I’m not trying to be a wise aleck here.  And I realize you can, for one example, look at the size of the offensive and defensive lines as a starting point in assessing the battle in the trenches, which is so critical. But how do you account for relative quickness of individual players in those battles?

I still remember Super Bowl III when the Colts were HUGE favorites over the Jets.  Yes, the Jets were in the league which had attracted fewer of the big names on the draft boards—but there was still considerable talent in the AFL.  And neither team had played any comparable opponents back then, which I think affected predictions.  And we all know how that turned out.

Coming back to the present day: the CFP committee with a bunch of former coaches, players, etc who watch countless hours of film have yet to pick the eventual CFP champion.  By that I mean, every single one of the committee’s number one seeds has failed to wind up as national champion.  And I imagine at least some of that inability to correctly identify the top team has to do with the regional nature of much of college football and the relative absence of common opponents.

So, what do any of us really know about exactly how Ohio State and Clemson will match up on Saturday?  I unfortunately still think back to Ohio State-Florida—and I still haven’t quite grasped how the hell the game turned out that way based on what I thought I knew from watching the two teams prior to the BCS game.

This year’s squad seems to be as talented and as balanced a Buckeyes team as I have ever seen—and I surely hope they wind up 15-0.  But the only thing I know for sure about Saturday is that my blood pressure numbers and heart rate will significantly increase—unless Ohio State somehow manages to pull off a repeat of the 2014 Big Title game.   And, who knows—anything is possible, right?