NEW ORLEANS — The 118-year-old operation known as “Big Ten football” goes on trial again Thursday night in the Superdome, where it will send its top dog to the wolves and hope its top dog also qualifies as a wolf.
In addition to sending either No. 1 Alabama or No. 4 Ohio State to the national championship game of Jan. 12, this hybrid semifinal and Sugar Bowl figures to answer a question: Has the Big Ten gotten any faster?
“I guess we’ll find out,” said the Ohio State defensive end and fast human Michael Bennett.
Whether Bennett and his teammates are fast only by human standards or fast by major-college-football standards remains up for debate. That debate owes its birth largely to the Arizona night of Jan. 8, 2007, and the Louisiana night of Jan. 7, 2008.
On those occasions of cross-regional fracas, Ohio State sent teams ranked No. 1 into two BCS championship games, then brought those teams home not ranked No. 1. In both cases, a shocking 41-14 annihilation by Florida and a less-shocking 38-24 romp by Louisiana State, the Southeastern Conference team made the Big Ten team look swarmed and swamped. After the first, Florida defensive end Jarvis Moss said, “Honestly, we’ve played a lot better teams than them.” After the second, Ohio State running back Chris Wells said, “It’s unbelievable to know you’ve failed two years in a row.”
Continue Reading: Sugar Bowl: Ohio State must prove it can keep up with Alabama
