The End and The Beginning

For those of us that listen to sports radio shows and national media outlets, the Oregon Ducks enter this game as favorites. This feeds right into the mantra that helps fuel Ohio State and this run they are currently on. Ohio State entered this season full of hopes and aspirations. The second week of the season seemed too devastating for the Big Ten to recover from. The rest of the season became a mixture of relentless efforts, the creation of a brotherhood, and an "Us Against The World Mentality." This mixture has propelled the Buckeyes past all the doubters and into the Final against Oregon. The most unlikely of duo, considering only the faithful of the two thought this game would take place.

There were many games circled on this years schedule, which brought us to our knees last year. Michigan is always a test, but Michigan State was circled because of last years Big Ten Championship. We traveled to East Lansing and walked into a stadium that was supposed to give us a loss. We won our Eastern division and walked into Indianapolis against Wisconsin being told, yet again that we were going to lose. We would not be able to stop Melvin Gordon and the Badgers. We were given the ranking of #4 and told that we would face Alabama and that would be it. The unbeatable Crimson Tide would prove once more, that the Big Ten could not hang with the big boys. Ohio State is set to face Oregon Jan. 12, and the infamous Marcus Mariota. An almost unbeatable duo.

The media and college football seem to have a short memory though. We beat Michigan State; We blew out Wisconsin and held Melvin Gordon to 74 yards; We beat Alabama and held Amari Cooper to under 100 yards of receiving. Yet we are still not seen as equals to Oregon. What more do we have to do, not to be underdogs, not to be told our third string quarterback has been getting lucky, not to be told Oregon is too fast for us. Is it not ridiculous that we have the resume we do and yet Oregon is still considered better.

Ohio State wins this game because we have been told all year long that we are not good enough, we have been told all year long that because our conference is weak we are weak, we have been told our 3rd String Quarterback cannot possible compete with just two starts under his belt. These players believe in one another to the extent that they would not be able to look each other in the face if they did not give relentless effort. Our Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshman understand that this game will be the last for the seniors, putting on the Buckeye uniform. These seniors will graduate with a title to their name.

The one thing that can never be taken from this team is to be the Champion of the First College Football Playoff. That title will never be had again.

My Prediction: Ohio State 49 Oregon 24

O-H!