Oh, my! And the score was closer than the game. Florida ran around, over, and mostly past a plodding bunch of Buckeyes from The Ohio State University for a stunning 41-14 win and national championship.

Having picked the Gators I will resist gloating. Still, if I ever doubt that speed doesn’t kill and kill absolutely, I’m due for 2X4 upside the melon.

OSU was slow, like paint drying or representative government, that kind of slow. Sure Ted Ginn Jr. is fast and was lost but he has never been and surely would not have been a 27-point difference last night. Don’t even go there. The fact that he injured himself during a TD celebration is another subject for another day. Troy Smith would not have been able to throw long to Ginn anyway unless he could have tossed the ball 25 years down the field with a 250-pound Florida defensive end attached to it. The Buckeyes ended up with 82 yards total offense. Yikes! Tressel surprised me for two reasons: He went for it on 4th down and he had no in-game answers for Florida’s schemes. Leak picked that zone to shreds, yet OSU kept sending only three or four after him. If you are beating up Indiana and Michigan State, you really don’t get a good look at speed. Your blitz packages do not get practiced at game speed, either.

Nor did OSU’s defense have a.) a clue where Florida was headed or b.) the speed to catch them once they figured it out. For example, the Buckeyes’ James Laurinaitis is a terrific linebacker who won the award as best in the nation. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve the props, but, like his defensive brethren in red, white and silver, he accomplished plenty this season chasing down guys too slow to play for Florida.

So what does it all mean? Well, the BCS continues as college football’s biggest crucible, a barrier to giving Boise St. a chance to play one more or the SEC its due this year or a chance for casual fans to become diehards as they do every March when bracketology and madness break out all over.

Here’s one perspective: The voters need to consider more than what they hear from the national media. This year I thought that the national media (ESPN’s crew especially) was quick to crown OSU the best when they really only beat a pretty good Texas team and Michigan, whose claim to fame was a victory in South Bend over Notre Dame who did nothing. They all pointed to Mich/OSU and when the Buckeyes won, they believed that was it. If these experts really looked at games played, they surely knew that Florida was a dominating defense with athletes at every position. They had to know that while Michigan put up a 39 spot on the Buckeye defense, Florida had many more weapons that the Maize and Blue. Yet, if UCLA does not upset USC, Florida gets no shot at playing last night.

If we had a playoff, Boise would be right there, maybe not for three games (in an 8-team set up) but they earned a shot at the second round. I wouldn’t vote them number one, but they might be my two or three team. OSU does not deserve to be number two. After Nebraska was drubbed by Miami in the Rose Bowl national championship game, it fell four spots to number 8 in the AP poll. (Big Red had also been whipped at Boulder.)

Still, if one thing was proven this year, it is that you and I know as much as the voters and the Game Day crew and anyone with a national audience and an opinion. Only difference is the voters get to help choose who’s number one and who goes where and the others get to influence them.

Settle it on the field.