The national championship revealed 10 truths about Ohio State Football. Here they are in reverse order. 

10 – The national championship game exhibited the differences between the pro game and the college game. LSU showed the pro game and Ohio State showed the college game. How are pro defenses so effective against the run? Their corners cover 1 on 1 so they have an extra man on defense to stop the run. It also helps if everyone on defense is fast as well. What happens when a pro offense faces a college defense playing zone pass coverage? The college defense can’t stop the run. Did Ohio State have an off night or was LSU that much better? What did I say earlier – LSU showed the pro game and Ohio State showed the college game.

9 – OSU won’t be back in the national championship game anytime soon. Their back to back beatdowns in bowl games will only result in tougher regular season games from opponents who are no longer awed by any Buckeye mystique.

8 – OSU’s large number of personnel fouls and other penalties was not a fluke. It was simply an indication that when the pressure was on, the Buckeyes folded.

7 – Tressel still can’t handle the hurry up offense. LSU pulled a couple quick snaps and totally burned OSU. I guess they watched the Illinois game down in the bayou, too.

6 – Laurinaitis had no choice but to come back for another year. After being out of position for most of the night against LSU, his draft stock dropped rather quickly. How many wide open passes were there to the tight end? Huh, James?

5 – Boeckman revealed as an average quarterback. There was a reason Tressel wouldn’t allow Boeckman to throw the ball much in the Michigan game. Against decent teams, he was no good. Gone were the days that Boeckman could lob the ball up in the air and let his receiver run under it. In the end, that was the only pass he had. He was still trying to do it with LSU defenders on top of him. He didn’t even know how to throw the ball away.

4 – Robiskie and Hartline = average receivers with no speed. Boeckman found this out when his only pass play didn’t work against LSU. Robiskie and Hartline were blanketed so heavily by LSU cornerbacks, you would’ve thought that they were part of some nursery rhyme about a princess and a pea.

3 – The importance of the cornerback position. LSU had ‘em and OSU did not. LSU’s one on one pass coverage allowed them to go after the quarterback on pass plays and the running back on running plays. How did LSU run the ball at will against Ohio State? Ohio State’s corners weren’t good enough to cover one on one. OSU had to respect the pass and couldn’t commit more personnel to stop the run. LSU would just pass on them if they did. How many long passes did LSU have all night? I can’t remember hardly any. Remind you of something? Florida’s beatdown of OSU last year, perhaps? Remember all the dinky short passes? Still don’t understand why there were hardly any long passes from LSU? Read this paragraph again.

2 – Keys to beating Ohio State – 1) have a quarterback who can throw 2) to legitimate receivers that 3) spread the field and 4) add in the occasional hurry up play. On defense, recruit fast corners who can cover so that you can pressure Boeckman into his patented lob.

1 – Ohio State will not mentally recover from this second complete embarrassment in a national championship game for years to come. During all of 2007, they played with the thought and motivation that they would somehow show the world that last year’s game against Florida was not the real Ohio State Buckeyes. Tressel even gave them a DVD of the highlights of all the scorn that they had received to motivate them. After being given the opportunity again, they showed the world instead that they were the laughingstock of college football. Unlike their fans, they will be unable to deny their mediocrity. Tressel’s DVD has become more of a window into the soul rather than a motivational tool. That truth can’t be shaken.

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