Ohio State goalie Stefan Schroder went the length of the field to get scoring started en route to a 15-7 upset over Cornell. Why an upset? Because Ivy League schools, even bad ones like Cornell, need to dominate really white sports.

Former Michigan offensive lineman Justin Boren, who left Michigan in mid-March citing a "decline of family values" under coach Rich Rodriguez, has transferred to Ohio State. Boren started all of last season at center and left guard for Michigan. Ohio State coach Jim Tressel confirmed the transfer to the Columbus Dispatch for a story in today's edition.

Fortunately, Michigan fans are taking this well.

Boren of course will have to sit out a year before playing his final three seasons with the Buckeyes; a situation made all the weirder by the fact that his father, Mike, played for Michigan under Bo Schembechler in the early 1980s. A bit surprisingly, not all Ohio State players are completely on board with this.

UPDATE: Michigan fans still taking the news well.

Justin Boren Transfers To Ohio State [Detroit Free Press]
Justin Boren Sweepstakes [Buckeye Commentary]

Stop the presses! Ohio State has won a championship! This is like the Red Sox ending the Curse of the Bambino! Or at least like Susan Lucci finally winning a daytime Emmy. Clearly, the rioting and overturning of cars will continue unabated in Columbus until Monday.

Clearly, the secret is to not face an SEC team in the final. And having Jamar Butler go buck wild helps, too. Butler had 19 points and 8 assists to make damn sure the Buckeyes didn't go home empty-handed this season. Seven-foot freshman Kosta Koufos poured in 23, a total he only exceeded once this season, and that was way back in November. Something tells me these guys will be back in the Big Dance next March. Memo to Thad Matta: ask yourself, What Would Huggins Do?

CBI Preview

If Tulsa vs. Bradley is the championship game nobody ever wanted to see, the brilliant decision to turn it into a three-game series must have driven viewership into the negative digits. This is like the college basketball version of "Groundhog Day", where two coaches wake up every morning and prepare for the same team again, and when they finally break the cycle tonight, nobody will know or care about their triumph.

Then again, if I ever get my wish to write a Trivial Pursuit card, you can expect a question about who won the first and only College Basketball Invitational.

NIT Semifinals, Madison Square Garden

Massachusetts 78, Florida 66. No 2 ½-peat for the Gators. The UMass Minutemen spoiled the NCAA tournament rematch by overcoming a nine-point halftime deficit in convincing fashion. New York native Dante Milligan had 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks in front of his family and helped the Minutemen move on to face Ohio State. This is so nice for the downtrodden people of Boston, who just haven't had much in the way of sports triumphs to root for recently.

Ohio State 81, Ole Miss 69. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, actually get another shot at winning a postseason tournament. Jamar Butler and Evan Turner each scored 17 points for Ohio State. Ole Miss was toast from the get-go, as they managed to tie the game at eight-all with 14:58 left in the first half before OSU blew the game wide open. It'll be Buckeyes vs. Minutemen for the NIT championship tomorrow in a nice little appetizer for the main event.

CBI Championship Series

In order to explain this mess, I'd have to take a serious interest in it, and I'm not sure I can do that. Suffice to say that, rather than playing one championship game nobody really cares about, the brain trust behind the inaugural CBI decided the last two teams standing should play a three-game series to decide which team will be the answer to a future killer sports trivia question. C-USA also-ran Tulsa currently has a one-game advantage after beating MVC entrant Bradley 73-68 on Monday night. Bradley has a chance to even the score tonight in Peoria, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that I hope they have too much pride to subject us to more of this charade.

I've long wondered if it's better for a top program to win the NIT or to bow out in the early rounds. As when West Virginia won last year, it often gives a whiff of overcompensation - like the guy who sets picks and commits hard fouls in a game for charity. But there's no doubt that I'm rooting hard for this final to happen. The comedy potential is just too great. (Ed. Note: Stuff like this always makes us afraid there are cosmic forces at work, and it freaks us. This game should be broadcast by John Locke from "Lost.")

Hat tip: [The Meaningful Collateral]

Needless to say many OSU fans were expecting big things out of the young sharpshooter. But an up-and-down freshman season has led some fans around the state to argue that his gaudy high school stats were nothing more than a product of his team's hectic tempo. Their argument: If you have 80 possessions a game and shoot the ball that many times your numbers will be lies!

