Rubber Match

So, it's Texas.

While this matchup had been assumed since Thanksgiving, this is a great bowl and a fantastic opponent. After getting curb-stomped by the Trojans, if you had told me the Buckeyes would end up in another BCS bowl game against a team that has a legitimate complaint to be playing in the MNC, I'd have taken it in a second.

The seniors are getting a rubber match with the team that gave them two of their most defining games in their time in Columbus. But better yet, the program is getting a game with nothing much to lose and plenty to gain.

Convoluted ranking schemes aside, the Longhorns very well might be the best team in the nation. After all, they beat an otherwise dominant Oklahoma, the same team that's playing for it all, by double-digits when they met in early October. That was the start of a murderous stretch of four games which saw them also face #11 Missouri, #6 Oklahoma State and #7 Texas Tech. A last second stumble in Lubbock ultimately killed their championship hopes, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a team with a better resume.

Barry Switzer is already talking about style points helping the Longhorns to a split title and that very well might happen, but there's something to be said for a team coming into a game that most don't expect it to win. That's especially so when the team is as talented as the Buckeyes. Colt McCoy and that offense can pile up points, but something tells me they haven't run into too many secondaries like Ohio State's.

It will be difficult for anything to top the hype of the last two times the Buckeyes squared off with the Longhonrs, but we'll take this one.