DaytonDailyNews.com

NEW ORLEANS — The way it sounds, some Ohio State players were rougher on each other than they were on Louisiana State.

"I couldn't believe that guys were fighting with other guys, this isn't a barroom. You don't need to be fighting with your own teammates. We were here to play football, (but) some guys didn't get that," a still-stunned Alex Boone, the massive Ohio State tackle, said as he stood in the middle of the nearly empty Superdome field an hour after his Buckeyes had been embarrassed by LSU, 38-24, in the BCS Championship Game.

"Everyone was fighting with each other and I'm like, 'Calm down. It's OK. It's halftime.' But everyone's like, 'This is your fault,' and 'No, this is your fault.' I was like 'Calm down, we got a half to go.' But some guys panicked like the game was over ...

" ... On the field, the personal fouls, the roughing the punter, the stupid things, that's not Ohio State football."

In some ways, this game was reminiscent of that 41-14 romp by Florida in the title game a year ago. But in one big way, Boone said, it was not:

"This was a lot better than last year when everyone just kind of gave up and no one wanted to play anymore."

This team did have a different postseason attitude. Before last year's game in Arizona, players got too relaxed and enjoyed themselves too much, many current Bucks claimed.

This year they said they were on a "business trip" and kept their bowl-week focus on the game. And when they jumped to a quick 10-0 lead, some guys were giddy, Boone said.

"The first five minutes everyone was like, 'This is who we are. This is what we're gonna do.' " Boone said. "But at the same time, everyone was like 'This is gonna be easy.' But I'm thinking, 'This ain't easy. I was there last year. The national championship is never easy.' "

And as the Tigers rallied and were scoring 31 consecutive points, OSU players saw everything they'd put their focus on slipping away.

Like Boone, senior linebacker Larry Grant said the heat of the moment overcame some teammates:

"Everybody was really hyper, and the intensity just got the best of us. All the penalties, the mental mistakes were crazy. A lot of guys were not in the position they needed to be. They started doing extra things that got us in trouble."

OSU's All-America linebacker James Laurinaitis — who had a BCS-record 18 tackles and a costly face-mask penalty — echoed Grant: "You've got to be able to control your emotions in a big game like this. We didn't do that at all. We did a lot of things we shouldn't have."

Add it all together — five personal fouls, three costly turnovers, a blocked field goal, blown assignments by the nation's top defense and an LSU team that was better — and you have defeat.

"You hate to go out like this when things just went from bad to worse," Grant said as he headed across the field toward the team bus. "This was my last (OSU) game; you hate to walk out like this."

He didn't.

A few steps further— still pouring out his heart while looking straight ahead — he stepped in a pile of horse manure left by the mounted police unit that had patrolled the field.

It was the fitting end to a crappy Buckeyes' night.