NEW ORLEANS -- Trophy in hand, a victory T-shirt thrown on over his pads and a smirk on his face, Darron Lee arrived back at the Ohio State locker room on the back of a golf cart.
“Underdogs again,” the freshman linebacker said, shaking his head. "The whole world had us losing this one, right? No shocker, no shocker."
The surprise at this point might actually be if the Buckeyes didn't deliver when they weren't expected to win.
Betting against the Buckeyes certainly hasn’t been a winning proposition lately, and writing them off has become one of the most dangerous things to do for a team that has made a habit of overcoming adversity and proving people wrong.
No. 1 Alabama became Ohio State's latest victim in a stunning 42-35 win in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Thursday night, putting the No. 4 Buckeyes on the brink of a national championship just a few months after being almost universally dismissed as a contender.
They weren’t supposed to be able to overcome the loss of quarterback Braxton Miller in August. They plugged in not one, but two different passers and kept right on rolling to a Big Ten title with J.T. Barrett and then Cardale Jones leading the attack, the latter now undefeated in two postseason games that double as the only starts of his career.
They weren’t supposed to be part of the four-team College Football Playoff field after losing at home in Week 2 to Virginia Tech. But all those inexperienced players who were overwhelmed early in the season zipped through the learning curve, with a host of freshmen and sophomores delivering for the Buckeyes ahead of schedule, led by game-breaking, running back sophomore Ezekiel Elliott.
And they weren’t picked to win on the road at Michigan State in November, in the conference title game against Wisconsin last month or in a matchup with the mighty SEC on Thursday with a berth in the College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T on the line.
But one after another, the doubts have been silenced and Ohio State has proved it once again belongs on the biggest stage in the game -- where in all likelihood it will have its chances of beating Oregon on Jan. 12 questioned, just like normal.
“Ohio State is never an underdog,” left tackle Taylor Decker said. “Everybody else can say that, but we never believed that. We know we can play with any team in the country, and any team in the country knows that we can play with them.
“People said we didn’t have a chance. People have been saying that all year, but it hasn’t got into this locker room.”
The players inside it have clearly developed a chip on their shoulder along the way, and they poured their frustration out on the Crimson Tide.
Of course, the Buckeyes did have to make their own odds a little longer one more time, digging a 15-point hole in the middle of the second quarter and looking like they truly weren’t ready for prime time.
But Jones overcame a shaky start that included an interception by bouncing back to throw for 243 yards and a touchdown while adding 43 yards on the ground. Elliott shook off an early fumble by gashing the normally stout Alabama defense for 230 yards and a pair of scores on the way to offensive MVP honors. And the other guy clutching an individual trophy and riding next to him on that golf cart in a hallway deep in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome sparked a defense that was hit for some big plays in the first half with Lee flying around to make three tackles for loss and rack up a couple of sacks.
“Alabama plays great football, but so do we,” defensive tackle Michael Bennett said. “Everybody that was saying that we couldn’t win, I’m wondering, ‘Are you watching film?’ When we watch film, we can their weaknesses and we can see where we can expose them. That’s what we did.
“You can’t help but hear it sometimes, and we’re not excited to be the underdogs. It’s actually kind of annoying. We do what we do and we prove what we prove, and for one reason or another, it comes out that we’re not good enough somehow. That’s frustrating, but it gives us more intensity, more fuel and it’s worked out so far.”
The fire couldn’t possibly be burning any hotter for the Buckeyes. And now they get one more chance to play the role of spoiler, this time with a national championship suddenly within reach.
