Scars inflicted in Florida defeat have Buckeyes feeling anxious

Ohio State lost the BCS Championship Game, 41-14, on Jan. 8.

SCRIPPS HOWARD

COLUMBUS — That was an emotionally scarred and thoroughly humbled Ohio State football team that staggered onto their chartered jet and headed back here from Arizona seven months ago.

The 41-14 loss to Florida in the national championship game stunned a group that had been ranked No. 1 from long before the 2006 season started until their meeting with the Gators.

Time has helped and the wound is closed, but not completely healed.

As the Buckeyes started practice this week in preparation for the coming season, there is an anxiousness to finally salve the sting of the Florida defeat.

“You get over it and you move on, but you don’t forget about it,” Ohio State offensive lineman Kirk Barton said. “It’s hard to put something like that completely out of your mind.

“But what you want to do is start a new season, play another game, and really turn the page.”

Moving on

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said that the Buckeyes won’t labor over the loss to Florida or rehash the specific causes, but that there is something to be gained from a tough critique of an opportunity that was squandered.

“I think all of our people — coaches, players — everyone that was a part of preparing for and then coming up short in such a big opportunity, we’ll use that often,” Tressel said.

“It’s a great reminder when you don’t do as well as you can. You think I’m not going to make that mistake again. I think it’s just part of the growing process and part of your experience. I’m sure that all of us want to do better and do the best we’re capable of doing.”

The Buckeyes, who will open the season in Ohio Stadium on Sept. 1 against Division I-AA Youngstown State, admit to coping with a lot of shock after the Florida defeat — not just related to losing the game, but more so over the manner in which they were manhandled.

“With that big of a loss, you just don’t shake it off right away because it leaves you feeling stunned, kind of like devastated,” senior defensive end Vernon Gholston said. “You are in sort of a state of shock because you can’t believe it, like it was a real bad dream or something.

“You go into a big game like that thinking about winning and you are totally focused on winning, so a defeat of any kind is very hard to swallow, but especially one like that.”

Gut check

Junior linebacker Marcus Freeman said refusing to acknowledge the one-sided loss renders the Arizona experience in the national championship game meaningless, and he won’t do that.

“You don’t sit around and feel sorry for yourself over it, but you also don’t let yourself forget it. You do a gut check and prepare for the future — you move on — but you keep a little piece of that loss inside you to use as motivation. You know how you felt after that, and you want to do everything you can to never feel that way again.”

Ohio State junior linebacker James Laurinaitis said the Buckeyes were eager to open camp and start the process of creating a new reputation, and a new legacy.

“When things don’t turn out the way you want them to, it just makes you want to get back out on the field right away, and get rid of that bad feeling.”

Tressel said he sensed the same energy, both with his players and his coaching staff.

Freeman said he wants to see the Buckeyes push forward and work on a repeat trip to the title game in 2007, but he added that the abject disappointment that accompanied the loss to the Gators will be a major motivating factor.

“You gotta move on, and I think we’ve done that, but you never allow yourself to say you’re over it, or you will just forget about it,” Freeman said. “As a player, as a competitor, you use that lousy feeling to push you. You never want to feel like that again.”