The Big Game?

So tonight is the BCS Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Championship Series Bowl presented by FOX. Pretty long name, huh? I guess the name needs to live up to the expected hype of the game. I admit that this is a big game, reportedly for the whole enchilada, but I am not that amped up. I don't know if it is a calm confidence or a weary dread.

Having attend to Ohio State during most of the Cooper years, I would approach big games imagining the worst possible outcome of the match. I would then multiply that by how many points we were favored, and then divide that product by the number of on-air analysts that predict an easy victory. The result often matched the number of points by which we would lose. Only three times did my theory not prove true: Michigan '94, Rose Bowl '97 and Michigan '98. Forget confidence. Forget optimism. It was a protective strategy for the title hopes and dreams of the Ohio State fan of the time.

Tressel has drawn me from my "duck and cover" position normally assumed during big games. He has proven many times that I am safe to have hope and confidence when it comes to the outcome of big games. For tonight's game, I have no worries, which, ironically enough, sort of worries me. I know that we have clearly the better team, as we usually did during Cooper's reign. The difference is that I know this coaching staff will have the team meticulously prepared and working as a single football unit, not a group of talented primadonnas wanting their Sports Center moment.

I think the weary dread stems from the fact that after tonight, the Ohio State football drought begins. I will have the game on TiVo to quench my thirst from time to time, but it will not be the same.

The game will be big tonight, but my anxiety will not. The Gators are talented and Coach Meyers is clever, but the night will belong to the Buckeyes.

Prediction:

Florida 13 Ohio State 31