Heisman Trophy winners rarely play their best in bowl games.
But in the days leading up to the BCS national championship game, Ohio State’s Troy Smith was not concerned with history–and not about to alter his preparation.
“If you do that, then you buy into the trap,” he explained. “That trophy was handed out a while ago. We’ve got another trophy to win, and that’s the one we’re thinking about.”
A noble sentiment, but after the beatdown Florida laid on Ohio State, the Heisman jinx appeared more fact than fable.
If that story line was predictable, this one was not: The team that supposedly didn’t belong thrashed the squad that was ranked No. 1 from the first day of fall practice.
Florida’s 41-14 victory gave the school its second national title, the first coming 10 seasons ago under Steve Spurrier.
The Ol’ Ball Coach was considered an offensive genius, but Florida did one better by luring coach Urban Meyer from Utah. “Urban Legend,” as they call him in Gainesville, improved to 4-0 in bowl games, 21-2 with more than a week to prepare and 61-12 in his young coaching career.
No wonder Notre Dame wanted this guy more than Charlie Weis.
Florida’s victory will bring a grimace to every Big Ten supporter but one–Illinois coach Ron Zook. He recruited and signed 20 of Florida’s 22 starters.
Zook was the only Big Ten coach in the USA Today poll to rank the Gators ahead of Michigan after the regular season. Maybe he knew something most of the country did not.
The game’s best quarterback, as it turned out, was not the highly-celebrated Smith. It was Florida’s Chris Leak, a pocket passer whom many thought would never fit into Meyer’s spread-option attack.
Leak, the game’s offensive MVP, completed 25 of 36 pass attempts for 213 yards and a touchdown.
Smith, meanwhile, finished with these mind-boggling numbers: 4 of 14 for 35 passing yards and an interception. He was sacked five times, coughing up the ball on one of them. To sum it up, a total disaster.
“It was a lack of execution on my part,” Smith said. “I have to take all the blame in the world for that.”
Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel offered a quick rebuttal: “I appreciate Troy’s willingness to take the burden, but I have to say it was a combined effort, starting with the coaches.”
Meyer, meanwhile, fired up his players by telling them how many college football fans and so-called experts believed they didn’t deserve a shot at the title.
“That was our edge coming into the game,” said Percy Harvin, who scored on a first-quarter run. “We wanted to show everybody that we belonged here.”
A more tangible difference in the game was the Gators’ edge in team speed.
“We said after the first series: `They can’t bear the speed that we were coming with,'” safety Tony Joiner said.
Florida’s offense, meanwhile, produced one score after the next.
On the same field where Boise State and Oklahoma combined for 85 points in the Fiesta Bowl, the Buckeyes and Gators tallied 48 points by halftime.
Glendale’s new motto: Where it only rains touchdowns.
Even the game’s first play was worth six points. Ohio State’s Ted Ginn Jr. took the opening kickoff at the 7, cut right, broke an ankle tackle, headed for the sideline and sprinted to the goal.
But it would be his only highlight. He left the game with a sprained ankle he apparently suffered while celebrating his touchdown.
Florida quickly responded with a seven-play drive that evened the score. Leak lofted a perfect 14-yard pass into the arms of receiver Dallas Baker. He goes by the moniker “the Touchdown Maker,” and it certainly applied.
Florida added to its score in less conventional ways. The Gators took a 21-7 lead on a 2-yard touchdown that resulted from a T formation featuring two fullbacks and a halfback.
Things went so well for Florida, kicker Chris Hetland hit two field goals in the first half, from 42 and 40 yards.
That might sound routine, but it wasn’t. Hetland connected on just 4 of 13 field-goal tries this season, and his long was 33 yards. Even ESPN’s Lee Corso, who picked Florida to win the game, had advised the Gators: “Don’t kick field goals–the guy’s not any good.”
Trailing 24-14 late in the second quarter, Tressel gambled and got burned. He eschewed a punt on fourth-and-1 from the Buckeyes’ 29.
Smith awkwardly handed off to Chris Wells, who got swallowed up by tackle Ray McDonald. A huge roar surged through the orange-and-blue fans in attendance, who were outnumbered amid the stadium crowd of 74,628.
Soon after, Florida then put a cherry on top. On third-and-goal from the 1, Meyer’s play-calling went from smart to brilliant.
Freshman QB Tim Tebow, his short-yardage hammer, took a shotgun snap and lunged forward, faking a run. Then he rolled left and flipped a touchdown pass to Andre Caldwell.
“We had a feeling all month they were going to bite on that,” Tebow said. “It was a great call by the coaches.”
A legendary call.
———-
tgreenstein@tribune.com