This, of course, is only marginally true. Yes, Diebler's team shot the ball a lot (and he did take many of those looks) but the fact remains — Jon Diebler was a 6-foot-6 guard playing against a bunch of farm kids in Ohio on a team that ran the floor better than 98 percent of the teams in the state.

Now? Well now he's a kid adjusting to not being THE ONLY 6-6 guy on the court. He's shown brilliance (look at the North Carolina game), but is still a freshman. Lets not knight him high school basketball's Andre Ware just yet. Please?

2. PREGGERS! Those who don't follow Ohio State basketball probably won't know this, but Jamar Butler's voice is responsible for 12 percent of all children born in and around Columbus last year. While on the court he's the smooth moving, long-range shooting senior guard Buckeye fans love, in the post-game interview room he's the second coming of Barry White. Seriously, the man has one deep voice. ESPN shouldn't let Erin Andrews interview him; his vocal vibrations may cause a baby bump.

3. Matta about you. Thad Matta is currently in his seventh season as a head coach at the collegiate level. In his first six seasons he has never had a year where one of his teams has won less than 20 games. As this is being typed the Buckeyes are sitting on 18 wins. They should get to 20 (hopefully). Matta already has his Final Four appearance and a championship appearance — he did this before he turned 40 — and continues to recruit some of the best talent in the country. He's the coach every Buckeye hoops fan has been waiting for since, well, maybe ever. I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, but, well, you know how Will gets when he sees the Ron Zook water skiing photo? That's pretty much how I feel when I see Thad Matta.
/Swoons

*Buckeyes Jerry Lucas (53) and Clark Kellogg (51) are ahead of him on the list. — John Snodgrass

Let me say this once and for all, to all the Ohio State fans out there:

Thankfully, mercifully, finally... S.T.F.U.

Dan Shanoff Is the Bandwagoneer

Stop yapping, stop emailing, stop commenting. After your season of bitching, we don't want to hear from you. Certainly not today. Let's throw in next year, too, as a penalty for last night's bed-shitting.

For the second straight year, your team has shown up in the national title game ranked No. 1, boasting the sport's "best" defense (at least on paper, which let's all agree was bullshit) and gotten shellacked.

After those consecutive personal-foul penalties that effectively ended the game, I actually had this thought, only half-sarcastically:

If Ohio State really wanted to win the national championship this season, the Buckeyes would have been better off turning down the BCS title game and playing USC in the Rose Bowl, hoping for a win against the Pac-10 and salvaging a split title. Because it's obvious this "winning a title outright against an SEC team" BCS Championship stuff doesn't really work for them.

Congratulations to LSU fans, on a championship performance so dominating that it made me think twice about yesterday's well-intended but half-cocked assertion that Georgia deserved a national title split.

And to Ohio State fans, I would say better luck next year, but the rest of college football fans would like you to stop wasting a slot in the national title game. Unbeaten? One-loss? Doesn't matter: Stick to the Rose Bowl. Give a chance to another team that might not suck... again.

This season's final Top 10 ballot:

1. LSU
2. Georgia
3. USC
4. Missouri
5. Kansas
6. West Virginia
7. Ohio State
8. Virginia Tech
9. Texas
10. Oklahoma

Split the Vote! Campaign: As you see above, even I backed down. But three AP voters picked Georgia as their champ. (One each picked USC and Kansas.)

There WAS one split... for No. 2: The AP picked Georgia; the coaches picked USC. Chalk it up as a moral victory for everyone.

Playoff Watch: There will be a ton of talk about the "Plus-One" idea this offseason. And the idea STILL sucks.

Consider its two manifestations, applied to this season:

(1) Match up the top two teams after the bowl season. OK, after watching all the bowls, who would you pick today? LSU and...

Georgia or USC? UGA was 2nd in the final AP poll. USC was runner-up in the final coaches' poll. It's intractable.

In a season as muddled as this one, the bowl season did nothing to clarify a single pair of teams ahead of the rest.

(2) Pick 4 teams and have them play in two "semifinal" bowls, with the winners advancing to a championship game.

Here are the four teams that would have likely been picked heading into this year's bowls: LSU, Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma.

In hindsight, with bowl season to use as a litmus test, three — THREE — of those four choices now look ludicrous. USC, UGA and KU were clearly more "playoff-worthy" than OSU, VT and OU.

