Football Championships

Start with the grass stains. He left the field wearing the most splendid of grass stains, long swaths of green stretching over his shoulders, across his chest, down his back, the badge of a linebacker. Now check out the number. He is No. 15, but his jersey was tugged and twisted so much, sometimes it looked as if he were No. 11, sometimes 17, the wrinkles of a lineman. Finish with the face.

Was it really that bad? Didn't it all, in the end, after five months, a thousand howls and 34 bowls, work out for the conspiracy theorists, playoff advocates and, most of all, Florida? Gators Coach Urban Meyer, sleepless after a night of celebrating his team's Bowl Championship Series victory against Oklahoma, spent Friday morning posing with national title trophies presented by the USA Today voting coaches, the Associated Press and the Football Writers Assn. of America.

Don't believe the pregame hype for Monday's Bowl Championship Series title game that claims Ohio State does not have a chance against Louisiana State because of the Buckeyes' lack of speed. Faster players can make a difference, but they don't mean much when they are not in position to make plays. Just ask Florida, which supposedly had a huge advantage in speed over Michigan but was handled by the Wolverines, 41-35, in the Capital One Bowl.

NEW ORLEANS -- After months of twists, turns, detours, U-turns and upsets, tonight's Bowl Championship Series title game has arrived. Ohio State (11-1) versus Louisiana State (11-2) in the Superdome is not necessarily the game everyone pined for or expected. USC versus Georgia might have done more to move the applause needle. Ohio State versus LSU is just the game that happened. Tonight is the relief you get when the fishing line gets untangled. Tonight is the BCS at its best and worst.

Whew! He might not admit it, but you know that's what San Diego Chargers' General Manager A.J Smith uttered Sunday as the clock ticked down on his team's tough playoff win. Whew! Finally! Or maybe something a bit less genteel. This game was a referendum on Smith, one of the NFL's best general managers -- and perhaps its gutsiest.

NEW ORLEANS -- Ohio State getting thumped by a Southeastern Conference school in the Bowl Championship Series title game is no longer a sentence, it's a ritual. Last year it was Florida doing the dishonor, Monday night it was Louisiana State, which spotted Ohio State a 10-0 lead and then switched the stop light to "geaux" en route to a 38-24 win in front of 79,651 at the Superdome.

NEW ORLEANS -- It wasn't a national championship football game, it was a Bourbon Street karaoke bar. It wasn't prime-time Monday, it was 3 a.m. on a Thursday. It wasn't a football team, it was wobbly warblers decked in flowery shirts, tight shorts and bad manners. And, once again, in the painful light of this morning, the college football world stands amid the sour and stained remains of its annual party while asking itself the annual question. Who let Ohio State in?

INDIANAPOLIS -- All night long, Billy Volek kept waking with the same nightmarish thought: Oh no, I've missed the team bus. By morning, the San Diego Chargers reserve quarterback had managed only a few hours' sleep and wasn't getting any more, not with a teammate banging on his hotel room door, telling him: "Let's go."

IRVING, Texas -- A week after his Mexico getaway, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo couldn't get away, from pass-rush pressure -- or from questions about his judgment. Not far away, teammate Terrell Owens tearfully came to his defense. At least the Dallas Cowboys can say they were knocked out of the NFL playoffs by a Manning. Only it was the other Manning -- Eli, not Peyton.