of what Urban Meyer can do with Braxton Miller should be enough to make partisans of the Scarlet & Gray salivate- not to mention what this offense might look like with someone other than Jim Bollman calling the plays. Rollouts, screens, short, quick patterns to tight ends and fullbacks, an actual tempo… ah, the mind wanders.

(I think Luke Fickell has been in about as difficult a situation as a first-year head coach can be. He has made mistakes, which is to be expected. He has handled the situation with composure and manly forbearance. He has done his best in a tough spot. The team isn’t that good, but I’m not sure how good they’d have been without Terrelle Pryor regardless of who was coaching. Pryor’s departure was the biggest blow; bigger than that of Tressel. Even with the Vest this would have smelt of a Gator Bowl participant.)

It should be fun. With the talent coming back- although they need better linebackers and rush ends on a defense that has looked soft and slow at times despite decent overall numbers- Ohio State should win a lot of football games next year (provided Meyer, you know, actually accepts the job.) There’s no rebuild going on in Columbus. It’s strictly a reload with a much more accurate shooter at the business end. But as good as Ohio State has been, they don’t just grow National Championships on trees down there.   

Around the Nation

Game of the Week- Iowa State/Oklahoma State: The National Championship dream wasn’t supposed to end like this for Oklahoma State- not on a Friday in Ames, Iowa against a stubborn-but-undermanned Cyclone team that entered the night as a four-touchdown underdog. The Cowboys and their passel of scoring weapons were supposed to easily dispatch Paul Rhoads’s team and take their undefeated record into the Bedlam showdown with Oklahoma in two weeks.

But they didn’t. Unable to run the ball, score in the final 27 minutes of regulation or put away Iowa State when they had the chance- and they had multiple chances- Oklahoma State instead saw its dream go up in smoke, as the Cyclones whirled back from a 24-7 second-half deficit to defeat the Cowboys in double-overtime, 37-31. Iowa State’s freshman quarterback Jared Barnett- who was warming the bench just a few weeks ago- threw for 376 yards and ran for 84 more in the upset.

But this night was more about what Oklahoma State couldn’t do to keep its perfect season alive. They couldn’t avoid mistakes, committing ten penalties and turning the ball over five times. They couldn’t run the ball, picking up sixty yards on the ground and averaging a meager 3.3 yards per carry. They couldn’t capitalize on opportunities, coming up empty on five separate forays into Iowa State territory. They couldn’t get the defensive stop they needed, as Iowa State drove 89 yards for the tying touchdown with 5:30 left. They couldn’t take the lead late, as Quinn Sharp was wide right on a 37-yard field-goal attempt with 1:17 left and the score tied 24-24.  

And because of all those things they couldn’t do they won’t be BCS Champions, although the Big 12 title and a trip to a BCS bowl are still there for the taking. It was a bitter end to a terrible week in Stillwater. Women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant Miranda Serna were killed in a plane crash on a recruiting trip to Arkansas on Thursday night, a little more than  decade after ten members of the Cowboy men’s basketball program were killed in a plane crash outside of Denver. The game of football means very little compared to events like these.  

Total Chaos: As it turned out, Oklahoma State’s was only the first in a number of losses by National Championship wannabes. Fourth-ranked Oregon, the most notable pretender, lost at home to Southern Cal while Baylor toppled fifth-ranked Oklahoma and N.C. State scorched seventh-ranked Clemson.  Top-ranked LSU took care of business, thrashing Ole Miss in Oxford- but they’re the only contender that controls its own destiny and even its place is tenuous, as the Tigers still face third-ranked Arkansas on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Who, among the big contenders, has really earned the right to play for the title up till now, other than LSU? Oklahoma State choked up a 17-point second-half lead against a mediocre opponent. Alabama already lost to the Bengals at home. Arkansas’s loss is by 24 points. Stanford’s loss is by 23, at home. Virginia Tech’s loss is by 20, at home. That’s it for your one-loss BCS members. But there is one other team that to this point has earned its shot to play for the whole thing.

A “Case” for Houston: That team, of course, is the Houston Cougars. Their claim is simple: they’re the only undefeated team in the country next to Louisiana State. Boasting the nation’s best scoring and passing offense, Houston moved to 11-0 on Saturday with a 37-7 pasting of Southern Methodist in front of the Gameday crew (one of whom decided to let it all hang out.) It was a veritable offensive slump for the Cougars, who averaged 61 points in their seven games leading up to the SMU encounter. Case Keenum is on another plane- 3,951 yards, 74 percent completion percentage, 37 touchdowns; three interceptions.

