Wow...  

About a million different things I could say here. I'll start with three. More analysis clearly to come later, but there's so much to digest, and this game proved why we love college football so much. It also proved why it's important for different conferences to play eachother in the bowls, since there is a lot to learn. Anyways, uber-quick analysis.

First: I made my BCS title pick before I went to Los Angeles for the Rose Bowl, since I had limited internet access out there, I made all my picks in advance. Some of those I would have changed, but I am not going to bitch and moan about all of them. I would like to say that my confidence in Ohio St. was deeply shaken by the Michigan blow out, and the solid SEC play, especially from Auburn and LSU made it look like I may have jumped the gun (like much of the country) on the Big Ten. Of course the Big Ten teams I thought would choke (PSU and Wisconsin) came up huge. So what do I know?

Second: Hero: Chris Leak. I rode him pretty hard all season, and am on record saying he couldn't succeed in Meyer's system. I was wrong. It's easy to credit Meyer, since he's proven he's pretty much a genius, but Leak deserves a ton of credit. He made excellent decisions, avoided mistakes (which I was convinced he would commit) and made accurate passes that simply demoralized the Buckeyes defense. He also created some plays with his feet, and showed tremendous poise and leadership. After four years of unfulfilled expectations, Chris Leak was a champion last night.

Third: Goat: Ohio State's offensive line. I was getting nervous about this unit when I watched Michigan's vaunted front four fail to gain any traction against USC. Trust me, it was even more depressing in person. It seemed that maybe they weren't as brilliant as advertised, and that spelled doom for the Buckeyes. This unit hadn't faced anything near what Florida brought. After the first series Moss and company were elated going to the sideline, announcing that the Ohio St. tackles simply couldn't block them. I am beginning to wonder if they could have blocked me last night. I spoke to an Ohio St. friend this morning, and his first words were "damn that o-line." Well, he had a point. They were porous. They failed to provide push in short yardage situations, they couldn't keep anyone off poor Troy Smith (who was terrible, despite his lack of support). They looked like matadors out there. It was a complete and total domination. Now, Florida's front seven deserve a ton of credit, but it's easy to look that good when the offensive line is looking that confused. It's like they hadn't played against a real defense all season. Maybe they didn't. It was a performance beyond terrible, and it showed that while everyone expects the Big Ten to produce mammoth offensive lines, this one was more myth than mountain.