For most of the college football head coaches with Mahoning Valley ties, it was a fall to remember.

January 1, 2008 at 2:00a.m.

Ohio State’s Jim Tressel has the Buckeyes (11-1) getting ready to play in their third championship game in six seasons.

Coming off a 2006 season where the Buckeyes were ranked No. 1 from the opening kickoff until the end of the BCS championship game loss to Florida (41-14), many thought the Buckeyes would spend 2007 retooling.

Ten straight wins to open the season put those thoughts to rest as the Buckeyes climbed to No. 1.

Then on Nov. 10, Tressel’s team was upset by Illinois, 28-21, in Ohio Stadium and the Rose Bowl appeared to be the most the Buckeyes could hope for in a bowl destination. But a funny thing happened after the Buckeyes defeated Michigan, 14-3, to close the season: The teams ahead of the Buckeyes all lost to close one of college football’s wildest seasons.

As a result, the Buckeyes are back in the BCS title game. (For those keeping score at home, that gives Tressel three title games in the seven seasons since he left Youngstown State for Columbus).

Monday in the Louisiana Superdome, the Buckeyes will face LSU (11-2), whose defensive coordinator is Mooney High and Ohio State graduate Bo Pelini. When the game ends, Pelini will devote his full attention to the University of Nebraska football program as he begins his first head coaching job.

Speaking of Mooney, another graduate, Bob Stoops, has Oklahoma (11-2) playing West Virginia in Wednesday’s Fiesta Bowl. The Sooners earned that prestigious bid by defeating Missouri in the Big 12 championship game.

Thursday, Mark Mangino, a New Castle, Pa., native who once was an assistant for Tressel at YSU, will lead his Kansas Jayhawks (11-1) against Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. It’s the first BCS bowl game for Mangino as a head coach.

With three coaches leading their teams to the five BCS games, it’s been a pretty good year to be from the Mahoning Valley.