Buckeyes grit reason for great season

Published 12:00 am Sunday, January 5, 2003

Miami fans will call them the "Luckeyes" after the fourth down interference call in the first overtime.

Ohio State fans will have to put aside their frustration name of "Choke-eyes" for all the big games blown in the past three and a half decades.

Probably the best name for them right now are the Alley Cats.

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All season long, the Ohio State Buckeyes have stared defeat in the face and found a way to win. Like a cat with nine lives, this team wouldn't die.

And the reason they wouldn't die is because they weren't just cats, they were alley cats. Tough street fighters who were incessant, continually clawing at the opposition.

The defense was the epitome of this attitude. When Ohio State won the national championship Friday with a 31-24 double overtime win over the Miami Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl, it was again the defense that stepped up.

Ohio State scored five times -- four touchdowns and a field goal -- and only one time did the offense move the ball more than 26 yards. Turnovers set up three of the scores, and the final two touchdowns were due to the overtime which gives each team the ball at the opponent's 25-yard line.

"The kids kept believing, the belief in (the coaching staff) and what we were doing. It just kept carrying over onto the field," Ohio State assistant coach Mark Snyder said.

"They had that never quit attitude. They were saying it on the sidelines. This thing is not over. They just kept believing. That's what good teams do. That's what championship teams do."

If the defense decided they should get the national championship rings and the offense only a T-shirt and hat because of their non-support all season, there would be some who wouldn't argue the point.

But the offense showed its toughness as well.

Craig Krenzel will never be anyone's first pick to play quarterback. He was just 7 of 21 passing for 122 yards against Miami, but he ran for 81 yards and two scores and kept making the big play time after time for the Buckeyes.

His counterpart, Heisman Trophy finalist Ken Dorsey, put up impressive numbers and played well in defeat with nearly 300 yards passing. Much has been made about Dorsey being 38-2 as a starter, but Krenzel is now 15-1.

Ohio State tight end Ben Hartsock could only describe this year's team as "truly blessed. We've had a lot of breaks go our way."

Hartsock is right, but you have to make a lot of those breaks, and you make them by playing hard, aggressive football. That's just what the Buckeyes did.

The Buckeyes won seven games this season by seven or fewer points. If they went back and replayed the season, no one outside of Ohio would be surprised if they finished with a 9-5 or 8-6 record.

If the late fourth down pass interference hadn't been called, Ohio State wouldn't be the national champions.

But you can say "if" to a lot of things. The bottom line is, Ohio State stood up and looked right into the eye of the Hurricanes and never blinked.

And if you can do that, you're going to come out ahead in the tough fights.

Just like an alley cat.

Jim Walker is The Ironton Tribune sports editor.