While acknowledging “I can’t imagine many voters seriously arguing that Michigan deserves to fall lower than No. 2,”, the Detroit Free Press’ Michael Rosenberg would prefer not to see a rematch of yesterday’s Game Of The Century for the National Championship.
One could argue that the Wolverines “earned” a rematch with their valiant performance. Other than a controversial ending, it’s hard to imagine a better argument for a rematch: Michigan lost by a field goal to the No. 1 team in the country, on the road, despite losing the godfather of the program a day earlier, and U-M and OSU are clearly the two best teams.
But I would argue that the Buckeyes earned the right not to have a rematch more.
They beat Michigan once. Why should they have to do it again?
Afterward, Ohio State defensive tackle David Patterson called it “the happiest moment of my life.” And Michigan’s Mike Hart said, “It meant everything to us — (it was) for the national championship.”
I think they are both right, and I think they should stay right — Ohio State should take somebody else’s best shot in the title game.
(Addendum : The New York Times’ William C. Rhoden has a similar take, and hey, whaddya know, Michign are still ranked at #2 in the BCS, despite/because of yesterday’s 3 point loss.)
The Chicago Sun-Times’ Vaughn McClure writes that Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis, perhaps aware that even those attending yesterday’s massacre of Army might’ve been curious about events in Columbus, commanded stadium officials in South Bend not to disclose the score of the Michigan/OSU game
ESPN.com’s Joe Schad reports this morning that Miami are keen to poach Steve Spurrier from South Carolina, with Larry Coker’s fate a mere formality.