Ohio State bolted to a 28-7 advantage early in last night's Sugar Bowl. From there they hung on, got lucky and beat Arkansas in a nail-biter, 31-26.It's the Bucks' first win over an SEC team in ten bowls -- curse over, burden lifted. More important, the victory capped a 12-1 season and ensured a likely top-five ranking when the final polls come out -- but if you read the national media this morning, football doesn't lead the stories.
See, a couple of weeks ago five OSU players were found to have broken NCAA rules by selling memorabilia and getting cut-rate tattoos. All are suspended for the first five games of the 2011 football season, and yet they were allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl.
I can't wrap my brain around an athlete parting with a championship ring, an MVP trophy or a gold-pants charm. I'm sentimental that way, I guess -- I mean, I still have every ticket stub from the Bucks' 1968 national-championship season.
Color me scarlet, gray and disappointed.
Then again, awards belong to the players who earned them -- or they should, anyway. The NCAA rulebook bars athletes from profiting from the sale of that kind of stuff.
It's a rule, another dumb NCAA rule, but a rule nonetheless. Like it or not, punishment is in order -- and the suspensions should've begun with the bowl game, not eight months from now. So why were those five Buckeyes permitted to play last night?
Because the sport's governing body, the schizophrenic NCAA, said so.
The whole affair gives the media plenty of rocks to throw at the NCAA, certainly. Leading up to the bowl, however, and continuing this morning, sports pundits have castigated Ohio State for not voluntarily holding the offenders out of the game with Arkansas.
That kind of moralizing is, to me, as much of a head-scratcher as the NCAA's rule and ruling. It's like demanding that Jim Tressel throw himself on a grenade -- and insisting that he supply his own grenade.
Fortunately, Coach Tressel let his players -- all of them -- decide what to do. The team voted overwhelmingly in favor of letting the five violators play in the Sugar Bowl, and so they did. When the chips had finished falling last night, here's how they fared:
- Offensive tackle Mike Adams played every series.
- Wide receiver DeVier Posey caught three passes for 70 yards and one touchdown.
- Running back Daniel "Boom" Herron rushed for 87 yards and one touchdown.
- Backup defensive end Solomon Thomas made arguably the game's decisive play, intercepting a pass in the final minute to preserve OSU's victory.
- Quarterback Terrelle Pryor passed for 221 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 115 and was named the game's MVP.
All five are juniors, eligible to return next season. They say they will, but you never know. If they do, none will see the field 'til October.
Will their stand-ins be able to carry their load? Probably not. We'll answer that question later.
Right now, if you don't mind, Buckeye Nation would like to get back to celebrating a great season and a Sugar Bowl win.
