Mere hours after this year’s NCAA National Champion has been chosen, I find it rather appropriate to complete my NCAA Football 08 BCS series by pitting the LSU Tigers against the Ohio State Buckeyes, SuperSim style.

Last week, I simmed  the Rose, Orange, Fiesta, and Sugar bowls, with the results all being at least casually believable. I did so by using the NCAA 08 SuperSim feature. For the four major bowl games, I simply simulated each play, as to work through the games at a fairly quick rate, only watching the actual plays on a precious few situations. For the BCS National Championship game, however, I deemed it appropriate to view each and every play. While the final result was rather agreeable (being the Big Ten guy that I am), the means to the end showed SuperSim’s flaws to a T. At any rate, here’s a glimpse at what SuperSim thought the result would be in this Big Ten/SEC clash.

Buckeyes Best Bayou Bengals
A pick-riddled contest brings Columbus second National Championship of the Decade

AP - Perhaps Machiavelli was onto something. Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel certainly thinks so: "We’ll take it any way we can get it," Tresel said with a smile in his post game press conference.

And take it, the Buckeyes did. Six times in fact. The Buckeyes defense picked off opposing quarterback Matt Flynn on six separate occasions, returning two for touchdowns en route to an unexpectedly lopsided 38-17 victory over LSU. Les Miles’ Tigers managed to keep the turnover battle close, however, with his ball-hawking secondary snaring five interceptions of their own, taking one back to pay-dirt.

"I don’t think anyone was expecting this type of a game," Miles somberly told reporters in the locker room. "The whole thing seemed almost farcical after a while." In a game that pitted two explosive offenses against one another, not even Miles could predict a game almost completely dictated by turnovers. Still, both quarterbacks managed to find the wrong colored jersey on 11 of 48 pass attempts, making for one of the most circus-like championship games in recent memory, and a fitting end  to a college football season that played out like Barnum and Bailey under the Big Top.

The early stages of the game were dictated by both defenses, as the teams jockeyed for field position through most of the first quarter. After a nifty punt return by wideout Early Doucet, LSU managed a 52 yard field goal attempt, which fell short. The disappointment was short-lived, however, as two plays later, nickelback Jai Eugene picked off a poorly thrown slant pattern in the direction of OSU receiver Brian Robiskie, and took it to the house, sending the vast majority of the Super Dome into a frenzy.

Early in the second quarter the "home team" made it a two possession game, with  junior kicker Colt David redeeming his earlier miss, this time from 38 yards.

Then the tide turned.

On the ensuing kickoff return, OSU Corner Malcolm Jenkins squeezed his way out of a scrum on his own twenty five, and took the ball 97 yards to the endzone. The Super Dome fell largely silent, with the exception of the few red-clad OSU faithful scattered throughout the sea of purple and gold.

On the next five possessions, Matt Flynn and Todd Boeckman combined for five of the game’s eleven interceptions, three of which occurred on consecutive plays.

"I don’t know what was going on out there," Boeckman recalled of the bizarre exchange of turnovers. "We were just fortunate to get the best out of the whole situation."

The Buckeyes were more than fortunate, turning two of their three second-quarter interceptions into touchdowns, one a 72 yard return by safety JaMario O’Neal, and another setting up a Beanie Wells 3-yard touchdown scamper with only 18 seconds remaining in the first half.

The third quarter was less turbulent, with both teams again fighting for field position. The lone fireworks in the third came with Boeckman finding receiver Ray Smalls on a deep corner route. Sixty-six yards later, the 3 ½  point underdog Buckeyes had a commanding 28-10 lead.

Although the Tigers did muster a Matt Flynn touchdown pass late in the third, they simply could not recover from the devastating second quarter. In the waning moments of the fourth, Butkus Award winner James Laurinaitis sealed the Tigers fate, taking Flynn’s sixth and final INT 75 yards for a touchdown, giving the Buckeyes a 38-17 lead that would stand until the final gun.

"It’s not how we drew things up, but you it’s how things went. I can’t tell you how proud I am of the resilience we showed tonight," said Tressel. "So much stress is put on individual statistics, even at this level. I’m pleased with the outcome, regardless of how it came about."

For Tressel and the Columbus faithful, this end would have justified any means. 

 
Hope you guys enjoyed the REAL national champioship.