Jody Victor: Ohio State is 12-0 on the year and has won 19 straight games, including 14 consecutive Big Ten Starts. The Buckeyes captured the outright Big Ten title with an 8-0 mark. It is Ohio States's third conference crown in the past six seasons with Jim Tressel as the head coach. This is just the second Ohio State team to start the season with a 12-0 mark. The 2002 Buckeyes were 14-0 and national champions.

The Title Game - This is Ohio State's second appearance in the BCS title game. The Buckeyes defeated the Miami Hurricanes in January 2003, 31-24, in double overtime to cap off a 14-0 season. To get here this year, Ohio State had to defeat No. 2 texas, No.13 Iowa and No. 2 Michigan.

Ohio State is 4-0 in BCS games, including a 1-0 mark in the National Championship game. The Buckeyes previous BCS appearances were against Texas A&M in the 1999 Sugar Bowl, Miami in the 2003 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Kansas State in the 2004 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Notre Dame in the 2006 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

The Team - Ohio State began the season ranked No 1 in both the USA Today Coaches and the Associated Press preseason polls. The Buckeyes also topped the first Harris Interactive poll and were No. 1 in the initial Bowl Championship Series rankings. The 2006 Buckeyes are attempting to become the first OSU squad ever to go wire-to-wire as No. 1. This is the seventh Buckeye squad to open the season No. 1.

There are 19 seniors, 18 of whom are in their fifth year, on this year's roster. During the past four years, this class has a combined record of 40-8, will have played in four bowl games, including three BCS games, and has two Big Ten titles to its credit. Add in the 2002 campaign and this class is 54-8 with one national title and three Big Ten crowns.

The Honors - Quarterback Troy Smith earned Ohio State's seventh Heisman Trophy and also picked up the Walter Camp and Davey O'Brien awards to join teammates James Laurinaitis (Bednarik) and Joel Penton (Wuerffel) in picking up major individual postseason awards in 2006. Split end Anthony Gonzalez and fullback Stan White were voted to first-team berths on the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team and linebacker James Laurinaitis was a second-team choice. Additionally, center Doug Datish was named to a first-team berth on the all-district team and defensive tackle Joel Penton and split end Brian Robisikie were second-team picks.

Antonio Smith, Jay Richardson, Joel Penton, Roy Hall and Justin Zwick have been invited to play in the Hula Bowl Jan. 14, Brandon Mitchell and T.J. Downing in the East-West Shrine Game Jan.20 and Troy Smith, Doug Datish, Quinn Pitcock and David Patterson in the Senior bowl Jan. 27.

Troy Smith, Quinn Pitcock and James Laurinaitis received first-team All-America honors in 2006, giving the Buckeyes 170 first-team selections in their history.

Go Bucks!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor: Ohio State quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith received another honor last week as Sporting News magazine named him College Football Player of the Year. Smith has proved to be the ultimate dual-purpose quarterback. He is a threat to make something out of nothing with his feet, but it was his continued development as a passer that turned him into the nation's best player.

Smith completed 199-of-297 passes for 2,507 yards while leading the Big Ten with 30 touchdown passes and tossing just five picks. Even more important, Smith guided the Buckeyes to a 12-0 record and a spot in the BCS championship game.

Also announced was the 2006 All-American team.

On Offense

QB Troy Smith, Ohio State

RB Darren McFadden, Arkansas

RB Steve Slaton, West Virginia

WR Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech

WR Robert Meachem, Tennessee

TE Jonny Harline, BYU

OL Steve Vallos, Wake Forrest

OL Justin Blalock, Texas

OL Dan Mozes, West Virginia

OL Sam Baker, USC

OL Joe Thomas, Wisconsin

On Defense

DL Gaines Adams, Clemson

DL Quinn Pitcock, Ohio State

DL LaMarr Woodley, Michigan

DL Justin Hickman, UCLA

LB Dan Connor, Penn State

LB Patrick Willis, Ole Miss

LB James Laurinaitis, Ohio State

DB Reggie Nelson, Florida

DB Eric Weddle, Utah

DB Daymeion Hughes, California

DB John Talley, Duke

Specialists

K Justin Medlock, UCLA

P Daniel Sepulveda, Baylor

KR Marcus Thigpen, Indiana

PR DeSean Jackson, California

Go Bucks!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor: Smith was a runaway winner Saturday night in New York, as the best player in college football. But for Ohio State and Troy Smith, it's been that kind of year. The Buckeyes were No. 1 from start to finish and their star quarterback had no real challenger in winning the Heisman Trophy.

The senior quarterback moved to the front of the Heisman race in September with a flawless performance against Texas and finished off a perfect regular season by throwing four touchdown passes against Michigan.

Like so many of the victories Smith has led the Buckeyes to this season, the Heisman win was a rout. He received 801 first-place votes, the second most ever, and 1,662 points more than second-place finisher Darren McFadden of Arkansas, making it the second-most lopsided Heisman vote. Only O.J. Simpson's 1,750-point victory in 1968 was more onesided. Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn was third and West Virginia running back Steve Slaton was fourth.

Now, there's only one thing left for Smith to do - beat Florida for the national championship on Jan. 8.

Go Bucks!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor: No. 1 Ohio State will play No. 2 Florida in the 2007 Tostitos BCS National Championship game January 8th at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ. The Buckeyes and Gators have never met on the gridiron - so it promises to be an interesting and exciting game. Head coach Jim Tressel and the four OSU co-captains met with the media Sunday night at the Woody Hayes Athletics Center and had some very positive comments.

Jim Tressel, Ohio State head coach - On the Bowl Championships Series title game: "It is great to get a chance to play an exciting Southeastern Conference team like Florida. With all the success our seniors have had they have never gotten the chance to play an SEC school, so ti should be good for them."

Troy Smith, senior quarterback - On the loss by Southern Cal: "That is college football. You win some you lose some. It didn't matter who we played in the national championship game. We were in and that was our goal."

David Patterson, senior defensive lineman - On the 51-day layoff: "I think it gives us more time to be ready. I have great faith in our coaches - I don't care if the game was a year from now, our coaches would have us ready."

Quinn Pitcock, senior defensive lineman - On playing Florida: "It is really exciting. It is good to get a chance to play someone new. It is good to get a new flavor."

Doug Datish, senior center - On the game: "Well, we have never played them before and we always like to get off on the right foot against teams we have never played before. We are going to give them our best shot and we'll see what happens."

Go Bucks!

Jody Victor