A View from the Superdome
January 13 2008 03:35 PM -- Filed in: Sam Anderson
(Note: Regular
contributor Sam Anderson was in attendance for the
National Championship game. He has some stuff to get
off his chest.)
It wasn’t until I arrived in the Superdome on Monday night that I realized what we were up against. Senior leadership at every position for the Tigers, crowd noise (probably 70 percent of the dome was made up of LSU fans) and most importantly, there was no sign of a chip on anyone’s shoulder for the Tigers.
The talking heads had written us off as too slow. They said the Big Ten was too weak even though Michigan hung 41 on “media pet” Florida; and Wisconsin was intercepted in the end zone inside of the final minute to get beat in a very competitive game by Tennessee. Let’s not even get started with draft statistics as this article points out among other things.
The biggest problem with all of this speculative blabbering is that our own players may have let it get the best of them. Check that, they definitely let it get the best of them. LSU running back Jacob Hester explained after the game:
The chip on the shoulder led to five personal fouls. All of which were extremely costly.
Many were frustrated with Tressel’s game plan. I was not. It was not Tressel who failed to recover a fumbled punt inside LSU’s 15 yards line when we were up 10-3. It wasn’t Tressel who dropped a touchdown pass that would have cooled off LSU’s onslaught after they tied the game 10-10. If you are mad at Tressel for what his plan was when we fell behind 31-10 you are missing the point. This was a group of young players for Ohio State who were caught up in the moment and sick of being talked down on. LSU simply went about their business and took advantage of both our physical and mental errors.
The crowd didn’t help. It was nothing less than an away game for the Buckeyes. 70 percent of the Superdome was made up of Yellow and Purple and they were LOUD. We were the beneficiary of it against Miami in ’02. However, it was certainly a detriment this year.
The “chip on the shoulder effect” needs to be addressed because if we learned anything last Monday, it isn’t going to do us any good. If both players, and fan base allow people like Mark May, Pat Forde, and Colin Cowherd to shape our views, and rile our blood college football season isn’t going to be near as fun.
Is the SEC so fast we shouldn’t be on the same field as them? It didn’t look that way when our 240 pound tailback ran away from LSU’s all-American safety. Is the Big Ten full of a bunch of mediocre players? Draft statistics certainly don’t suggest as much. Are you going to get embarrassed when you commit five personal fouls and 3 turnovers? I think we all learned the answer to that one. Let’s focus on the facts instead of the talking heads. There is no place in a championship game for undisciplined football. See you in Miami.
It wasn’t until I arrived in the Superdome on Monday night that I realized what we were up against. Senior leadership at every position for the Tigers, crowd noise (probably 70 percent of the dome was made up of LSU fans) and most importantly, there was no sign of a chip on anyone’s shoulder for the Tigers.
The talking heads had written us off as too slow. They said the Big Ten was too weak even though Michigan hung 41 on “media pet” Florida; and Wisconsin was intercepted in the end zone inside of the final minute to get beat in a very competitive game by Tennessee. Let’s not even get started with draft statistics as this article points out among other things.
The biggest problem with all of this speculative blabbering is that our own players may have let it get the best of them. Check that, they definitely let it get the best of them. LSU running back Jacob Hester explained after the game:
“They were talking a lot. Even the guys who weren’t playing were talking a lot.”
The chip on the shoulder led to five personal fouls. All of which were extremely costly.
Many were frustrated with Tressel’s game plan. I was not. It was not Tressel who failed to recover a fumbled punt inside LSU’s 15 yards line when we were up 10-3. It wasn’t Tressel who dropped a touchdown pass that would have cooled off LSU’s onslaught after they tied the game 10-10. If you are mad at Tressel for what his plan was when we fell behind 31-10 you are missing the point. This was a group of young players for Ohio State who were caught up in the moment and sick of being talked down on. LSU simply went about their business and took advantage of both our physical and mental errors.
The crowd didn’t help. It was nothing less than an away game for the Buckeyes. 70 percent of the Superdome was made up of Yellow and Purple and they were LOUD. We were the beneficiary of it against Miami in ’02. However, it was certainly a detriment this year.
The “chip on the shoulder effect” needs to be addressed because if we learned anything last Monday, it isn’t going to do us any good. If both players, and fan base allow people like Mark May, Pat Forde, and Colin Cowherd to shape our views, and rile our blood college football season isn’t going to be near as fun.
Is the SEC so fast we shouldn’t be on the same field as them? It didn’t look that way when our 240 pound tailback ran away from LSU’s all-American safety. Is the Big Ten full of a bunch of mediocre players? Draft statistics certainly don’t suggest as much. Are you going to get embarrassed when you commit five personal fouls and 3 turnovers? I think we all learned the answer to that one. Let’s focus on the facts instead of the talking heads. There is no place in a championship game for undisciplined football. See you in Miami.
