Hartline tries to quell doubts of Buckeyes' worthiness

Brian Hartline, who was second on the Buckeyes in receiving yards and receptions, says the SEC may play a different brand of football, but it isn't necessarily faster. John Biever/SI

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Don't start with B-Hart.

Don't come around him with your unproven, unscientific assumptions about "collective team speed."

That was among the messages sent by the Ohio State wide receiver at the team's recent pre-bowl media scrum, where it became clear that while the Buckeyes prefer their new, underdog status going into this BCS title game against LSU, they're also sick and tired of hearing they have no business playing in it.

Brian Hartline is a redshirt sophomore who questions the reasoning behind one of college football's articles of faith: that SEC teams boast superior "overall team speed" to Big Ten squads.

That widely accepted generalization is the main reason used to explain the Buckeyes' no-show against Florida in the national title game last January. But Hartline isn't buying it. The Gators didn't crush them because they had more guys with better 40 times. Recall that the Buckeyes defense didn't yield serial big plays; his teammates weren't suffering windburn as Gators blew by them.

"We gave up long drives, and our offense couldn't do a darn thing," says Hartline, who caught 46 balls passes season, his first as a starter, for 619 yards and five TDs. With the exception of five sacks -- Hartline concedes the Gators defensive ends were damn quick -- "They didn't have big plays on us, and they took advantage of their opportunities."

Hartline is better qualified than most to compare the conferences: He's been over the issue a hundred times with his younger brother, Mike, the backup quarterback at Kentucky, one of the two teams to beat LSU this season. (Yes, B-Hart will be picking the brains of Wildcats players for a little extra help).

"The biggest thing I noticed watching Kentucky and Tennessee," says Brian, is that they play a lot of man[-to-man]" -- a high-risk, high-reward philosophy more conducive to big plays. "In the Big Ten, you see a ton of zone, they'll give up the short play" -- forcing teams to sustain long drives.

In Brian's opinion, "there's no huge" speed gap between the conferences in which he and his bro compete. The SEC has more spread offenses, more teams hustling to the line, going no-huddle.

"Do I think it's a faster paced game down in the SEC? Yeah," he says. "It's just a different kind of football." That doesn't mean SEC has faster players up and down its roster.

"We're fast, they're fast," he concludes. "Clock speed has nothing to do with the outcome of the game."

The contrariness of Hartline was of a piece with a general saltiness I discerned among the Buckeyes. Think about it: they've been hearing about the Florida wipeout for 11 months. Between now and Jan. 7, they will hear ad nauseam, in detail, how they are inferior to LSU, and why they have no hope against a club from the SEC (against whose teams, it bears noting, OSU is 0 for its last eight).

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