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SEC, PAC-10, ACC, Big-12, and college football fans everywhere get ready for the next edition of the Ohio State Buckeyes (el-oh-el!). Okay, I am just going to come to a foregone conclusion that we (yes we; I was born in Ohio and my taxes go to all public universities and I have been a fan since birth, so there) are the new Buffalo Bills and…so what. Better to have fought and have lost than to have never fought at all. If we beat USC this year, you had better believe that we will be right back in the Championship game. I know you hate to see us there again, and that we are slow, plodding and overrated, but that is the system. Everyone wants a new system, ‘plus one’, playoff and drawing names out of a hat, but in the end my Buckeyes are right smack in the middle. No matter what system you use, we are good enough to beat 99% of the teams in the nation and we have. It’s just that the chips haven’t fallen our way for whatever reason (see the above slow, plodding reference). If we get another one we share the decade with SC and LSU, and if we don’t then at least we were able to get there in the first place.

SEC fans, we aren’t so much really worried about you guys. Look, a couple of years ago when John Cooper was coaching us, he couldn’t beat Michigan, or win a bowl game but we continually finished in the top 10. Notre Dame is supposed to be all storied and crap, but they ain’t won anything since Lou Holtz. USC has been there since Pete Carroll got there, but how long did that take them to get back on top? Alabama, plays in the SEC which more often than not is going to sacrifice its best team before they get to the Championship game. I’ll admit it, we were overmatched against Florida, and LSU worked us over. We might lose again, but if there is one constant in NCAA football it is Ohio State contending late in the season for a football championship. We have a coach who can get it done, and clearly have the esteem of the voters, the computers, and that signature win (against the aforementioned ‘SC squad) just waiting to happen.

I know that it looks ugly, and might not be so…sexy to see OSU once again, but it works out logically. So many people have their roots in Ohio; OSU is one of the biggest if not the biggest universities in the country and its right smack in the middle of like 75% of the U.S. population. The thing is that OSU feeds the pro sporting franchises in football and basketball on par with Florida, Cali and New York. That’s a university we are talking about. Sure those places have mighty influence because of the sheer numbers, but who is the signature squad in Florida, Miami or Florida State or Florida? Its always going to be cyclical there. New York has got better things to worry about than Amateurs, and as far as Cali is concerned (UCLA, USC) see Florida. When you consider that for what we lack in splash, celebrity and sun we more than make up for in location, location, location. So as long as Terrell Pryor (from Pennsylvania) and Greg Oden (Indiana), and Thad Motta (also somewhere else) keep looking our way (and talking about it) to get to the amateur sporting mountain top, we will always be there. Especially in that most American of sports, football. Right now we are on a run, and when our down cycle comes around, that means instead of 13-0, we will be 9-4 or maybe 10-3 with a Michigan loss. Still, we will have a top 10 finish. It ain’t the system, but rather simple geography.