This season was frustrating to those who want some sort of playoff system, but here's what this season WAS good for: Exposing the flaws of the Plus-One concept.

Unless a Plus-One proponent can explain how it would work in a season as crazy as this one, the Plus-One is even more flawed than the current system.

In the end, almost every fan who watched the game last night can agree that LSU is the best team. USC lost at home to a 41-point underdog. Georgia didn't win its conference. Kansas played a flimsy schedule. Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma all lost their bowls. Missouri couldn't even beat Oklahoma once in two tries.

Once the season played out to its very last game, there was a clear champ — or perhaps the least-flawed team, which in sports is often the same thing.

Looking ahead to 2008: Back in August, I predicted that the BCS would implode this season, because multiple teams would go unbeaten - not, of course, because NO teams would go unbeaten.

I was right in theory, wrong on the execution. I think we'll see a correction next season: College football will be top-heavy with some overwhelming powerhouses. The game of the year will be USC and Ohio State: The winner has the inside track on one of the spots in the national title game; the loser needs help.

The rest is a jumble: The survivor (if any) of Georgia, Florida and LSU in the SEC. The survivor (if any) of Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma in the Big 12. And God help us if Ohio State makes it back into the national title game. Let's hope poll voters have finally learned their lesson about putting OSU there when there is any doubt about their viability. Ranking inflation — preseason or otherwise — based on "reputation" is an insult to fans, teams and the sport. Now let me undermine that...

Here's a preliminary 2008 preseason Top 10 ballot to keep you feeling warm and fuzzy until August — or at least Signing Day:

1. USC
2. Georgia
3. Florida
4. Texas
5. LSU
6. West Virginia
7. Ohio State
8. Missouri
9. Kansas
10. Virginia Tech

As usual, send all comments and questions to danshanoff-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.

• We Are The Sort Of Champions. Consider: A few hours before LSU beat Ohio State 38-24, the guys who run the BCS talked openly about turning the system into a de facto four-team playoff. In any other sport, that would be considered gauche—after all, it's essentially an admission that this year's champion isn't deserving. In college football, though, tradition holds that championships are won on the field so they can be denigrated off it. LSU is your national champion. It's all over but the shouting. [Slate]

• wOOt! This is a big win for the program, which will benefit from the exposure and the love from the media. I bet the town of Gonzales, hometown of me and Glenn Dorsey, and the home of the annual Jambalaya Festival and Confidence Man Convention, will regret no longer getting mentioned on national television every week. We really are living in the golden age of LSU football. [Geaux Tuscaloosa]

• LS-Who Cares? Crow all you want LSU fans, very few people outside of Louisiana think you won an actual national title. Sure you got your crystal ball by beating a vastly overrated Ohio State team (they lost to Illinois at home for Christ's sake) 38-24 in the Superdome last night, and hey, maybe you guys would have won a legit title if you had faced one of the other best teams in the country. But you didn't. [Rumors And Rants]

• Here's An Idea. Ohio State should clam up about being disrespected. Looks like that DVD Jim Tressel made for his players that featured snippets of media members ripping OSU this year didn't work. That's two years in a row the Buckeyes have been smoked in this game. In the future, just focus on yourself and what you have to do to improve. Don't worry about what others think. It's a waste of time. [The Sporting Blog]

• Our Predictions. (Published Monday) When I watched LSU play earlier in the year I thought to myself, "we are two touchdowns better than that team." I am not going to stray away from what I thought then. There is no better game strategist in college football than Jim Tressel. Prediction: Buckeyes, 31-14. [Buckeye Commentary]

• LSU Tigers: 2007 National Champs!!!!! Clearly, the SEC Speed thing was overblown. Best I can tell, no one saw it coming (with the exception of SMQ and possibly Pete Fiutak at CFN): the SEC isn't a bunch of Nancy Boys who can only outrun other teams to victory; LSU, at least, can win - and has won - by simply being more physical. We pointed it here three days ago. So congratulations, Les Miles. You're 34-6 in three years, with an SEC Title and a National Title — whether or not it required some divine intervention — and three rather dominating bowl performances in a row. We're glad you stayed. [And The Valley Shook]

