Arguably the most intriguing National Championship game is tonight, pitting the Ohio State Buckeyes of the Big Ten against the Pac-12 champs the Oregon Ducks. With top-5 offenses going up against top-30 defenses, it bodes for one of the best finales to the college football season in decades.
As a Cincinnati Bearcat fan, though, you probably don’t have any skin in the game. Sure you might have some money on this one if you’re in Nevada or Delaware at the moment. But emotionally, who should you root for? This game will have you glued to your seat either way but just for shits and giggles which team should you pull for?
Well I’m here to help make that decision easier on you, with a handy-dandy fan guide.
Why Ohio State?
- Urban Meyer is a Bearcat. He showed no restraint in systematically dismantling UC the last two times he faced his former team but that doesn’t erase the fact that he donned red and black from 1984 to 1986 as a defensive back for Cincinnati. If OSU walks away with a national championship tonight you can bet many of the story lines from the local media will at least include a blurb about Meyer graduating from UC, which is always good publicity for the school.
- Also, Kerry Coombs! Love him or hate him, I’m undecided on the man, Cincinnati’s former secondary and special teams coach is now working with Ohio State’s cornerbacks. The players loved Coombs during his time under Brian Kelly and Butch Jones for his ferocity and motivational skills. In general the fans ate that up as well. No matter your feelings on him, you have to have a soft spot in your heart for the man who so embodies what it means to be a Cincinnatian.
- A Buckeye win legitimizes UC’s blowout loss in Columbus. It’s one thing to get throttled by Ohio State 50-28 on the road. It looks slightly better when you get throttled by national champion Ohio State 50-28 on the road. Cincinnati finished a respectable 9-4 this season but were blasted in the first half of the year, especially when they played the Buckeyes. None of those losses were forgivable but they sting a little less when one of them came against the eventual national champs.
Why Oregon?
- They’re not Ohio $tate. Yes the school whose president proudly and actively lobbied to prevent the state’s resources from flowing to the University of Cincinnati such that OSU could greedily fill their coffers is playing tonight. This might be the #1 reason to not root for the Buckeyes. Their win only provides more national praise for a university that has a history of elitism in their own state. It’s an issue that transcends a mere football game and creeps into the realm of burdening the lives of students who attend a non-OSU state university like Cincinnati.
- Bearcats and Ducks are animals and a Buckeye is a nut? Yea, this one’s a bit of a stretch.
- The Ducks are a lot like us. Whether it be the fast paced, score as quickly as possible offense or the history of consistent success in the last decade, Oregon and Cincinnati have to look at each other in the mirror and see several similarities. Plus, the Ducks are Nike’s test pilot for new uniform combinations and designs much like Adidas has done with Cincinnati in the past few years.
- UC and Oregon don’t compete regularly for recruits. Aside from Taft High School’s Dwayne Stanford a few years back, the Bearcats and Ducks rarely fight over the same prospects nor tread in the same recruiting grounds. That’s obviously not the case for Cincinnati and Ohio State who regularly visit the same high school players. An Oregon win tonight might not make a meaningful dent in UC’s ability to crowd the Buckeyes out in Ohio but an OSU win certainly would cause them to further separate themselves from the Bearcats.
So with that being said, who are you pulling for tonight?