January 8, 2020 • 50 mins
Subscribe to the Special Teams podcast right here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/special-teams/id1481245350. Some called it the greatest college football game they’d ever seen. There wasn’t anything else in the world like the Ohio State-Miami Fiesta Bowl to decide the national champion of the 2002 season. Twists, turns, injury, drama and controversy dotted a spectacular close to a season in which the Buckeyes shocked the world. From a freshman tailback who was first a superstar and then a cautionary tale, to the contributions of a surprising two-way standout, OSU always found a way to win. But that Fiesta Bowl. My goodness.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Look for your children's eyes and you will discover the
true magic of a forest. Find a forest near you
and start exploring it. Discover the Forest dot org. Brought
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AD Council. I'm John Gonzalez, the host of s i
s new podcast, Sports Illustrated Weekly. Sports Illustrated has delivered
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and now that continues. On our show. Each week, we'll
dive deep into the best stories from around the sports world.
Sports Illustrated Weekly is available every Wednesday on the I
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who moved to this country, that feeling lasts more than
a moment. We can change that. Learn how it Belonging
begins with us dot org. Brought to you by the
AD Council. Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I
Heart Radio Greetings and Welcome inside the latest Special Teams
(01:22):
with Jason Smith and Mike Harmon podcast. On Special Teams,
we take a look back at individual seasons in sports
history and celebrate what made them so great. For those teams,
whether it's football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, archery, highlight. We're
gonna go back and look at highlight at some point.
I can't wait the history of highlight. Maybe in a
little AUSSI rules football, oh AFL, Collingwood Magpies, Yeah, okay,
(01:46):
uh goat roping? Is there really great moments and great
single seasons and goat roping history? I don't know. Calf roping, Oh,
calf roping, go roping. No, but I'll go to calf rope.
I don't know. I think there's any kind of roping.
I don't know. Maybe they're state fair that we can
find some great stats, are great performances. I don't know.
I watched the King of the Hill episode where Bobby
(02:07):
became a rodeo clown, so suddenly that was in my head.
In that game, it was rope ro ro ro ro ro.
Uh So Today on the podcast again, your host Jason
Smith Mike Harmen. Our show is heard on Fox Sports
Radio Monday through Friday ten pm to two am, East
Coast time, seven pm to eleven pm on the West
Coast run over four D affiliates coast to coast. You
get our special brand of entertainment, humor, and whatever Harmon
(02:31):
decides he wants to say on a daily basis, Hey,
sometimes you gotta take it left turn and take people
down the road they don't know they want to go on.
And that's what we do each and every night. Tonight
is a tough road because my wife, being a Michigan
fan going to Michigan, She's had to sit around all
week while I have had notes on the two thousand
two Ohio State buck eyes all around the house, pictures
(02:53):
of Maurice Clarette and all those guys Crenzel. I got
big fat heads on the wall. Why do you have
this Ohio State because we're gonna do Ohio State this week.
But I can't just put it somewhere. I don't see it.
I said, look, we did Michigan. She was, yeah, just
put this someplace else. So I had to put it someplace.
That's kind of that's anger. The two thousand two Ohio
State Buckeyes, who played one of the most memorable national
(03:15):
championship games ever, became legendary over the course of this
college football season, and in January, one of the great
college football years of all time in Ohio States started
two thousand and two the second year under Jim Trestle,
who you could tell there was something special going on
because it was the year before when he got hired
(03:36):
from Youngstown State and he got up at the basketball
game and said, you'll be proud of this team. In
three and twelve days and we played the Michigan Wolverines.
