Ohio State-Michigan: My Post Game Emotions

By Joseph Barry on November 30, 2012

Normally when your team caps off a perfect season, you feel a sense of pride, excitement and accomplishment. I’ve experienced it twice now, what with growing up rooting for the Texas Longhorns in football. The success and achievement that Vince Young led, the 13-0 perfect season; it was something of beauty, especially his performance in the national championship against USC. I also felt the opposite when, four years later, the Longhorns lost in the national championship game to the Crimson Tide of Alabama. Sheer devastation flooded my body as I thought how close the Longhorns had come to perfection, only to lose it in the final game of the season, which everyone knows is the most important. The season was successful (any team that finishes with only one loss is a darn good team), but in a sport like college football, the fans crave perfection.

As I walked to the Ohio State-Michigan game, I knew that in roughly three to four hours, I’d either be feeling how I did after the 2005 national championship game or the 2009 game. After all, this game was Ohio State’s bowl game, so to speak. Regardless of the outcome, The Game would be the final game of the season for the Buckeyes.

The game played out, I watched it from the south end zone, yet I never felt a true sense of worry. It was a slow game, relatively speaking, and perhaps even a bit boring to watch if you didn’t have a team in it. However, watching the game, especially the second half in which the Wolverines were shut out by the Buckeye defense, I never felt that OSU would lose, despite holding onto a small 5 point lead for a majority of the game.

The fans rush the field to celebrate the perfect 12-0 season; photo by Joseph Barry

Then it was over. Ohio State finished 12-0. No shot for the Big 10 championship; no chance for the crystal ball. As I rushed the field, I thought that I would feel more excited than I did at the moment. Maybe I was just being greedy and not cherishing the fact that the team achieved as much as they could this given season, however, a desire for more gnawed at me.

I think it’ll take a while to comprehend, as a fan, how much this team accomplished–something the players and coaches realized as soon as the clock hit 0:00 during their final game. The coaches understand how hard it is to stay motivated during a season where you essentially you have nothing to play for. The players are proud of this accomplishment and those who are not graduating already have their eyes set on next year.

For fans, though, this will always be the season that could have been great, but ended up tarnished due to a couple of tattoos and a bowl ban.

 

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