Yes, let's pretend that Ohio State is going to waltz through the B1G every year. Should I remind anyone what Urban's record was the year after his 2006 national title? His QB won the Heisman by scoring 51 TDs.
Oh - and they lost four games.
His 2009 team? A great team, probably number two in the country that year.
And it sent him to the hospital. I'm neither a Buckeye nor Urban Meyer basher but let's not think we can stop the season right now. Yes, they looked very good in the playoff last year - but the bullseye on their backs just got bigger. Go back and look at how many teams looked all world and failed to repeat. 1989 Notre Dame was a better team than the 1988 national champions - but they didn't win it all. (Holtz himself said it was the best team he ever had). Nobody can project things like distractions, injuries, or the overall mounting pressure of game after game on college aged kids.
And Auburn? Rest assured that when they lose three games this year the natives will get restless. Auburn has a LONG and undistinguished history of following up awesome seasons with fans going ballistic shortly thereafter. Pat Dye was robbed of the 1983 national title and by 1986 folks were wanting to fire him. After he hit just a bit of a lull (3 straight SEC titles followed by a collapse and two-year crash), they couldn't wait to throw him overboard. Terry Bowden got fired six games after winning their first-ever SEC West title. Tuberville was eminently successful and after one mediocre year they tossed him overboard. Chizik got fired less than two calendar years from winning it all. (You'd think that would be grounds for keeping someone around a bit but not at Auburn).
Keep in mind I'm not one of the Bama fans who thinks Gus is a mediocrity who got lucky; I think he's a good OFFENSIVE coach and we will have to be on our game to beat them every year. But the rope is short in Lee County, and let's not start acting like he's the newest Steve Spurrier circa 1990s.
I have no idea right now - but just like when they pick us and we fall short, picking these is next to impossible. When Kirk Herbstreit (one of the few guys who knows what he's talking about) picks this game I'll give it some credence.