They played them, they beat them, and you realize, wait
a minute, this guy maybe ushering in the non John
Cooper era of Ohio State football, where Ohio State had
plenty of chances in the nineties to compete for a
(03:56):
national championship. They lost to Michigan all these times, and
it was boy, no matter who OHIWSE State beats, they
can't beat Michigan. Jim Trestle ushered in that era, which
they've enjoyed for the better part of twenty years. No
matter what you did the rest of the year, it
didn't matter. I mean, it's one of those rivalries many
go to the wayside based on scheduling, based on how
you go through the process, and certainly with the big
(04:19):
tenant and it's evolution and growth, you've seen some of
that fractured, right because of the schedule imbalanced, but Ohio
State Michigan. You want to get people riled up. I mean,
you have the microcosm of your wife, but it's certainly
you go. You go into any sports bar when that
game is on, and it's really an interesting sociological experiment
(04:39):
because there's a lot of anger being tossed back and forth,
even where we are in southern California. Heading into the year,
there were two big announcements that Ohio State dealt with.
Number one was Mike DAWs, two time All American, decided
to stay in an emotional announcement, and Maurice Clarette enrolled
early so he could play four Ohio State in the fall.
(05:02):
Maurice Clarette, who had one year of college football and
there are a few people had a more memorable year
than Maurice Clarette. No, obviously he's run into trouble throughout
the rest of his career, but this one year Ohio State,
I mean, he's gonna live forever. Yeah, great comeback story
in terms of life and post football and some of
those transgressions in some ways, well, you know, look at
(05:24):
the irony of a guy who graduates early and then
I really didn't take a class while he was at
Ohive State. But that's a whole other thing. As from
Mike Dawson went on to a nice NFL career when
he was done. Perhaps we'll talk about him a little bit.
Uh in our where are They Now portion of the podcast,
Shodow Mike Dawson became a second round pick. But that
(05:45):
was gonna be the heartbeat of this team. Whatever was
gonna happen offensively, you knew you were bringing back a
stalwart defense. Here's some of the star power on this
Ohio State two thousand two team. Chris Gamble, who were
gonna talk a lot about here on the podcast, played
both offense and defense. Ben Hartstocker went on to a
long career in the NFL. Will Allen as well. Bobby
(06:07):
Carpenter linebacker, Dustin Fox who actually follows me on Twitter. Uh,
a media man, Yeah, a j Hawk. He was a
freshman on this team. Mike Nugent went on to kick
in the NFL for a really long time. A lot
of Jet ties to this team. Actually, no, there's not.
Santonio Holmes was on this team as a fresh it's
not and they were winners and then they came to you.
(06:30):
It's not about the Jets. Nick Mangold was the center
on this team. Troy Smith, went on to win the
Heisman Trophy years later, was the backup quarterback on this
team as a freshman. Michael Jenkins was the star receiver,
Craig Krenzel was the quarterback, and on Jim Trustle's staff
a young man named Mark D'Antonio, who then went on
to her great career head coach at Michigan State, the
(06:53):
great Luke Fickle mel Tucker distinguished careers for all and
and certainly Dantone has had some big years for Michigan State,
hanging around in the Big ten and and vexing um
well these buck ays at time, so Ohio State did
have a great defense going into this year. What else
were people talking about as we get ready for the
(07:15):
two thousand two fall campaign. Here is two thousand two
pop culture in review. The big movies in two thousand
two included Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, the
Middle One. Okay, al right, the really long one in
the middle that was, oh my god, I just kept
bridge from the first one of the last one. They
(07:36):
were long books, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets.
There you go, Spider Man, But I mean, like this
is like four Spider Man. Yes, this is are you're
gonna get into an Elizabeth Banks thing about which Spider
Man iteration was. Listen, spider Man. Tom Holland was the best.
Everything else was Yamma. Williem Dafoe was pretty cool. He
was good. William Dafoe was a good villain. I I oh, sorry, spoiler.
(07:58):
If you haven't seen that Spider you know Men in
Black two Star Wars episode Long Ago Clones. Yeah, I
know ago. I remember going with a group from work
to a very early showing of both Phantom Menace and
then later on attack of the Clones. I was the
guy armed with two very large jugs of quote unquote
orange juice for the morning showing. Was it just orange juice? Okay?
(08:23):
Very good? That's good. Uh. The Angels won the World Series.
