in Good Hands™

It's the night before the Allstate BCS Championship Game, and you know something? Despite all the doomsday predictions, and despite the fact that the Buckeyes are going up against a loaded LSU team with scary parallels to last year's Gators (playing basically a home game), I still feel confident as an OSU fan. To answer the question frequently posed by Allstate: yes. Ohio State is in good hands with Jim Tressel.

Don't get me wrong, I watched the same game you did last year. I watched the Dream die, swimming in jungle juice, as Ohio State get curb-stomped by a faster, meaner, hungrier Florida team. It still hurts to think about: the pre-game buildup during that now-infamous 51-day layoff between V-UM Day and D-Day, the preemptive congratulatory phone calls after Ted Ginn's opening kickoff return, the first round of drinks to celebrate our good fortune. We were on top, we were golden, and Florida could start the buses. We chanted it to them, just to let them know.

And then, the undertow: Teddy goes down with the foot injury. Florida scores. Florida scores again. Nobody can tackle Megatron, Tim Tebow; meanwhile, Ohio State's front five look like matadors against Jarvis Moss and Florida's front four. Troy gets sacked, Troy fumbles, Troy gets picked. The all-too poignant halftime show, with the Ohio State marching band recreating the sinking of the Titanic- that invincible, perfect, glittering vessel that folded impossibly in the night.

In the high times leading up to that Monday night, there wasn't a soul on campus who would have even imagined the kind of spanking Florida would give us. Judging by the team's performance that night in Glendale, we fans weren't the only ones that bought into the relentless media hype. A paunchy Troy Smith clearly bought it, as did a lethargic Buckeye secondary (seriously, how do you get picked apart by Chris "Allen Strange" Leak?) It seemed, to our horror, that even the infallible Jim Tressel had bought into the hype, and as they say: Buy the ticket, take the ride.
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My point is this: this year, Jim Tressel isn't buying it. This year, the media is selling the Buckeyes as no-names, as underdogs, as just happy to be there. It's true that this year's team lacks the star power of last year's. The important thing to realize is that after last year's shellacking, that's a good thing. This is a team built in Tressel's own image, a team that exudes quiet confidence in the face of a challenge, plays conservative, fundamental football, demands accountability for blown assignments, and stays humble. Last year's team relied on big names to make big plays in big situations. No one player has been asked to shoulder the load this year, and as a result, Tressel has been able to forge a squad that plays the truest form of team ball. In Jim Tressel's world, Faceless is good. Depth is good. Interchangeable is good. Flexibile is good. Etcetera. Ohio State lost 9 of its 11 defensive starters from last season, including the NFL-bound Quinn Pitcock. The result? A No. 1 ranked defense that has improved by nearly 50 yards per game while allowing only two rush TDs all season.

While this year's Tigers bear a striking resemblance to last year's Gators [a throwing quarterback (Flynn/Leak) and a running quarterback (Perilloux/Tebow) platooning in the backfield, a speedy wideout corps, a dynamic, often overlooked speed back (Holliday/Harvin), and a monster defensive lineman (Dorsey/Moss)], the overlooked truth is that this year's Buckeyes, although lacking the big-name offensive fireworks of last year's team (Smith/Ginn/Gonzalez/Pittman), is not only a more tightly-knit unit, but a better team altogether. (Insert "Creampuff Schedule" dissension here.)(Insert "seven, count 'em, seven, 20+ point blowouts, with the only loss to Rose Bowl-bound Illinois team" counterpoint here.)

There's no getting past the importance of team chemistry, which appears to be the reason that the '07 Bucks have excelled in the absence of NFL-caliber talent. (Ivan "I-Formation" Maisel wrote an article on this for the Worldwide Leader: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls07/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=3183084&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2). Last season, Tressel had to balance his responsibilities to the team's success (maintaining an undefeated season) with his responsibilities to the athletes he promised to take to the next level (making sure Smith, Ginn, etc. got enough attention/touches/pro-style game situations). This season, he has a locker room full of emerging leaders- maturing, team-first guys (Laurinitis, Beanie, Boeckman, Boone, Barton, and possibly Craig Biggio) who haven't hesitated to rise to the occasion, Boeckman's last two weeks notwithstanding.

We're one year removed from "41-14." It's easy to predict another speed-over-power SEC romp, especially in front of a Louisiana crowd. It takes no stretch of the imagination to picture a stoic Jim Tressel shaking hands with a fiery Les Miles after another Ohio State heartbreak. Which is exactly why I don't think anyone in the OSU locker room, least of all Jim Tressel, will let it happen.