Ohio State kept the faith, and marked the end of SEC dominance of college football

The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Oregon Ducks are going to the college football national championship game. Ohio State beat Alabama, 42-35, in the Sugar Bowl. Oregon beat Florida State, 59-20, in the Rose Bowl. (AP) NEW ORLEANS — As an onlooker, you would think a team has plunged into great trouble when it has fallen behind 21-6, when its quarterback is making only his second start on a gaudy stage, when that quarterback has just thrown a ghastly interception, and when the opponent is a near-dynasty with the country’s most developed knack for finishing. Yet the Ohio State Buckeyes did not think that on Thursday night in a national playoff semifinal at the Superdome. They literally did not feel that trouble. This wasn’t because they had some rah-rah moment of brotherhood and pluck. This didn’t fall into the bulging sports file of pulling it together out of having “something to prove.” This was because they believed, one after the other through the merry late-night locker room, that the 21-6 score midway through the second quarter did not reflect accurately the goings-on on the field. They felt certain right down to their bones partly because they have a head coach, Urban Meyer, who has a long-established knack for convincing college players of things. They also have a head coach who knows his way around the Southeastern Conference, the level at which they were testing themselves for the first time as they opposed No. 1 Alabama. …

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