I'm not the type to sit around and ponder a loss. Sure the Gators chomped on a scarlet fluff Monday night. I won't even say that there was anything Ohio State could do right and the Florida Gators do wrong in the BCS National Championship game, but I wonder what if.... WHAT IF..... The earth DIDN'T revolve around the sun? With that in mind was there anything the Buckeyes could have done Monday night with their running game to make the game shorter and respectable? And I don't mean the 15 commercial time-outs or the 5 commercials between each snap. ( you suck Fox) Troy Smith is a talent, but you gotta acknowledge sometime during the game that your QB isn't going to be able to throw effectively. This became quite clear in the first quarter, and painfully moreso as the game progressed. With so much attention being placed on the wide-outs and Smith himself couldn't some of these big WRs do some blocking schemes for Pittman and most certainly Chris Wells? OSU did run the ball 23 times, but it was clear this defense had to be worn down to slow down. Sure the Gators defense would have been quick to the ball, but Wells is a talent. He is a big strong back that would not have been so easily tackled. Pittman is a good back as well, but Wells may have been the key to opening the defense. Wells does have a tendency to fumble so maybe that factored in. At least the committment to a running game would have made the Gators defense at the least second guess. Draw plays up the middle in many of Florida's schemes could have gone for some yardage. I guess if you knew you were only going to gain 82 yards the entire game, you'd think twice about your gameplan also. Yardage on the ground inevitably leads to yardage through the air via play action fakes, draws, end arounds, etc. I'm no coach, so I'm just guessing that once Florida scored so quickly and so often one would have to consider slowing down the game and limiting possessions. Maybe OSU was committed to the run and Florida just wasn't going to have it. Rarely though does a defense though shut down both the run and the pass so effectively. Apparently though Florida did. Was it the Gator's defense or the inept play-calling on the part of the Ohio State offense?So... WHAT IF...... Troy Smith had ran the ball more? He cut off a few good runs. One for a first down. One shy of a first down. The guy is capable of running, that's a given. Again, I can think of at least two critical 3rd down plays where Smith threw a horrible pass when he could have easily ran for the first down. Smith's running the ball also could have softened the defense of Florida. He's always had success as a pass first quarterback, but when things aren't working, take what the defense gives you. The lanes were there. The lanes were not taken. Did Tressel and his staff not consider altering the game plan? Again, I'm no coach, and I'm certainly no expert, however I repeatedly saw areas that could be exploited. So.... WHAT IF...... Ginn had played the entire game? Considering how the front four of Florida played, probably wouldn't have mattered. However, the short-passing game may have been effective. Dump offs, and crossing patterns may have worked more effectively with a deep threat. All in speculation though. Considering Ginn scored half of your teams points in 16 seconds of play, well speaks for itself. No real tie-in here.... WHAT IF...... There weren't two costly penalties in the first quarter, on Florida's first two possesions? How would Florida had responded starting from the 20? How would the OSU defense had responded? Simple questions but big keys to the game. Much harder to drive 80 yards for one score since Florida showed no real deep passing game. But this be because they played with the lead. However if you give a talented offense such as Florida's a chance to drive 80 total yards and get two scores, well you're in for a long night. And that's what OSU did. The first drive after the penalty went 7 plays and only 46 yards for the score. The second drive 5 plays covering 34 yards. Speaking of yards... WHAT IF...... There was a measurement on the fourth down call in the first half? Strangest fourth down play in my eyes. One of such importance, yet no measurement? Did they measure and I blinked? Tressel couldn't have challenged because he used his challenge earlier. ( A poor use of a challenge also I may add) But there was no second guessing. Florida made the call for the officials and the officials bought it. It was close. I'm not saying he crossed the 30 yard line or not. But, the view from the sky cam had it been reviewed may have changed some minds. The whole play was just surreal to me. Speaking of surreal... WHAT IF..... Chris Hetland just plain sucked like he did all year long? Just a sign that nothing was going to go wrong for the Gators Monday night. I have watched that guy kick, he really did stink up the team. Made me question everything about Florida at times when they couldn't even make a gimme field goal. But not on that night, not in this game. A 70 yarder was in order. I expected one just for, well, kicks. Didn't happen, but you know...it would have been good on that night. So, finally... WHAT IF The Florida Gators hadn't shown up for the game? I mean litterally shown up. Not like Ohio State not figuratively showing up. I mean litterally. Planes not landed, buses not pulled up. Just the scarlet and grey on the field. On that night Ohio State would have found a way, yes, to lose. WHAT IF I didn't whine so much you say? I'm not whining. Just now realizing how this team could look this bad so easily. Hats off to Florida. I'm not taking anything away from what they did on the field Monday night offensively or defensively. They did absolutely everything right. It was football conceived, practiced, and executed to its finest.Rarely do we get the chance to witness a game where everything just went right for one team and everything just went the opposite for another. But it happened. So many more WHAT IF's, but one could what if his life away now couldn't he? I'm over it. I hope my fellow Buckeye fans are also.