• Retraction. I made a post earlier calling out Les Miles and LSU for acting classless during the game. Looking back, those comments were uncalled for and irresponsible on my part, and I apologize for that. As a result, I have deleted that post. I apologize to those two who made comments in there, but I felt it was necessary that the post be removed to help maintain this blog's credibility. [Around The Oval]

• Ohio State Loses, Tedd Ginn Jr. Emerges Unscathed. The next tactic to jump from the college game to the NFL is going to be Les Miles' lead blockers on quarterback sneaks. On QB sneaks LSU lines up a player in tight with the line on each side of the quarterback. When the ball is snapped they lurch forward and effectively function as lead blockers. It's ingenious, it almost never fails, and it's going to be used by every team in football very soon. [Shakedown Sports]

It is only fitting that the most exciting and bizarre college football season in a decade would with ... a pedestrian game between two traditional powerhouses. You can't tell us Missouri vs. West Virginia wouldn't have been more fun.

But yes, congratulations to LSU, particularly to those still recovering from Britney Spears. You are the "champion," of "college football." We guess. Somebody has to be.

Oh, and please: No more Ohio State in a national title game. Ever.

The game looks and plays just like the popular Madden NFL and NCAA football games, though all the goofy stuff such as player celebrations, cheering crowds, mascots and bands have been removed. LSU and Tennessee were the first schools to use it this season and it went well enough that XOS expects to make it available to all its clients this year. The company provides technology to most Division I schools. "The video game is an excellent resource we have," Perrilloux said. "Whenever we hit a play, that play would automatically match up with the defense that we would see or blitz we would see. If you make the wrong decision it's an automatic interception or it's an automatic incompletion."

How did Bowling Green prepare for the GMAC Bowl, we wonder? Pong? Asteroids? This?

(Kudos to Every Day Should Be Saturday for the enhancement of our original Normandy Ned graphic).

LSU Players Use Video Games To Prepare [MSNBC]
NCAA 2008: A Better Cover By Far [Every Day Should Be Saturday]

Keith Law, in his personal blog, points out the ridiculousness of a system that rewards a team for spending a season playing inferior competition and then sitting alongside, idle, watching while teams above them lose. (Which is how Ohio State is here.) But we point out the opposite problem. We're not sure we understand why everyone is so insistent — rule or not — that a team win its conference to have an opportunity at the title. We do not do this in any other sport; not even in the supposedly tradition-obsessed world of baseball to we chafe when a wild-card team is playing for the championship. How the BCS can move Virginia Tech ahead of Georgia simply because they beat a slightly above average Boston College team is bewildering. If LSU had lost to Tennessee, would Virginia Tech have moved ahead of Georgia? Oklahoma? According to the BCS standings, they would have ... though hardly any voters would have put them ahead before this weekend's action.

The way this worked out: Ohio State was rewarded for not playing, and Georgia was penalized. And we have the Ohio State-LSU matchup we all would have enjoyed a few weeks ago, back when we were under the misconception that each team was really good.

One Reason I Hate College Football [TheDish]

It's worth noting, as CollegeGameBalls does, that this four-year span of Michigan football has to be considered among the most disappointing in school history. And just to rub it in, the Dead Schembechlers — now known as "The Bastard Sons Of Woody" — are considering performing in Ann Arbor this week. We can't imagine what could possibly go wrong there.

No word yet on who the next Wolverines coach might be. We suggest Tommy Amaker!

Band Is Hinting At U-M Gig [Detroit News]
RIP, Henne, Hart And Carr [CollegeGameBalls]

Fortunately, we were coming all the way from the Pacific Time Zone, so our JetBlue flight, coinciding perfectly with ESPN's coverage of Ohio State-Illinois, allowed us to watch the whole game while strapped into our seat, eating Terra Chips. Needless to say, it's difficult to witness your team pulling off its biggest win in decades in complete silence. You have no idea how hard it was not to scream, but we couldn't: We're pretty certain they would have thrown us off the plane. This is the wrong century to be yelling on airplanes.

As for the win itself, it reveals that Illinois is farther along than people (including us) have realized ... and Ohio State had zero business ever being a No. 1 team. But you knew this. We are just amazed that we have a frighteningly real chance at the Capital One Bowl against ... Florida! That should be awfully entertaining. We hope we can watch it in a place where we can make noise.

