Sunday, November 21, 1999
Season of perspective for OSU fans
BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Given the drift of the season, you just knew Jonathan Wells wouldn't score. The Buckeyes tailback swept right, hurdled a tackler and disappeared down the Ohio State sideline. OSU's migraine season was about to feel a whole lot better.
Then again, maybe not.
Wells looked back, and kept looking. At the Michigan 30, the 20, the 10. Don't you just keep running and let the people chasing you do the looking?
Michigan's Todd Howard caught Wells at the Wolverines 6-yard line. Given the way the season has gone, you figured OSU wouldn't score. The Buckeyes didn't. Quarterback Steve Bellisari took a sack, and kicker Dan Stultz missed a 30-yard field goal.
A touchdown would have put OSU ahead 24-10 late in the third quarter. Instead, Michigan scored twice after Buckeyes turnovers and produced the inevitable. The Wolverines' 24-17 win put a blessed end to Ohio State's worst season in the last 12.
Which isn't all bad.
Micron PC Bowl? No thanks
Buckeyes fans are never hurt by a jolt of perspective, so here's some:
Finishing with fewer than eight wins for the second time since '88 is nothing to walk a ledge about. Ohio State can't stock the NFL ever year. An off season is to be expected. Be thankful, Buckeyes fans, you've never had an off decade.
A win would have put the Bucks in a bowl game. That would have been tragic.
Ohio State should go to certain bowls, or not at all: Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange. They have a lifetime pass to the Citrus Bowl.
But their reward for finishing 7-5 would have been a visit to the Wells Fargo Sun Bowl or the Micron PC Dot-Com Bowl or the Motor City Bowl. Which would have been awful.
Do you think John Cooper gathered his team in August and said, “Men, if we play hard all year, we'll have a chance to play in the Micron PC Dot-Com Bowl?”
Who but the oddest of Buckeyes fans could get geeked for a few days at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas? It's lovely there in December, especially if you want to fry an egg on your forehead. In the legendary Motor City Bowl, the Buckeyes would have played likely Mid-American Conference champ Marshall and, oh my god, what would have happened had they lost that one?
See? Saturday wasn't terrible.
Finally, some heart
“We lost the football game today,” Cooper decided. Meaning: Michigan didn't beat the Buckeyes; the Buckeyes cashed themselves in.
The OSU coach seemed in a mood to run over small dogs. The year has worn on Cooper, whose brow is now so furrowed you could plant beans in it.
“Why the great effort this week?” someone wondered. All fall, the Bucks' desire has been questioned openly. Against Michigan, it wasn't.
“Ask the team,” Cooper said.
OK. Team?
“If we had an answer for the problems earlier in the year, we would have solved what has gone on,” cornerback Ahmed Plummer said. “Today, we played hard and with heart.”
It doesn't say much that the Buckeyes played hard. The residue of hard playing is nothing more than the lasting scent of regret. As tailback Michael Wiley said: “Today we were fired up. In the past, we haven't been. Had we played like that (all year), who knows?”
Even fired up, the Buckeyes weren't better than Michigan. Bellisari threw two TD passes. He also threw two interceptions in the second half. Bellisari continued his season-long, run-for-your-life mambo. But he also made some blatantly awful throws.
From his 11-yard line after the missed 30-yard field goal, Bellisari threw across the middle and into the hands of Michigan linebacker Ian Gold. Michigan scored on its next play, to tie the game at 17.
He wasn't alone in giving things away. With the game still tied, Vanness Provitt fumbled a Bellisari completion at the Michigan 23. The Wolverines scored the game-winning TD after that.
It was a rare, wait-'til-next-year year for the Buckeyes. Sometimes, perspective hurts.
Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454. Fair Game, a collection of his columns, is available at local bookstores.
Michigan 24, Ohio State 17
Sports Stories
UC 94, Youngstown State 67
UC foe falls short only on scoreboard
UC NOTEBOOK
Memphis 21, UC 13
Xavier 96, Maryland-Eastern Shore 52
XAVIER NOTEBOOK
Bengals, prepare to meet thy doom
Ravens' Lewis shows off to teacher
Old Bengals embarrassed by clown act
Bengals-Ravens by the numbers
Players to watch
Who's got the edge
Mike Brown not the villain in this farce
