I'd say that was at least the third time Ohio State has screwed up the playoffs in recent years, with their mega talented teams either not qualifying in the first place or failing to advance.
I'm not sure there shouldn't have been some type of sanctions for losing to that incredibly limited Michigan State team a few years ago, the one Alabama toyed with.
As I posted after the semifinals, the Buckeye defense against Burrow would have been exponentially more interesting. Star athletes on all three levels. For whatever reason Dabo and Venables insist on playing a handful of feel good types. Look at our tough overachieving player. Great. Ohio State doesn't mess with that type of thing.
There was indeed a pronounced MPH problem in that game. Not too few from Joe Burrow. Too many from Trevor Lawrence.
I'll go back to my September summary of Trevor Lawrence: He is the Rory McIlroy of college football. That driver looks awesome when it is clicking, not only dictating outcomes but fooling toward a reputation as far and away the best. When the driver is not working or conditions don't favor it, then it is remarkable how many distinct flaws show up in all facets of his game. To force the golf analogy, Lawrence doesn't have the cut 6 iron into the breeze. He doesn't have the high soft 8 iron. He doesn't own all the wonderful nuances of a Joe Burrow, patiently allowing the play to evolve then adjusting pace and loft perfectly to match. With Lawrence it is one frantic line drive after another. Check the mechanics. It looks like a javelin thrower straining for two extra meters. No kidding you'll release early or late all the time.
Lawrence wasn't running 16 times against Ohio State because it was the best choice. He felt it was all he had, given the subpar efforts of his lead receivers and nothing else in his bag. Joe Burrow never would have resorted to something like that. He would relax and alter his targets and his style.
Burrow will get in trouble in the NFL if he's on a weak team and both flanks are crumbling to his outside. At that point be's boxed and can't use his awesome guile and footwork to create. His less than terrific arm strength will show up at that point. He'll look occasionally as bad as Rosen did this season.
That type of team is such an outlier in the NFL it is not worth considering.
College football games are so much more interesting than pro games because so much is at stake. One college outcome can define a conference, a region, a recruiting base, a coaching philosophy, and so forth. Pro outcomes don't define anything except who was best that season. You can see how Slimm was rightfully unnerved at that Clemson/Alabama result from last season, prompting the marathon Tua/Lawrence video analysis. That Clemson/Alabama outcome did not properly define the relationship between those two teams, the relationship between those two programs, or the relationship between those two quarterbacks. It may be the single most glaring fluke outcome in the 5+ decades I have followed this sport. The driver worked, with guys like Ross snagging with one hand. Alabama got stunned and shook up. That was the "No Mas" game.
Somehow Trevor Lawrence was elevated to all-conquering status based on a game in which the opponent quit.