How long ago was that? People forget that? Oh? Yeah,
that's right. That's great players, you know. And the thing is,
had the Angels not one, Barry Bonds would have been
the m v P of the World Series. He was
having a great World series, but that relentless lineup of
the Angels just too much about that the outlier of
(08:43):
the Bonds career. He was having a Great World Series.
And also the euro became the unit of currency. I
like that in Europe the euro. Will you figure euro
for Europe? I had? It's not like the euro was
in the United States. Euro in Europe. You want another
good sports one, give me another good one. The w
w UF had to become the w w E after
the World One wildlife. You know, but I really can't
(09:07):
fail to understand, and that whole thing is this is
that the w w F, the World Wrestling Federation, was
monstrous w w F wildlife. How did they not have
the best lawyers to win in court that that? And
how do you claim that anybody's confusing the two until
the bumper stickers of the hand bears the chairs came out.
(09:28):
It's really no confusing the two. So this is what
the world was talking about. As we head into two
thousand and two, into the Fall War, Ohio State makes
a run to a national championship thanks to their defense
thanks to a controversial call in the bowl game that
is still controversial. We get into the season as Special
Teams continues. Next, I'm John Gonzalez, the host of Sports Illustrated. Weekly.
(10:03):
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Look for your children's eyes to see the true magic
of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You
look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face
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could lead to adventure, and they see you they're fearless.
Guide is this fascinating world? Find a forest near you
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What else grows in the forest, Our imagination, our sense
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Find a forest near you and start exploring. I Discover
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the Forest dot org. Brought to you by the United
States Forest Service and the AD Council. The Ohio State
buck Eyes came into two thousand and two ranked thirteen
in the country. They had some potential national championship dreams,
but in the beginning they just had to win some games,
(12:15):
and Ohio State had two tough ones coming out of
the gate in their first three where they faced Heisman
Trophy candidates Cliff Kingsbury guess Jason Guesser. When Cliff Kingsbury
first was was a Heisman Trophy candidate with Texas Tech
while winging the ball all over the place. Problem was
they had a bad offensive line and nobody. They didn't
(12:37):
play a lick of defense. As for guess er, uh yeah,
he in Washington State, another team expecting the explosive offense,
but certainly this Buckeye defense was a formidable opponent. Texas
Tech was able to put the most points on the
board that Ohio State gave up during the regular season
with twenty one. However, Ohio State's offense rolled to a
(12:59):
forty five one victory. Meanwhile, in Game three against Washington State,
who was ranked tenth in the country at the time,
their defense shut them down at home, winning twenty five
to seven. In his first two games in college football,
Maurice Clarette scored five touchdowns and in the game against
Washington State he ran for two hundred and thirty yards.
(13:20):
And I remember then the question was can a freshman
win the Heisman Trophy? Ken Maurice Clarette this kind of story.
He was the breakout star in two thousand and two.
Can he win the Heisman Trophy? To thirty five touchdowns?
But he suffered a knee injury and he missed the
next game. If he had been able to stay healthy
all year long. Because Maurice Clarette was in and out
(13:41):
of the lineup, and this was the Maurice Clarette freshman sensation.
Maurice Clarette. If he was able to stay in the lineup,
he would have won the Heisman. But he kept getting
dinged up. He'd miss a game, come back in play
a game, missed two games that really hurt him. But man,
if he was able to play top to bottom with
the story, Ohio State was moving all the way up
to the top of the rankings, he would have won
(14:03):
the Heisman. Now that would have been a fun decision
to have, to see, right, because, as we know, the
Heisman voters certainly don't want to go back to the
well a second time. Sometimes you get the career Award,
and generally if you're a youngster breaking onto the scene,
they don't want any part of it. Right, you have
to have transferred, sat out, been injured, gotten some kind
(14:25):
of formal release, gone into transfer portals or whatever we're
gonna call it in a given day, and have some
long road. Not hey, I graduated early and I'm on campus.