Illini Come Of Age Upsetting No. 1 [Decatur Herald & Review]

Yes, yes, it's an exhibition game, and it doesn't really mean anything ... but to have a tiny school come on to your home court and beat you, when you play most of your starters the whole game has to be demoralizing. (The same thing happened to Michigan State last week.) Particularly when you're coming off the NCAA championship game.

The Big Ten Network was showing the game, which means nobody saw it, but they do have highlights on their site. They're right here:

We kind of enjoying watching old ESPN rejects doping around on fledgling stations like the Big Ten Network. It must be frustrating to do all that work with the realization that it's more likely people will see your program on this embedded video than will watch it in their homes.

Two more notes on the Big Ten Network:

1. Tim Doyle is the network's hoops analyst. He played for Northwestern last year. He also does not know how to pronounce Ohio State coach Thad Matta's name.
2. That highlights music is rockin'.

Honestly, this network is a disaster. So fun.

Big Ten Bitchslapped By Division II Again [Storming The Floor]

Generally speaking, we enjoy a good harmless scrum among rival fans, but ... this would seem to cross the line considerably. How far past the line? A Michigan blog is appalled by this. And why wouldn't he be? Any normal human would be.

You Are Total Dicks [The M Zone]

You can do some of those things. Any of them, really. Or, you can, you know, get busted trying to pick up a prostitute. Oh, my, Ohio!

Freshman Antonio Henton, a reserve quarterback on the Ohio State football team, is in Franklin County Municipal Court this morning on a charge of soliciting a prostitute. Court records show that he was arrested at N. High Street and 6th Avenue by an undercover police officer at 8:30 p.m. yesterday.

We're no expert in the practice, but we gotta ask: 8:30? Really? Who tries to pick up a prostitute at 8:30? That seems like a middle-of-the-night activity if there ever were one. But Henton's a young kid, and he's got a lot to learn in this life. He's a project, and he'll get it right and step up his game eventually.

Ohio State Freshman Quarterback Arrested [Columbus Dispatch]

In the midst of depression, you have to admire the fanbases. Tickets on StubHub are still awfully pricey. We're going to be in Seattle this weekend — we actually leave tomorrow night — and the Michigan-ND tickets are still more expensive than the Washington-Ohio State tickets, and that's involving two 2-0 teams. Difference is, though: Tyrone Willingham has a chance to win.

Michigan-ND Tickets [StubHub]
Washington-Ohio State Tickets [StubHub]

As much as we enjoyed the link to all the other Big Ten teams celebrating Michigan's loss, and as happy as we are for Appalachian State — some of whose fans actually saw this coming — we still have to focus on those Michigan fans, who saw their entire season (and perhaps so much more) evaporate in a split second. We don't see any way Michigan can possibly overcome this, and Lloyd Carr certainly seems like he's gonna be a Chippewa in a couple of years.

For a truly gruesome spectacle, enjoy these Michigan fans musing on the possibility of a loss pregame. And then, once again, enjoy these Ohio State fans:

In a job interview for the presidency of something called Florida Gulf Coast University, Karen Holbrook, who was president of OSU from 2002 until June of this year, made it clear that it was impossible to control those Buckeye hooligans.

"I went to Ohio State and had no idea there was a culture of rioting," Holbrook told the trustees. "Any good excuse gets some of the people on the street and they think it's fun to flip cars and have absolute drunken orgies."

When we think back to all the drunken orgies we've had in our lives, we are reminded that the truly revelatory ones, the ones we'll never forget, always had a good round of car-flipping as foreplay. Really warms the cockles.

Seriously, though: Drunken orgies? Very diplomatic, Ms. Holbrook.

Former OSU President Calls Out Buckeyes Fans [The M Zone]

"It will be a light atmosphere," said Dunbar assistant coach Albert Powell, who has helped Cook through the draft process. "There will be finger food, soft drinks and a big-screen TV."

If you're in Dayton, frankly, you have no excuse not to go to this. If anybody goes and takes pictures, we'll totally run it tomorrow. Particularly if he's crying.

You Can Party With Daequan [Winning The Turnover Battle]

The interviewer asked him, "OK, but what teams did you grow up watching as a kid? Did you follow a particular team?" Oden replied, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Oh, sure. Growing up, I watched a lot of the Lakers, and the Celtics. They were just good teams, that played good basketball." Safe answer—big franchises with storied histories, doesn't mean anything, etc, etc. Except that the Celtics were never particularly good during Oden's lifetime, much less his formative years. In fact, they sucked the vast majority of the years that Oden has been alive.

