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Buckeyes Eager To Earn Redemption

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By JOEY JOHNSTON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 6, 2008

NEW ORLEANS - To enter the Ohio State University football offices, you need an access code, which changes periodically. Earlier this season, players and coaches were required to punch in four numbers. They were not randomly selected.

4-1-1-4.

As in: Florida 41, Ohio State 14.

"A lot of people don't want to talk about last year," Buckeyes junior offensive tackle Alex Boone said. "Hey, I'll talk about it all day. I don't want to forget how sick and embarrassed I felt."

One year after perhaps the most notable flameout in college football history - the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes were 12-0, but managed just 82 total yards against Florida - Ohio State has returned to the BCS Championship Game with an opportunity for redemption.

If the Buckeyes (11-1) defeat the LSU Tigers (11-2) in Monday night's game at the Superdome, it won't totally erase the sting of losing to Florida.

"We're never going to get back that 41-14 game," Buckeyes junior guard Steve Rehring said. "That's over. That's gone. What we can do now is show the world who we actually are. Because that night, we sure didn't play like an Ohio State team.

"That game is gone. But people haven't let go."

Before the Buckeyes headed to New Orleans, former Ohio State linebacker Mike Vrabel addressed the team, sending them off with a singular message.

Ignore the talk. Play for your teammates. They are the people who really count. Give the type of effort that will allow you to look into their eyes for decades to come.

Buckeyes sophomore wide receiver Brian Hartline has an addendum.

"We need to do this for the people who have gotten so much flak just because they are Ohio State fans," Hartline said. "We need to do this for the Big Ten, which has somehow been portrayed as the worst conference ever to play football.

"I've stopped trying to put out the fire. It won't quit. Look, we played awful. We didn't show up. We know that. But after going through such a crazy season, where upsets were everywhere, to say that Ohio State has absolutely no chance? To just assume LSU is going to blow us out, no problem? I don't get that. Where's the logic?"

Before Christmas break, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel sent a DVD home with his players. It began with scenes of Florida players lifting the crystal football trophy.

Fans chanted, "Buck-eyes ... Gator Bait! Buck-eyes ... Gator Bait! Buckeyes ... Gator Bait!"

It dissolved into clips from national commentators - "Ohio State is too slow ... Ohio State has played a weak schedule ... Ohio State doesn't even belong in this game" - and shifted to political analyst James Carville, the LSU super fan, who had a one-word description of the Big Ten.

"Disgusting."

Saturday morning, Ohio State senior offensive tackle Kirk Barton entered the Superdome for a media-day session. He took in the scene, surveying the massive stadium and imagined what it will be like on Monday night.

"I can only think of one word - finish," Barton said. "This time, let's finish.

"We're a few days away from the biggest game of our lives and we're still reminded about something that happened, what, 363 days ago? That was no way to go out for those seniors. This time, we've got to finish."

Barton said the approach already has been much better.

Last season, the Buckeyes arrived early at Glendale, Ariz., where players knew all the hot spots from previous Fiesta Bowl trips. They were overconfident, perhaps lulled in by a Florida team that had been living dangerously with too-close results.

This time? No trips to Bourbon Street after 9 p.m. Casinos: off-limits. No players abused themselves over the holidays with non-stop eating or partying. Now there's a quiet confidence as the Buckeyes revel in the underdog role.

"We're an angry team, but we don't have to even say that," Boone said. "People have made fun of us from the winter, spring, summer and fall. We are still being disrespected. You can sense it just walking around. You don't have to hear it. You can feel it."

And that dates to last season, when Ohio State's aura of invincibility was emphatically erased.

"It was like we ran the whole race out in the end, but at the end, we had a heart attack and just died," Barton said. "Against LSU, it's going to come down to who plays the hardest for the longest, who takes away the other team's will.

"The big thing is, just play the game. Don't start thinking about the victory parade. On the way to the victory parade, you might get whipped. Then you'll never hear the end of it."

For one year, the Buckeyes have lived with that burden.

Monday night, they can finally do something about it.

Reporter Joey Johnston can be reached at (813) 259-7353 or jjohnston@tampatrib.com.

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