And you know what? It won't matter.
By the time the Fiesta Bowl is over, the scarlet on the shirts of the tens of thousands of Ohio State fans will match the color on their faces. The famous "Script Ohio" will look more like a "Scrapped Ohio." The traditional dotting of the "I" will be replaced by the burning of the game tape.
Mark my words: The Buckeyes players will get hit in the mouth so hard and so often, they'll think Woody Hayes still is coach.
These simple, poor, plodding people are getting ready to step into another realm beyond their comprehension. Maestro, cue the Twilight Zone music, please:
There is a sixth dimension beyond that which is known to Buckeyes. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the sunlight of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area that might be called the . . . Hurricane Zone.
The Buckeyes will find out in the Fiesta Bowl this season what Nebraska found out in the Rose Bowl last season. They will learn that there is college football, and then there is Miami football. They will learn that there is intensity, and then there is angry, ratcheted-up, wild-eyed Miami intensity.
Miami football does not get intimidated when fans from bigger, more traditional college powerhouses pour into a stadium. When the 70,000 Nebraska fans flooded the Rose Bowl last year, you know how the 'Canes responded? They were so flustered they jumped out to a 34-0 lead.
When 86,000 Florida fans crammed into the Swamp earlier this season, you know what the 'Canes did? They beat the Gators like Ricky Ricardo's conga drum.
"We relish going on the road and playing in this type of atmosphere," Miami strong safety Maurice Sikes said after the 43-16 thrashing of Florida. "We're the 'Canes. We believe players create mystique, not stadiums and fans."
When more than 104,000 Tennessee fans jammed into Neyland Stadium earlier this season, you know what the 'Canes did? They scored on their first five drives and knocked three UT starters out of the game. Locals claimed it was the most devastating setback in Tennessee since a limit was placed on how many deer you could kill.
"What were there, 108,000 people here?" snickered Miami center Brett Romberg after the 26-3 victory over UT. "I'll give 'em this: They were loud for the first 35 or 40 seconds."
It doesn't matter how few are cheering for them and how many are cheering against them; the 'Canes remain unaffected. They've won national championships in the Orange Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl; this season, they'll win one in the Fiesta Bowl, too.
The 'Canes have won national championships with established coaches and they've won national championships under rookie coaches.
No matter what, no matter where, no matter when, no matter who, the 'Canes know how to win big games.
Ohio State's resurgence is a great story, but the story will end badly in the Arizona desert. The Buckeyes aren't going to come within three touchdowns of winning this game. Not with a quarterback who couldn't start for any of the five Division I-A teams in the state of Florida. The Buckeyes, bless their boring little Big Ten hearts, couldn't throw change into a tollbooth receptacle.
The Buckeyes run their offense to set up punts. Seriously. They punt, play phenomenal defense, get the ball back, then punt again -- this time a little deeper into enemy territory. This traditional field-position game might work against Michigan; it won't against Miami.
The Buckeyes of today play football like the Buckeyes of 30 years ago, when Woody Hayes said, "There are three things that can happen when you pass, and two of them ain't good."
Ohio State will find out that their old-school ways simply won't work against a program that wrote the book on new-age football. They will find out this isn't just a bowl trip; it's a trip into another sphere, another dimension.
Maestro, cue the music.
This highway leads to the shadowy tip of reality. You're on a through route to the land of the different, the bizarre, the unexplainable. Go as far as you like on this road, as far as you dare. It is a domain somewhere between sight and sound, a middle ground between science and superstition.
Next stop -- the Hurricane Zone!
Mike Bianchi can be reached at [email protected]
Seems like some current Buckeye fans could write that article today, but would call it the Trojan Zone.