Greg was "born" in January 1988, so the first playoffs he would have been alive for were the 87-88 playoffs. Boston lost in the Conference Finals to Detroit. If he were a human baby, Greg Oden would not remember that. If he were born a 36 year old man, he probably would. During his human formative years, when one goes and decides to be a fan of a team (I'm calling that ages 7-12) Boston was one of the worst teams, if not the worst, in the country. During that stretch, seasons of 95-96 to 00-01, the Celtics won an average of 29 games. The Celtics had one good year, during the 2001-02 season (49 wins!), and have steadily slid back into craptacular. So, when, I ask you, WHEN was 18 year old Greg Oden a fan of the Celtics?

Yeah, someone really needs to remind Oden that he's pretending to be 19. Sure, nobody's watching "ESPN First Take," but eventually, someone's gonna notice.

Greg Oden Not Even Pretending Anymore [I Dislike Your Favorite Team]

(Sports At Random had this first, by the way.)

So last week, the Ohio State wrestling team entered into some talent show that was judged, along with others, by Buckeyes football coach Jim Tressel (he's also judging the talent show at Maurice Clarett's prison). It wasn't necessarily a bad year for OSU wrestling, but if this video is any indication, they appear to have spent a lot of practice time making sure they look FABULOUS!

Wrestling Concludes 2007 NCAA Championships [Ohio State CSTV]

So [the new mother] let the name roll off her tongue — Tressel, Tressel Hayes, Tressel Hayes Huffines. She talked to family and friends. And she considered what naming their first child — their first son — after two OSU legends said about her and her husband.

"If nothing else, it assures the Buckeye tradition stays in the family," Mr. Huffines said, laughing. "Can you imagine someone named Tressel Hayes going to Michigan for college?"

Personally, we wish they could have sneaked a "Clarett" in there (or, to be sadistic, an "Urban"). We are fans of this idea; we would like to see a Lions fans name their girl "Millen Mornhinweg."

A Born Winner? Tressel Hayes Is Newest OSU Fan [Columbus Dispatch]

Another reason we need to lean on hypotheticals the day after the national championship game? The title game was like the rest of the tournament; uninspired and never much in doubt. Watching the "One Shining Moment" video, we realized that the most memorable moments of the tournament were Greg Oden's monster non-slam in the Final Four against Georgetown ... and Joakim Noah's weird Officer And A Gentleman deal with his mom after the victory. (Seriously, man ... we're all for loving your mom, but, well, we dunno ... seemed like a bit much.) The biggest upset was VCU over a weak Duke team, and we never had that true epic game.

So we talk about history, and context, and then we look forward to next year, thinking that maybe having a George Mason around isn't so bad after all.

Florida: Best. Team. Ever. (But I'll Settle for "Best of '07") [DanShanoff.com]

It was rather difficult not to admire Greg Oden in this game, but Florida, man, those guys are good. Not the epic game we were hoping for ... but when you go 4-for-22 from the 3-point line, it doesn't really matter if you have a 64-year-old Bill Russell under the basket.

Congratulations to Florida on yet another championship; we've got 6-to-1 odds on them winning the World Series.

2007 NCAA Champion Florida Gators [Gator Zone]

So, as established earlier today, either we're gonna have a two-time champion for the first time in more than 15 years — and a school that has won three major national championships in the last 12 months — or Greg Oden is gonna get his Carmelo Anthony on.

We have our own rooting interests, but mostly, we just want a close game. This whole tourney is due.

Consider this the game thread ... we'll pop back in postgame with a "Congrats, Champions" type of deal. Enjoy!

