Some Ohio State players encountered trouble traveling to Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl. In the end, Aaron Gant was the final Buckeye to arrive on Wednesday, and OSU was finally all together.
There is an array of storylines heading into the game with the No. 3 Texas Longhorns:
This is the third game between two national powerhouses in four years, a delayed rubber match of sorts.
Tonight will be the final game for 28 OSU seniors, including James Laurinaitis and Thorpe Award-winner Malcolm Jenkins, who will undoubtedly be first-round NFL draft picks.
Whether or not Beanie Wells or Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy return for their senior seasons is largely in doubt, although this week Wells said he has not made a decision either way and has not met all the goals he wished to accomplish as a Buckeye.
Terrelle Pryor makes his bowl debut and, while it would have been great to talk to the Buckeyes' signal caller leading up to the game, Tressel and Co. decided to leave him at the hotel, much to the dismay of Fiesta Bowl officials and all of the media covering the game.
Then there are the new plays, which will feature Pryor and Todd Boeckman at the same time.
The most important storyline for OSU is whether the Buckeyes can put an end to the streak of losses to top-ranked teams. I don't need to go through them all in depth; the names Florida, LSU and USC are all that are required to rehash the embarrassing performances.
Before each loss the talk was about redemption, a second chance and rebuilding the Buckeye reputation.
In the end, talk is cheap.
With the high-powered Longhorns offense, it won't take long before we know if the Buckeyes showed up to play on time, late, or, much like Terrelle Pryor at media day, not at all.
James Crepea can be reached at crepea.1@osu.edu.
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