6 degrees ... Ohio Dominican and LSU
Posted: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 5:55 AM
Panther Field, where Ohio Dominican University plays its football games, is less than eight miles away from the Horseshoe, but they might as well be light-years apart. That’s the relative distance between the Panthers and the Ohio State Buckeyes.
One football squad carries wears an NAIA label and played its first game in 2004. The other has a Big Ten pedigree and is synonymous with the game itself.
Although only one of these Columbus-based universities got the chance, both apparently had very little chance of beating LSU this past season.
It isn’t much consolation, but at least the Buckeyes can say that they beat Michigan, which beat Florida, which beat Kentucky, which beat LSU.
But, believe it or not, the Panthers can too.
(This is what people like me do when there are no football games to watch over the weekend.)
Check this out:
During the 2007 season, the Ohio Dominican Panthers defeated
… the Tiffin Dragons (30-22) which defeated
… the Glenville State Pioneers (34-14) which defeated
… the Fairmont State Falcons (31-21) which defeated
… the Newport News Apprentice Builders (3-0) which defeated
… the Morrisville State Mustangs (50-21) which defeated
… the Brockport State Golden Eagles (20-19) which defeated
… the Cortland Red Dragons (28-14) which defeated
… the Western Connecticut State Colonials (27-26) which defeated
… the Iona Gaels (41-37) which defeated
… the Wagner Seahawks (17-14) which defeated
… the Marist Red Foxes (24-14) which defeated
… the Georgetown Hoyas (37-34) which defeated
… the Bucknell Bison (20-17) which defeated
… the Fordham Rams (38-24) which defeated
… the Colgate Raiders (34-31) which defeated
… the Towson Tigers (27-17) which defeated
… the Richmond Spiders (23-21) which defeated
… the Wofford Terriers (21-10) which defeated
… the Appalachian State Mountaineers (42-31) which defeated
… the Michigan Wolverines (34-32) which defeated
… the Florida Gators (41-35) which defeated
… the Kentucky Wildcats (45-37) which defeated
… the Louisiana State Tigers (43-37 in triple overtime) which
… won the BCS national title.
Outside of the obvious—Appalachian State’s upset at Michigan—the most influential game within this string of two dozen teams was Georgetown beating Bucknell on Oct. 20. That was the lone bright spot of the season for the Hoyas, who lost 10 of their 11 games, including 55-0 and 45-0 whitewashings at the hands of Holy Cross and Lehigh, respectively.
So, Ohio Dominican can thank Georgetown placekicker/punter Eric Bjonerud for his 38-yard field goal with 10 seconds left that beat Bucknell, 20-17, and made the Panthers’ glorious 23-degrees of separation from LSU possible.
