At 8:00 Monday night, the Ohio State campus looked like a ghost town.

However, bars on High Street were overwhelmed with the best damn fans in the land. These Buckeye faithful, fueled by a love of OSU football and beer, were very vocal about how much the game meant to OSU.

At Buffalo Wild Wings, Katie Sobie, a senior in sociology, said she was not nervous at the start of the game, especially when OSU jumped out to a 10-0 lead.

Sobie and her friends went to the Michigan game and saw how strong the Buckeyes were in the win against the Wolverines.

Her friend, Emily Sayer, a junior in textiles and clothing, agreed, saith that although she did not think the season prepared the Bucks for the game, the team deserved to be in the National Championship.

“Because of last year, they’re more prepared,” Sobie said.

Joe Nebistinsky, a graduate student in musicology, also said the game was all about 2007’s title match, a 41-14 loss to Florida. The Buckeyes were 0-8 in bowl games against SEC teams heading in to Monday’s game.

The Buckeyes are more prepared because of 2007 and all of Tressel’s efforts, he said.

“Jim Tressel’s career and rep is on the line,” said OSU alumni Jesse Paciorek. “It’s not imperative that they win, but that they show that they’re ready,” he said, adding a lot of people said the Buckeyes were not ready last year.

The pressure is not just on Jim Tressel. OSU had the reputation of the entire Big Ten to carry.

“I bet Michigan’s even rooting for us!” said Kelly Buhr, a junior in early childhood education.

“We’re obviously not favored to win. We slipped in the back door,” she said.

Some insisted that LSU was the underdog.

There were so many upsets, and LSU was the No. 2 team in the country, said Shelly Huffman, a senior in dental hygiene.

Others, like Mark Turkson, who graduated in business in 2007, do not think it really matters.

“Both teams came to play,” he said. “We’ll be all right.”

This was a rebuilding year for the Buckeyes, Paciorek said. The 2008-2009 team will be better.

“We’re not just happy to be here, but understand we could be here next year,” he said.

Everdeen Mason can be reached at [email protected].