• Let's Play The Game Anyway. If you don't know already, Ohio State is the underdog going into Monday night's national title game. We know that by the betting lines and we know it by listening or reading the experts. To a man, they are all picking against Ohio State. In reading Greg Doyel on CBS Sportslilne, I'm not sure if we should even enter the arena, let alone suit up. Same with the outed liar Mike Freeman who actually suggests Florida could beat at least five teams in the NBA. [Buckeye Commentary]

• The Mirror Image. The names are the same, but the situation is reversed. As of this morning, I haven't heard a single sports talking head or pundit who predicts Ohio State will win tonight. Sounds like January 8 - in the reverse. I have a suspicion Florida fans are acting like Buckeye fans did prior to the BCS title game. I have heard the same sort of boastfulness from some of my fellow Gator fans. And, I wish it wasn't so. A little good natured ribbing is to be expected post-game, and we certainly are not above that here at Saurian Sagacity. However, talking big pre-game as often as not makes you end up looking stupid. [Saurian Sagacity]

• Deja Vu. Think back (sorry) to the BCS title game. Remember how you guys were the clear cut favorites and the Gators had NO CHANCE against the mighty big 10? I bring this up because I just realized the tides have turned. Everyone is picking the gators (outside Ohio). This really scares me because I know how dangerous your team is. Luckily, there are no classless gators coming on this board like so many buckeye fans from jhuddle did to our boards. I'm glad we are civil. — FriendlyGator. [BuckNuts Message Board]

Hey clown, Gators fans were all over our boards as well so don't start with that cr*p, every d1 school with a big-time athletic program has the idiot fans whether you take credit for them or not. — BWJackets. [BuckNuts Message Board]

• Florida Phanz. This video almost erases the horror of losing the National Championship. It goes a long way to making those 82 yards of offense seem less offensive.....It's good to be a Buckeye. [The Buckeye Mainiac]

• Buckeyes Again: Perfect! I'll be brutally honest: I despise Ohio State. I believe 90%+ of their fans are total douchebags. I am still pissed at the treatment the Gator Nation received at the hands of Ohio State fans in Glendale, as well as the media. In my view 41-14 was simply a good start. If Meyer wasn't such a classy guy, I'd have beseeched him to score on those last two possessions, something Florida could easily have done. So in my view, this chance to beat Ohio State a third time will be a chance to help salve some old wounds. It will be almost as joyful to inflict some additional pain to the embarassed Buckeye nation as it will to win a second national championship in basketball, back-to-back, sandwiching a football championship. [Orange and Blue Hue]

With tonight's national title game rapidly approaching, we asked fans of both Ohio State and Florida to describe what a victory tonight would mean, what it would stand for, how it would change matters, what would be the team's place in history. We thought it would be kind of fun.

Right now: The Ohio State Buckeyes, written by Anton Golden, of The Donkey Carnival. Words come after the jump.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

What does it mean for me when Ohio State wins tonight? Not a simple question. To me it means two words: Edmond Dantes. For those of you who know who he is, you know exactly what I am talking about. For those of you that don't, I will happily elaborate. Edmond Dantes is the man whose story of revenge is captured in The Count of Monte Cristo. A man who had his wife taken from him. All of his property. But most of all his good name. Vengeance fuels Dantes as he takes years to get back at the man that stole his life from him. The man who showed him that life could not possibly be as good as Edmond imagined it was. That everything could change in just a moment. That in an instant the world could turn cruel and dreams could evaporate.

That is how I felt watching Florida rip the heart out of Ohio State during the Fiesta Bowl. Watching them horribly tarnish the genius and savvy of Jim Tressel. Unable to look away as they stole millions of dollars from Cleveland's favorite son, Troy Smith. Simply staring in utter disbelief, hoping that what I was witnessing was a fiction. That I would wake up from my drunkedness to find that it did not happen that way. That the Buckeyes had fulfilled on their promise as favorites. That life as I know it did not change.

Yes, I am very grateful for the title that the Buckeyes won in 2002. I am also grateful for the Final Four that Ohio State never played in during the 1999 tournament. But those teams were not supposed to win anything. They were huge underdogs that won games by the skin of their teeth. Throwing 40-yard touchdown passes on 4th and 1. Upsetting frightening Ron Artest-led teams that they had no business beating. They were nothing like the 2006 Buckeyes. The fierce and merciless conquerors of college football. The team that would usher in an era of greatness in the program by decimating all opponents and recruiting the best. But something happened. The serious underdogs came out of the fight with the head of the Heisman winner on a silver platter.

In the same way I want tonight's game to end with Joakim Noah's head on a spike in front of the Schottenstein Center. I want Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer to lose millions of dollars of NBA money after they have been thoroughly dominated and emasculated in front of millions of viewers. I want to watch their fans, who sacrificed a family vacation to get these tickets to see their team crowned in glory, shamed into wearing paper bags out of the arena, their babies wailing as they sense the anguish in their parents hearts. I want their players to burn their uniforms after the game to try to remove the stink of defeat from their skin. I want to crush their lives just as they crushed ours.