Houston probably doesn’t have enough to really deal with LSU on any field, neutral or otherwise. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that, more than anyone else, the Cougars have earned the right to play for the National Championship- provided they win at Tulsa and then win the C-USA title game, of course. Other teams have played tougher schedules, but they have warts that Houston does not. They haven’t earned their way to the title game. The Cougars have. It’s like prize-fighting; the challenger might not be the biggest, strongest or fastest but if’s he has beaten all comers, he’s earned a shot at the belt.

(Houston’s next opponent has some historical incentive for ruining Houston’s BCS chances. On November 23, 1968 at the Astrodome, Bill Yoeman’s high-powered Cougars handed the injury-and-flu-ravaged Tulsa Golden Hurricane the most humiliating loss in program history- a 100-6 drubbing that saw Houston rack up 76 second-half points. Tulsa fans with long memories haven’t forgotten that game.)   

Misnomer: People say (Who? You know- people) the role of the BCS is to pick the two best teams to meet in the title game. I don’t think it is. I think the role of the BCS is to determine a National Champion, no more, no less. As long as there is no postseason Tournament the regular season has to be seen as the “tournament.” That tournament is single-elimination. Alabama had a shot at LSU. Arkansas will have a shot. Why should they get another one? Because they’re one of the two best teams? We’d already know they aren’t the best team. We don’t know that about the contenders that haven’t lost to LSU yet.

Tradition… Tradition! See, this is the kind of year where the old bowl system would be fun. Here’s our projected pre-BCS major-bowl lineup:

Rose: Oregon vs. Wisconsin

Orange: Oklahoma State vs. Alabama

Cotton:  Houston vs. Michigan State

Fiesta:  Arkansas vs. Virginia Tech

Sugar: LSU vs. Clemson   

There are National Championship implications in as many as three of these games. If LSU was to lose to Clemson you could end up with a glorious mess akin to January 2, 1984, when losses by the second-and-fourth-ranked teams combined with fifth-ranked Miami’s upset of Nebraska gave the Hurricanes their first poll championship. It certainly wasn’t tidy, but it had to be fun for viewers that second day after New Year’s- more fun, probably, than some confabulated rematch a week after; a rematch that potentially crowns no one, not even in fantasy.    

Bigger than the Old Dominion: Virginia and Virginia Tech first met on the football field in 1895 and have met on an annual basis since 1970. It’s a rivalry 92 games in the making. But none of those 92 games have meant as much as the one to be played on Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville. The title of the ACC’s Atlantic Division is on the line for the in-state rivals, who prior to Tech’s joining the ACC in 2004 hadn’t competed in the same league since they were members of the Southern Conference during the Depression.

“Depressed” is an adequate way to describe Virginia’s longtime fortunes. The Cavaliers have teased- as they did throughout the Al Groh era- and they have broken hearts- as they did at times during the otherwise successful George Welsh era- but one thing they haven’t done in a long time is win a championship. They split ACC titles in 1989 and ’95 (the year they ended Florida State’s 29-0 start in the conference) but they haven’t won an undisputed title of any league since 1908.

They’ll have a chance this year, unexpectedly. After going 4-8 in 2010 the Cavaliers are 8-3 and winners of four straight, the latest a one-point squeaker over Florida State in Tallahassee. They haven’t exactly been dominant- they were fortunate to beat Indiana and Idaho at home- but they’re 5-1 in games decided by a touchdown or less and are a stout 25^th in the nation in total defense. Mike London’s team is simply finding ways to win.

Virginia Tech hasn’t had trouble finding ways to win, at least in terms of league games. The Hokies have won five undisputed conference championships since 1999 and three of the last four in the ACC. They’ve also beaten Virginia seven consecutive times and eleven of the last twelve. They’re used to playing in games of this magnitude and there’s more at stake for the Hokiest than a division title or bragging rights. At fifth in the BCS rankings, they still have a faint shot to play for the crystal football if they win out and get a little help along the way.

But the Cavaliers are at home in Charlottesville. They’re battle-tested themselves, having played a bunch of close games this season. And while this game is very big to Virginia Tech, it’s potentially the biggest in the history of the UVA program. And the Hokies can be taken, as evidenced by their lopsided home loss to Clemson and narrow escapes against East Carolina and Duke. In a weekend crammed to the gunwales with big games, this battle in the Old Dominion is one of the biggest. 

   

Winners of the Week

Michigan State: The Spartans clinched the Legends Division in wrecking-crew fashion on Saturday, blasting hapless Indiana 55-3 in East Lansing. Up next is an inconsequential trip to Evanston; then, the Big Ten Championship Game in Lucas Oil Stadium against either Wisconsin (again) or Penn State.

