2008 Americana Festival
July 4th celebrations worldwide
Wire walker at Kings Island
Tom Archdeacon: OSU's plans again go haywire
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
NEW ORLEANS — They came here with a speed coach, a strength coach, nine assistant coaches, a director of football performance, another for football operations, a third for player development and, of course, a revered head coach.
What the Ohio State Buckeyes really needed when they hit New Orleans for their BCS national championship game with Louisiana State was an interpreter, someone to explain what this place was all about.
Extras
"Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez."
Let the good times roll — that's the timeworn mantra of this town and the two places it plays out most here are Bourbon Street in the heart of the French Quarter and the Superdome, the grandest gathering house in the city.
The Bucks ended up well-muscled wallflowers at both spots.
They refused to set foot on Bourbon Street before the game — too many distractions, too many trouble spots, they sniffed — then they took the field at the Superdome Monday night and found nothing but distraction and trouble.
Talk about stirring up some bad mojo.
Thanks to a slew of penalties for extracurricular, even bad, behavior, a No. 1-rated defense that suddenly turned anemic and a quarterback who was under fire most of the night, Ohio State went belly up in another national title game.
LSU ran roughshod over the Bucks, 38-24, to win its second national crown in the past five years.
The Bucks have now lost the title game two years in a row and in the final minutes Monday had to listen to a crowd chant " SEC... SEC...SEC."
That's a reference, in part, to OSU's 0-9 record in bowl games against SEC teams, a statistic that will stick to them like a permanent tattoo after this one.
"To lose the national title game two years in a row, that's incredible," a dejected Beanie Wells said afterward.
Last year the Bucks were embarrassed by Florida, 41-14.
They came in with a chip on their shoulders. They focused on nothing but Monday night's game. Meanwhile, LSU players — and head coach Les Miles — did make it to the French Quarter. By all accounts they enjoyed themselves, behaved themselves, relaxed themselves — and then treated the Bucks as though they were Vanderbilt.
Like last year, OSU jumped out to a quick lead. Wells ran 65 yards for a score and Brandon Saine gathered in a 44-yard Todd Boeckman pass to set up a field goal and a 10-0 lead.
After that, the Bucks self-destructed.
Defensive tackle Todd Denlinger hit a ballcarrier out of bounds, linebacker James Laurinaitis grabbed a face mask, receiver Brian Hartline supposedly talked trash, Austin Spitler roughed the punter.
Surprisingly, the OSU defense was bullied on several big plays. And Boeckman was turned into a pinata by a Tiger defense that forced him into three fumbles — one was lost — and two interceptions while sacking him five times.
Early in the week, senior captain Kirk Barton said the Bucks wouldn't be going to Bourbon Street. They didn't want to lose focus.
"We heard a couple of horror stories from some of the deputies," he had said, tongue only partly in cheek. "The one (story) that got me was they said they found a guy who'd gotten drugged. He woke up in a warehouse in a thing of ice. His kidney was gone."
That was met by rolled eyes, grins and the crack, "Urban myth."
Barton insisted it had happened: "I know the difference and that was a real horror story."
No, Monday night was.