To steal the crowning achievement of back-to-back titles from them. To render their already printed T-shirts so worthless that they are sent overseas to starving nations whose uneducated children won't know the sting of wearing the shirt of such accomplished losers. For Billy Donovan to be so horrified at what happened that he will take the first plane to Kentucky to get away from that feeling just as a family moves away from a house a child committed suicide in. I want the program to crumble after Donovan leaves. I want Florida basketball to be a joke surrounding a nice eight-year run of success. But most of all to see the faces of Florida's trio of "seniors" as they realize that they came back another year for nothing. That all they did was cost themselves wheel barrows full of money. Nothing would make me happier.

I want to see Greg Oden, Ron Lewis and Mike Conley off to the NBA crowned in the laurels of victory. Leaving on top in the same way that Troy Smith, Ted Ginn and Anthony Gonzalez should have been able to. I want to destroy the keys on my cell phone from texting congratulatory taunts to every fan of another team that sent me a text message on the day of my tragedy. The tragedy that it was for Ohio State to be so exposed and violated on national television.

It wasn't that we lost. It was that we lost like that. Completely embarrassed. The only consolation being that it did not happen in the beloved Horseshoe. The legacy of two titles in four years gone. A sad memory of what could have been. A regret for all the fans that mortgaged their futures to finance their trips to the game.

That is what I want for the Gators. Their dream gone. Their program shocked. Their recruits wavering. Their coach questioning everything he thought he knew about basketball. Their pro candidates exposed as charlatans. Their teddy bears dressed as Spider Man watching the game on television in the hotel room to set themselves on fire rather than sit through the second half of the humiliation. Their star player to shave his head in disgrace and vow to never again dance in public.

Why do I want such beautiful and terrible things? Because I/We/Ohio State needs revenge. We need a terrible fire of vengeance to close the wounds that still bleed from the thrashing in the Arizona desert. We need what Edmond Dantes worked for. And to quote that man as he stood facing the possibility of his enemy's sweet ruin: "Do your worst! For I will do mine."

The man on the left, Ohio State head coach That Matta, is two years younger than the man on the right, Florida coach Billy Donovan. There must be something in the water in Columbus that ages people prematurely. At this time next year, Mike Conley Jr. is going to look like Laurence Fishburne.

I'm afraid I won't be with you for tonight's basketball festivities — I decided to try actually watching a game without a keyboard in front of me. I don't know what that's going to be like, but I've heard it's wild.

I wouldn't even know where to start with a preview... there are so many personalities and angles and storylines that this can't help but be a memorable night. Joakim Noah's constant battle against the haters, the stifling defense of UCLA against the immeasurable talent of the Gators, and Hibbert vs. Oden, which I think should be subtitled "The H is O." Also, The Rookie is on ABC.

I'll leave you with two YouTube videos... one Joakim Noah video that's a little mean, but very chuckle-worthy, and then this Billy Packer admission that won't surprise you at all.

This is an old video, but it never fails to crack us up and remind us, when we are watching Ohio State play a sporting event on the largest possible stage, just what kind of people are rooting for them. We love how they jump in joy after it happens.

Go Buckeyes!

Buckeyes Fans Ready To Celebrate After Michigan Fan Takes A Taser [Sports By Brooks]

We're not necessarily still swooning over the weekend of basketball we witnessed — there was only one outstanding game, the Georgetown-North Carolina game yesterday, and that was mostly outstanding because the Tar Heels went 1-for-2,239 down the stretch — but it certainly has set up something beautiful next weekend in Atlanta. (Which we will be present for, by the way; we'll talk more about that this week.)

Seriously, though: Georgetown-Ohio State and Florida-UCLA? That's a rather amazing doubleheader. Even though the whole tournament has been predictable and lacked a lot of fevered lunacy — unless you're talking the Division II tournament — it appears to have led up to something that was all worth it. Remember how lousy all three Final Four games were last year? Shouldn't be a problem this time.

For Four Teams, A Season To Remember [TimesSelect]

Quite a little final four we're left with. On one side, an Oden/Hibbert matchup of behemoths, and on the other side, a rematch of last year's championship game. Could it get better than that? I feel very special in my pants right now.