Closer Look

Ohio State strangely out of character as Sugar Bowl dream dies

By Stewart Mandel, SI.com

Shane Olivea couldn't beat to watch Michigan win the Big Ten title. AP

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- On a first down from his own 36 early in the second quarter, John Navarre dropped back, narrowly avoided a sack and delivered a pass that headed right to the hands of Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk.

It was about to become one of those plays on which the Buckeyes have feasted the past two seasons, capitalizing on an opponent's mistake to counteract their own offensive struggles.

Only on this occasion, the ball went through Hawk's hands and fell incomplete. On the very next play, Navarre delivered a strike to receiver Braylon Edwards, who dodged two tacklers and raced 64 yards for a touchdown to give the Wolverines a 14-0 lead.

Missing tackles -- not to mention golden opportunities -- is not something Jim Tressel's teams normally do. But then, this was hardly a normal day in the life of the previously charmed Buckeyes.

Their hopes of repeating as national champions died, strangely enough, in an offensive shootout.

"Obviously, it was a different scenario than we've played under recently," said Ohio State coach Jim Tressel after his team rallied from two 21-point deficits to make it 28-21 before falling to Michigan 35-21.

Starting with an 18-play, 89-yard first-quarter drive, Michigan moved the ball on the Buckeyes' defense like few have the past two seasons.

Using a bevy of screens and timing patterns, Navarre was highly effective getting the ball in the hands of playmaking receivers like Edwards, who promptly used their speed to tack on yards after the catch against OSU's often helpless defensive backs. And tailback Chris Perry, who finished with 154 rushing yards, gained more yards in the first half (53) than the Buckeyes' top-ranked rush defense had been averaging for an entire game.

Ohio State's defense, which had allowed an average 275.7 yards of total offense its first 11 games, surrendered 448 to the Wolverines.

"Michigan has done an excellent job all along of being balanced," said Tressel. "I thought they executed well. Michigan's always going to have excellent personnel, but your excellent personnel still has to execute."

The reason the game remained close in the fourth quarter, however, was that Ohio State's defense was hardly alone in its uncharacteristic effort.

It took until the 12th game of the season, and it took Ohio State falling behind 21-0 at that, but suddenly the Buckeyes' previously horried offense came alive. In leading the Buckeyes on a 12-play, 81-yard drive just before halftime, QB Craig Krenzel threw the ball around the field with precision, going 8-of-9 for 63 yards, and as a runner he proved nearly impossible to bring down, gaining 18 yards on three attempts. He capped it with a beautiful 8-yard fade to Santonio Holmes.

Even after Krenzel went down with a shoulder injury, Scott McMullen led the Bucks on a 10-play, 93-yard touchdown drive to cut the score to 28-21. The two finished a combined 28-of-46 for 329 yards.

Where was this all season?

"We thought if we get control of the game, Ohio State would have trouble playing from behind, but they played very well from behind," said Michigan coach Lloyd Carr. "Nobody ever would have thought they would throw for that kind of yardage, but they changed the tempo of the game, they made it very hard for us to pressure the quarterback."

So, why did the Buckeyes' comeback ultimately fall short? Because in another strange twist, they managed to go an entire game without pulling off any of their patented big plays on defense or special teams.

In one of the most important sequences of the game, after Ohio State had closed within a touchdown, early in the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes forced their only turnover of the game when cornerback Chris Gamble picked off an underthrown deep ball to Edwards at the Michigan 36.

On another day, Gamble may have found himself in position to break a big return and Ohio State would have capitalized. Instead, the Buckeyes, which had scored on two of their previous three possessions, went three-and-out, with Grant Bowman sacking McMullen on third down.

To add insult to injury, Michigan's Steve Breaston muffed the ensuing punt return deep on his side of the field, but the Buckeyes were unable to recover.

"You get to a couple moments where you have to make the play to make a difference," said Tressel. "We just didn't do that. They came out and did the things that championship teams do. We did not come out and do the things you need to do to be Big Ten champion."

Though there were so many things unusual about the day the Buckeyes' title run came to an end, there was at least one familiar trait: They did not go down without a fight. Though they're eliminated from the Sugar Bowl, they have a decent shot at a BCS at-large berth thanks to Washington State's Apple Cup loss and will finish no worse than the New Year's Day Capital One Bowl.

"It's frustrating," said McMullen, a fifth-year senior. "To be that close to being back in the championship again and losing to Michigan, that does not make it any easier. But I think that our team will bounce back. We got a big bowl game coming and hopefully we will make the best of it."