Too Easy

Looked pretty easy for Florida last night. Other than a kickoff return, Florida dominated the game from beginning to end. Speed and innovation had the Ohio State team confused the entire game. Not even Jim Tressel's sweater-vest had an answer for the Gator attack.

So, with Michigan and Ohio State losing convincingly, the question must be asked: Was the Big Ten overrated? They ended up 2-5 in bowl games with the only quality win being Wisconsin over Arkansas. The Big Ten's struggle against out-of-conference teams is a product of its own image: three yards and a cloud of dust. Well, college football is no longer three yards and a cloud of dust...it is spread offenses and quarterbacks playing receiver and running backs throwing the ball. College football is now Florida, West Virginia and Boise State.

I knew that Florida was faster than Ohio State. The only hope the Buckeyes had was that their big defensive line would overpower the Florida O-Line and get to Leak. But Florida's odd looks led Ohio State to only rush 4 which gave Leak all the time in the world to pick apart the defense. Florida was also much faster to the corner than the Ohio State defense could have imagined. But, I didn't think the Ohio State defense was horrible...they were plagued by bad field position and no offense...they held Florida to 7 points in the second half and, if it weren't for two turnovers at the end of the first half, they're still in the game. The defense also stopped Florida several times in the second half only to watch the offense squander every opportunity. Troy Smith won a Heisman Trophy? Are you serious?

I don't know who drew up the offensive gameplan for Ohio State. They needed to establish a run game. They didn't. The should have been overpowering the Florida defensive line but they didn't. It doesn't make sense. Unless you believe the Big Ten is just overrated.

Personally, I believe Boise State could have beaten Ohio State last night. I believe Louisville could have beaten Ohio State last night. West Virginia, Arkansas, USC -- they all could have beaten Ohio State. LSU, probably. Rutgers would have given them a test (Rutgers plays more traditional, which would play more into Ohio State's game).

Anyway, can't say it was a great game because, well, it was 41-14 and the outcome was never in doubt. Doesn't touch last year's Rose Bowl. Doesn't compare with the Fiesta Bowl or the Gator Bowl or the Insight Bowl. But congrats to the Gators...they proved they deserved the opportunity. And congrats to Chris Leak...there's a lot of Gator fans who owe him an apology today. And, Jim, you'd better dig deeper into that sweater vest next time to find a better gameplan.

Lastly, congrats to the Mountaineers who finish #10 in both polls. That makes consecutive years that WVU finished in the Top 10. And 3 Big East teams finised the season in the Top 12. I didn't see any ACC teams up there? I do see 3 SEC teams, 3 Big Ten teams, 1 Pac Ten, 1 Big 12 and 1 WAC. No ACC? What's up with that?