Heartbreak Part 2: Bucks lose National Championship again

Tailback Chris Wells got an early start on his 2008 Heisman push with the longest run in BCS Championship-Game history just four plays into the game. Ohio State hushed the LSU partisans dominating the Superdome by effortlessly scoring the night's first 10 points. And the top-ranked Buckeyes seemed to be marching away with a redeeming championship victory.

Of course, like a year ago, it was too good to be true.

And as the shining opening act devolved into a flurry of embarrassment, ending with a 38-24 loss and chants of "SEC, SEC" and "Go Tigers" serenading a confetti-drenched LSU team, OSU was humiliated on the game's ultimate stage once more.

"Unbelievable," said tailback Chris Wells, who finished with a game-high 146 yards rushing.

To be sure, Murphy's law dropped a dagger on the hapless Buckeyes. OSU was called for several untimely personal fouls, backup linebacker Austin Spitler made a pair of game-changing gaffes and the scarlet and gray missed several openings. Yet, where greater teams would have elevated above adversity, the Buckeyes could not.

And so came cruelly crashing down a mostly magical run that began with the Buckeyes being picked to finish no higher than third in the Big Ten.

Just as it did a season ago, the loss transcends one night. The already suspicious national reputations of OSU and its conference have been damaged even further and the Buckeyes will not soon stop hearing of their 0-9 all-time record in bowl games against the SEC.

But for this night, the hurt still raw, the repercussion mattered little.

"The pain, you really can't compare it to anything," Wells said. "To go (to) the National Championship Game twice ... incredible."

The anatomy of a title implosion was ... well, refer back to OSU's 41-14 loss to Florida in 2007.

OSU's night began well enough as Wells sliced through the right side of LSU's line for a 65-yard touchdown run. And the Buckeyes drove 51 yards to set up a 25-yard field goal by Ryan Pretorius on the ensuing position.

But taking a cue from the 2007 bunch, the Buckeyes folded.

LSU scored and scored and scored and scored and then scored again, putting up 31 straight points as the Buckeyes made a habit of getting slashed by LSU's speed on the outside, blowing assignments in the secondary and failing to deliver critical stands.

The rest of the time, OSU destroyed themselves.

Evidence: first Spitler's muffed fumble recovery at the end of the first quarter. With the Buckeyes punting and ahead 10-3, linebacker Marcus Freeman forced LSU's Chad Turner to fumble at the Tigers' 16-yard-line. The ball dribbled directly to Spitler, who fell on the ball. But he somehow lost his grip under a pile.

"Those are the type of things where you may be inches away from changing the game," coach Jim Tressel said.

Instead of OSU possibly leveling a decisive blow, a pair of 15-yard personal fouls by defensive tackle Todd Denlinger and linebacker James Laurinaitis aided an 84-yard LSU touchdown drive that tied the game.

OSU's next possession saw a personal foul by wideout Brian Hartline and a dropped touchdown pass by receiver Brian Robiskie halt a promising drive before LSU blocked Pretorius' 38-yard field goal attempt.

After another LSU touchdown drive, Boeckman (15-of-26, 208 yards, two interceptions) was picked off throwing deep to Ray Small. Predictably, this set up another Tigers touchdown before the half.

So, despite out-gaining LSU 234 yards to 198, the Buckeyes went into the break down, 24-10.

The game formally ended on Spitler's second blunder on the second half's opening possession. On 4th-and-23 from the LSU 40, the Tigers finally had to punt.

Momentum looked to perhaps be shifting - and then Spitler ran into punter Patrick Fisher. How he missed the ball is a mystery, and the result was devastating: first down LSU. Five players later: touchdown LSU.

Game over.

And so was OSU's shot at redemption.

Even so, Tressel maintained a second straight title disaster, which will not - cannot - mean the season enters history as a failure.

David Briggs can be reached at briggs.166@osu.edu.