A third consecutive bowl loss for the Buckeyes was the last thing I wanted to happen tonight. Now that it has -- 24-21 to #3 Texas -- I find myself not nearly as disappointed as I am proud.I'm proud as hell, actually, of a team that entered the Fiesta Bowl a prohibitive underdog and yet came within 16 seconds and a missed tackle of pulling off the upset. The game was a 60-minute exchange of body blows -- classic, slug-it-out, big-time college football.
I'll remember the Bucks' punishing defense, the nothing-to-lose attitude, and Todd Boeckman's second-half touchdown pass to Terrelle Pryor -- senior to freshman, the benched captain to his young heir. It was a perfect, full-circle moment.
Though I wish the outcome had been different, I loved every minute.
"Those guys are big, strong and physical, the best defense we faced all year." (Colt McCoy, Texas quarterback)Every year, the Ohio State football team takes the field with an embarrassment of riches, bringing an impressive arsenal of weapons to bear on its opponents. What OSU lacked tonight wasn't talent, however -- it needed a horse.
The gritty Buckeyes, especially without Beanie Wells in the second half, simply had no horse to ride tonight. The Longhorns did, in the person of a quarterback named Colt McCoy, the Heisman Trophy runner-up and arguably the best player in the college game.
Ball player, ball game.
"I can't tell you how proud I am of the leadership on this team. It didn't get done on the scoreboard, but they know how much we care about them." (Jim Tressel, Ohio State football coach)Some sports pundits will write the story of this OSU team as "promise unfulfilled" -- in Columbus, that's what happens when you're projected to be a national-championship contender and end up 10-3. Others will cite tonight's defeat as more evidence that Coach Tressel and Ohio State "can't win the big ones" or as conclusive proof that the Big Ten is an also-ran conference.
Whatever.
There's no shame in analysis, certainly, nor is there any pride. Analysis isn't the caretaker of tradition -- it can't move a grown man to tears or inspire a child to learn to the words to a century-old fight song. It has no passion, no warmth, no history and no heart.
Analysis has none of the qualities that separate sport from, say, accounting.
I'm not an analyst. Mine always will be a fan's account, heartfelt and rooted in partisan pride. I'll tell it again next season, win or lose.
September's right around the corner -- Go Bucks!
