By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Nov. 8, 1998

Close doesn't count in the Horseshoe.

Related Links Polls: AP | Coaches Week 10 with the Wiseguys Top 25 roundup Ohio State-Michigan State audio: Saban's team inspired Cooper was outcoached Germaine impressed by Spartans Show your pride with a Buckeyes Flag! Forum: Who should be No. 1?

The prospect of a national championship for Ohio State disappeared late Saturday afternoon before a tomb of nearly 96,000 people in Ohio Stadium. Dead silence. No cheering or booing from crazed fans. No "Hang on Sloopy" to sing in celebration.

The consensus No. 1 team in the country since the preseason, the Buckeyes fell to Michigan State 28-24, once again failing to achieve what so many had expected.

It's too easy to blame John Cooper, just as it has been with his 1-8-1 record against Michigan. The sneaking suspicion was these Buckeyes would fall to the Wolverines in two weeks anyway, so why be bummed?

OHIO STATE WON'T WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP as long as Cooper is coach. He is a great salesman. He apparently is a very nice man who cares about his players. He has good football knowledge and the innate ability to sell a great football school to exceptionally talented young athletes coming out of high school. The Buckeyes will win 80 to 90 percent of their games every year.

But Cooper is not a great football coach. He continues to prove the same thing time and again: When the going gets tough, he gets going ... into a helpless panic mode that becomes insidious with the Buckeyes.

"This one hurts," Cooper said. "There's no question about it."

Oh.

Understand, Cooper has limitations and, consequently, so does the program. However, this does not mean he should be fired. A coach who wins 80 percent of his games should not be fired unless he has committed a heinous crime. Contrary to popular belief, failing to beat Michigan virtually every year -- and now losing a game he led 24-9 at home to Michigan State -- does not constitute a crime.

The translation is as simple as learning to live with good and not expecting great. Great talent doesn't always result in championships. You also must have exceptional coaching and the mental capacity to keep reaching new levels of greatness, because that's exactly what the competition is doing to perennial powerhouses like the Buckeyes.

The loss to Michigan State brought back memories of college daze at Ohio State that were equally frustrating.

IN THE PAST FOUR YEARS, THE BUCKEYES have caused as much angst as Ohio State teams in 1974-75. Trouble is, the 1974-75 teams were better.

With exceptionally quick and clever quarterback Cornelius Green having the option of handing the ball to either Archie Griffin or Pete Johnson, those OSU squads had the toughest running games to defend in the nation. At least 60 percent of the offensive line averaged 10 years in the NFL. Wingback Brian Baschnagel had a solid career with the Chicago Bears as a wide receiver.

On defense, Randy Gradishar was a better linebacker in college and the NFL than overrated Andy Katzenmoyer -- who is more like washout Brian Bosworth -- will ever be. Does this year's OSU defense feature the greatest defensive backfield ever, as some are contending? No. It's not even as good as the one that featured first-round picks Neal Colzie, Tim Fox and the No. 46 in the Bears' "46" defense, Doug Plank.

What brings to mind the 1974-75 teams? They were both ranked No. 1 and failed to retain the top spot. They came close in Griffin's other two years at Ohio State. And like today, you couldn't blame it on John Cooper. The legendary Wayne Woodrow Hayes raged on the sidelines in those days, wearing white, short-sleeve shirts regardless of whether it was 85 degrees or 5-below.

In 1974, the Buckeyes were upset at Michigan State 16-13. The Spartans were led by Brad Van Pelt on defense, a quarterback named Charlie Baggett, and Hayes' contemporary, Duffy Daugherty. In 1975, Ohio State crushed Dick Vermeil-coached UCLA early in the season and rolled through the rest of the schedule as the No. 1 team heading into the Rose Bowl. Green had a horrible game in the Rose Bowl and the Buckeyes lost to the same UCLA team they had manhandled earlier in the season.

That wrapped it up for one of the greatest football classes assembled in Ohio State history. It made many of the students in Columbus numb -- particularly for a class that won in 1968, then came close but failed to win again with the likes of Jack Tatum and John Brockington.

Then again, not everybody was left numb. Some actually were there to go to school. Others didn't care about sports, or managed to keep it all in perspective.

As for the rest ... well, that would explain all the cynical sportswriters across the country.