Georgia: A regular season that began with back-to-back losses will end in an SEC East title for the Bulldogs, who salted away the program’s first division title since 2005 with a win over Kentucky. Fortune beamed upon the once-embattled Mark Richt this season, as his Dawgs avoided the alpha dogs of the West in favor of the mangier curs- Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Auburn. They’ll be playing one of the Big Three now and it’ll be uphill sledding, although Georgia does bring the better quarterback in two of those matchups. 

Ohio University: The Bobcats clinched their second MAC East title in three years with a heart-stopping 29-28 victory at Bowling Green on Thursday night. Matt Weller’s fifth field goal won it at the gun after the Bobcats had marched from their own ten-yard line in the final 7:34. Plenty of goals still remain for Frank Solich’s team: the first outright MAC Championship since 1968 as well as the first bowl victory in program history.  

Rutgers: The improbable Scarlet Knights improved to 8-3 and gained a share of the Big East lead by blunting beat-up Cincinnati on Saturday. With a win at Connecticut in its finale next Saturday and a Louisville loss in its finale at South Florida as well as a West Virginia loss in either of its final two at home against Pitt or at South Florida, Rutgers will be BCS-bound- with a team nowhere near as good as the 2006 squad that fell just short.  

Louisiana Tech: 

The Bulldogs went 9-15 the last two years and haven’t won a Western Athletic Conference title since 2001. But under second-year head coach Sonny Dykes (son of longtime Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes) they’re one win away from the crown after rallying from a 20-3 fourth-quarter deficit at Nevada on Saturday. Quarterback Colby Cameron directed touchdown drives of 84, 89 and 92 yards in the final period, ending each with a scoring pass. The last, to Taulib Ikharo, won it with 51 seconds to play.

Losers of the Week

Oregon: Oklahoma State’s loss gave the Ducks a golden opportunity to get back in the BCS title race in earnest. But they couldn’t take advantage, falling way behind USC and losing 38-35 at Autzen Stadium after a fourth-quarter rally fell short. Chip Kelly’s team won’t get a rematch with LSU in the Championship Game; they’ll settle for a possible second trip to the Rose Bowl in three seasons.

(Say what you want about Lane Kiffin, but he has done a damned good coaching job this season. That team really has nothing tangible to play for- no division, no conference; no bowl. Yet they’re 9-2, the hottest thing going in the Pac-12 right now and they’re getting better as the season progresses. The Trojans absolutely dominated Oregon for nearly three full quarters on Saturday, and it didn’t look like an upset from the couch. Having Matt Barkley at quarterback doesn’t hurt- the Owen Wilson look-a-like torched Oregon’s callow secondary for 324 yards and four touchdowns- but Lane Kiffin deserves a lot of credit for USC’s success.)

Clemson: John Madden once said, “You don’t need reasons to win.” Apparently Clemson does. A week after clinching the ACC Atlantic, the Tigers came out flat and were blown off the field by an N.C. State team that has struggled most of the season. Dabo Sweeney’s team might want to bring a better effort next week at archrival South Carolina and the week after in the conference championship game.

Southern Mississippi: The 22^nd-ranked Golden Eagles saw their eight-game winning streak end in unpleasant fashion at the hands of a ragged opponent- Alabama-Birmingham, no one’s idea of a powerhouse in Conference USA. The three-touchdown underdog Blazers went ahead 34-31 on a field goal with 3:04 to play and stopped a final Southern Miss thrust in UAB territory, as the Golden Eagles let slip an opportunity to clinch C-USA East.

Maryland: Randy Edsall’s first season in College Park has not gone well. A year after winning nine games, Edsall’s Terrapins are 2-9 and losers of seven straight, including Saturday’s 31-10 drubbing at the hands of Wake Forest. A big part of the problem has been quarterback Danny O’Brien, who followed up a terrific freshman season with a dismal performance in 2011 and ispossibly looking to transfer after being benched in early October.

Florida Atlantic: The Owls are last in the country in scoring offense, last in total offense and most importantly, last in wins. At 0-10 following a 34-7 loss at Troy, FAU is the only winless team remaining in the FBS. For Howard Schnellenberger, who will retire at the end of the season, it’s a rather shabby end to a 27-year college coaching career. Maybe the 77-year old Kentuckian and Blanton Collier protégé has pretty much checked out already. 

Next: Saturday at noon in Ann Arbor. Michigan hasn’t beaten Ohio State since 2003, a streak of seven straight games. If the Wolverines don’t break that streak this year, they might not break it until 2033. Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading.