I guess all the motivation in the world can’t make up for a bad football team. I can’t believe that such a climactic football season ended so anticlimatically.I also can’t explain how happy I am to see Ohio State get blown out in yet another championship. Suck on this one for a second: if it weren’t for foul officiating in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, Ohio State would’ve lost three National Championships in six years. This isn’t even comparible with the Buffalo Bills woes. The Bills actually had talent and had to get through respectable opponents. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, don’t play anybody, and what’s worse, they’ve gotten even more free rides to the big dance because Michigan has been especially bad in the past few seasons.

Had Ohio State won this game, for the next five years, the Big 10 apologists would reminisce to this game anytime a "Big 10 Sucks" argument would come up. It already began after an extremely motivated Michigan team squeezed by Florida. But it’s pathetic. The Big 12 should be demoted to D. II or at least lose their automatic BCS bid. Realistically, there isn’t much of a difference between Hawaii and OSU to me. OSU didn’t play one opponent ranked in the Top 20, yet couldn’t escape a ridiculously easy schedule unscathed.

The good news, Buckeye fans, is that you are now on another 365 day bye year before you get an automatic bid to fill a National Championship spot due to playing a weak Big 10 schedule, while another much more deserving opponent gets screwed out of a shot to play for the title. Maybe next time they can make it happen.

My friend emailed me a great Big 10 vs. SEC argument:

I like Big Ten football. I really do enjoy watching Big Ten games. However, I also like watching high school basketball. Here is my little remark to show the difference between the two conferences. Vanderbilt and Northwestern are the exact same school. The only private schools in their conference. Both academically remarkable. The difference is this: It is possible for a flash-in-the-pan, good-luck season to come across Northwestern and get them a Big Ten title. It happened when Gary Barnett was their coach. Northwestern played in a Rose Bowl. They won the Big Ten. That could NEVER happen in the SEC. Vanderbilt can never win the SEC. Ever. The reason for this is because the SEC doesn’t suck and the Big Ten does. If Vandy was in the Big Ten, they could win games. The SEC had three teams this year that did not play in a bowl game: two teams that don’t count (Ole Miss and Vandy) and a South Carolina team that has a legendary head coach and was still good enough to beat Georgia, who proved just how good they are. South Carolina was ranked in the Top 10 at one point this year. And they finished third to last in the SEC. The Big Ten somehow got 8 schools in bowls (Indiana made one but Iowa didn’t… neither deserved a bowl game but Big Ten gets too many automatic bids and somebody wanted to put Indiana in a bowl because their coach died. Call me insensitive, but why else would you give Indiana a bowl bid?). Michigan won (amazing win and an amazing story but now it will be overlooked because of tonight), Purdue won (but didn’t cover), Penn State won (you give JoePa two months and he finds a way to win… his problem is they always have a 3-game rut in the middle of the season because it takes Paterno two months to make adjustments), and the rest lost. The Big Ten is a good football conference… but let’s stop fooling ourselves and call a spade a spade. The worst school in the Big Ten academically would be the second-best in the SEC so they can still do the “We’re smarter and will make more money than you” argument while the SEC schools can still do the “You suck at football and have you seen our chicks?" argument.