COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -Jim Tressel shuns the past – even when it involves perhaps the greatest night of his coaching career.
Presented with a question on Tuesday about Ohio State’s thrilling victory over Miami in the 2002 national championship game, Tressel sounded about as excited as a man shuffling off to dental surgery.
“I’m kind of happy about that,” he said, all but rolling his eyes after yet another question about how the 10 1/2-point underdog Buckeyes won 31-24 in double overtime. “That’s really made my day.”
On one level, the 10-year coach of the Buckeyes knows what happened on that starlit night in the Arizona desert has little or no bearing on Saturday’s first meeting with the No. 12 Hurricanes since. Still, every time the subject of that game came up, a game which provided Ohio State’s first national championship after a 34-year wait, Tressel acted as if he was on the losing end.
“You are testing my memory,” he said after another inquiry. “You know, I have not watched that game. Someday I’ll invite you all over and we’ll sit in our rocking chairs and we’ll break that game down and I’ll tell you what I was thinking, if I can still think by then. Gosh, I don’t know, there have been a lot of games since then and a big one to come.”
But Tressel and the second-ranked Buckeyes certainly know that “big one” still will be influenced by what happened eight years ago.
“It’s kind of more about tradition and what they’ve done through their history or what Ohio State has done through its history,” cornerback Chimdi Chekwa said. “The ’02 national championship kind of makes it even bigger than what it would be.”
Buckeyes center Mike Brewster grew up in Orlando, Fla., and always dreamed of being a Hurricane.
“When I was in the eighth and ninth grade, one of my defensive coaches, he was a big ‘Canes fan,” Brewster said. “I’d go to camp there and, man, I was just dreaming. I said, ‘I want to play at Miami someday.”’
But that was before Miami fell on hard times.
Some say the turning point for Miami’s program might have been the loss to Ohio State. The Hurricanes were within one yellow flag – a late, late pass interference call on a fourth-down incompletion in the first overtime – from successfully defending their 2001 national title.
Had they beaten the Buckeyes, perhaps things might have been different.
But, instead, tailback Maurice Clarett tumbled over the goal line for a touchdown in the second overtime and the Ohio State defense held, Ken Dorsey’s pass falling incomplete on fourth down from the Ohio State 2.
Ohio State has gone on to a decade of prominence if not dominance, winning the last five Big Ten titles and favored to capture a record-tying sixth. Despite lopsided losses in the national title games after the 2006 and 2007 seasons, the Buckeyes have seldom been out of the big-game spotlight since upsetting the top-ranked Hurricanes in Tempe, Ariz., on Jan. 3, 2003.
Miami didn’t falter right away. Coach Larry Coker – who was 24-0 heading into the Ohio State game – went on to records of 11-2, 9-3, 9-3 and, finally, 7-6 in 2006 before he was forced out and Randy Shannon was brought aboard. The Hurricanes, accustomed to being one of the most feared and respected programs over the last two decades, were suddenly an afterthought.
Now they’re back to prove they belong in the national discussion.
“Growing up in Florida, you always hear about Miami,” Brewster said. “Of course, everyone knows about the ’02 game. There’s a lot of stuff riding on this game.”
Tressel, despite running away from reminiscing about the last meeting, acknowledges the last meeting will still reverberate on Saturday afternoon at Ohio Stadium.
“Anytime you’ve competed before, there’s a natural sort of rivalry,” he said. “The fact we’ve competed before and everyone knew it and everyone knows it, now, will that make any difference? Not compared to the decisions we make on the field and the execution we have. But will it add a little bit more fun to it? Absolutely.”
No one knows that more than the Florida native, Brewster.
“There’s so much history down there,” he said. “It’s like at Ohio State: They expect to win every year. They did have a few rough years, but football goes in cycles and everyone has their rough years. But they’re back and they’re a really good team again.”
Add A Comment