Thank Gawd! Even the Dispatch admits it: “The loss quashed whatever chance 10th-ranked Ohio State (7-2, 4-1) had at returning to the national championship game for the third straight season. It put Penn State in the driver’s seat to end Ohio State’s two-year reign as outright Big Ten champions.” Now can all Buckeye fans just shut the hell up?

And this takes me back to a March 24th post of my Buckeye colleague:

Last year, when I predicted that the OSU Buckeyes would be in the National Championship Game for a second year in a row, I was met with a chorus of hoots and derision. Rose colored glasses were what I was accused of wearing, and certain wags who support certain teams from north of Ohio’s borders memorably predicted that OSU would lose 4-5 games.

But they lost only one regular season game before that fateful day in LSU’s backyard. Now the same wags are scoffing at the notion that a team returning nearly every starter from last year is an odds on favorite to play for the national championship again.

But other, more learned and better-read authors are starting to get on the bandwagon, especially with the addition of QB Terrelle Pryor to the Buckeye juggernaut. Here is what Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples wrote just the other day:

“Meanwhile, Tressel can plug in Pryor to a team that returns enough firepower on offense and defense to reach a third consecutive national title game. ”

Mr. Staple regrettably left out that bit about OSU winning it back in 2002, which would make this the fourth national title game in seven years, but I can’t really fault him for that. The article was not about OSU as much as it was about Pryor.

So all you Michigan fans should get all of your whiny groaning about OSU being in the National Championship Game out now, so that we don’t have to listen to it in December of this year. Whenever I think of you people the disturbing image that comes into my mind is that of Kevin Kline jogging in the Big Chill wearing those hopelessly effeminate jogging shorts and the Michigan sweatshirt. Yeesh.

And . . . the dream is over! I’m hoping Northwestern and Illinois further decorate the Buckeye’s ballyhooed season with a couple more losses.

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