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I will admit that I made a mistake in predicting the National Championship game. I gave Ohio State too much credit.

For the second straight year the SEC has shown its dominance over the Buckeyes, leaving their fans shaking their heads.

It makes me wonder how many years OSU can beat up on the little 10 for before the BCS keeps it out of the championship game.

I mentioned at the beginning of the year how OSU would have three to four losses if it were playing in the SEC.

Based on its 0-9 SEC bowl record and the last two games, I may have been generous.

Looking at the SEC teams, Ole Miss is the closest thing to a gimmie, home or away. Every other team could beat the Buckeyes at home, at least (yes, even Vandy. It lost to Georgia on a last-second field goal if you need proof).

The Big 10 is 7-8 in BCS bowls all-time, while the SEC is 11-4. That doesn’t sound too bad, but when you take away the first two years and make it since 2000, the SEC is 9-2, while the Big 10 is 3-8.

Ouch. Those three wins were all by the Buckeyes, with one coming against Notre Dame, who can’t beat anyone in a bowl game, nor deserved its BCS berth.

People complained about how lucky LSU got during the year, but look at all four SEC champions and you will learn that it takes a lot of luck to make it through that conference.

Only one of its champions went undefeated (Tennessee) and it, along with Florida and LSU this year, needed a great deal of luck.

The most dominant team of the past ten years didn’t even get a chance at playing in the National Championship game (Auburn, 2004).

What makes things worse for me is that OSU has a decent shot to return to the title game next year. Sure, it will lose at USC, but the Big 10 is ready for the taking again next year. Michigan will be in transition, while Illinois showed that it still has a way to go.

There will be two vital games for the Big 10 in non-conference action, with the OSU-USC being one of those. The other is Illinois and Missouri on the opening Saturday. The Big 10 has to prove that it can play with the big boys.

It is just so hard to compete when the SEC has over half of the top 10 recruiting classes on a yearly basis. It proves the great need for a playoff, but that will never happen, at least where the Big 10 is included.

I can’t blame Jim Delaney, though. If I was the commissioner and had an average team go to the championship game every year, I would want to keep the system too. As long as that happens, the Big 10 will also get two teams in the BCS, as was the case this year, to “hold tradition.”

In other words, OSU would be the fourth or fifth best team in the SEC the past two years. I know that Michigan beat Florida, but it was healthy finally and played its best game of the year, while Florida played average at best, and has a bad defense. Play the game 10 times and the Gators win seven or eight.

Until OSU or the Big 10 can prove its worth out of conference, NO team deserves the right to play for a championship.

So, Bucks fans, throw it in my face that your team at least made it to the championship while my teams (Mizzou and Tennessee) didn’t, but mine won their bowl games, beat Illinois and had LSU on the ropes until a pair of brutal throws.

A quick prediction for the USC game next year, the Buckeyes lose by at least two scores.

Tags: bcs national championship game, big 10 football, ohio state football, southeastern conference