Ohio State gets the midway point of the season ranked
number five in the country. They had blown out San
Jose State fifty to seven, and then a string of
close games, and this is where Ohio States defense stepped
(14:48):
to the forefront. They beat Wisconsin by five, They beat
Penn State thirteen to seven. They beat Minnesota, who was
ranked in the top twenty five. They beat per Due
ten to six. They won at Illinois over time twenty
three to sixteen. All of these games were close and
there were many nonbelievers. I remember this year's boy, how
(15:09):
good is Ohio State? How good is the Big Ten?
We don't know. They just keep eking out these victories
over these teams that are not very good. Yeah, I
mean there's a passetter Fearence call and and other things
that that seem to go their way. Right, It's one
of those where bounces happen. You're talking about ten Chicago
Bears season, when all the turnovers and everything go back
(15:31):
to the Super Bowl appearance they made with Rex Grosser
to bring up Bears. Your Bears have to work. Sometimes
you gotta be Midwest. I mean, I don't understands played
for the Bears, so I'm gonna make that he barely
played for the ship. The idea just being sometimes all
the calls seem to go your way, all the bounces
(15:52):
go your way. This is a season where they lived
dangerously on a week to week basis. So even even
a couple of the mid season games, they had early,
early struggles to break out of the gate and then
needed late comebacks. Here the same thing as we got
deeper into the schedule and we we get to this
produe game where it's just a grind a grind into
(16:13):
the fourth quarter before you finally have that breakthrough touchdown pass.
One thing that's forgotten a lot in this because we
had seen Charles Woodson do it five years previously, become
the first primary defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy.
But did he win because he played defense? No, he
won because he played a phenomenal defensive back. He also returned,
he was on the return game, and he played offense,
(16:34):
and he made big plays for his team down the stretch,
big plays on offense. Chris Gamble was that guy for
Ohio State, a wide receiver who turned and started playing
defensive back during the season, and he had numerous interceptions
in big games. Every game they played. I felt like
Chris Gamble comes down with this big interception, and you know,
(16:56):
obviously didn't have the star power of Woodson in Michigan,
but he was every bit that player for Ohio State.
Well somewhere he was gonna find the ball like just
a ball hawk, which is what made him eventually a
number first round pick as a defense and back once
he converted full time. But here facing Kyle Orton, cell bears.
(17:17):
Are you only gonna bring up bears? How about the
neck beard? He was the guy that threw the pick.
He did have a great neck beer, but he threw
the pick that gamble caught. I'm just right that you
know that way that that's allowed. Okay, that's allowed. You
had to go to the replay book. However, Ron's not
overturning that. He's just gonna laugh and say I don't
(17:39):
care when you Mike Pereira. Mike Pereira said, hey, I
just put down my wine so I can give you
an update. That's what happened. Harmon can say whatever he wants.
So by this point, for Ohio State, look, their defense
has been rolling that we talked about some of the
big players on defense. They go into their showdown against
number twelve Michigan ranked number two in the country undefeat
(18:00):
at this point, and there have been many classic Ohio
State Michigan games where There are so many twists and turns.
This was not one of them. This was a defensive struggle.
Craig Krenzel was able to run for a key fourth
and one first down. And really, Krenzel was a player
who just made enough plays all season long. Right, was
(18:20):
he the most talented of quarterbacks. No, but he made
just enough place. He threw a touchdown pass, just clutch
enough in the fourth quarter, he drove the team down
to a game winning drive or a game clinching drive,
just enough to keep the job. And he did it
against Michigan. The defense shuts down the Wolverines like they
have all season long. They win fourteen to nine, and
(18:42):
they head in to the National Championship game in Tempi
in the Fiesta Bowl, up against Miami. And still nobody
was giving Ohio State do because the the overarching story
we we got into it, nobody really believed how good
they were, even when they beat Michigan. Here it was
well Michigan, but they were right twelve and it's a
fourteen nine. People. Look, and I've seen every Ohio State
(19:02):
Michigan game for the past thirty years. I'll tell you
which ones are great, which ones worried This is one
of those it's tough to watch games, you know, it's
it was. It was really difficult, and it was Ohio
State just made enough plays. It was a grind. And
there is something to be said for style points, especially
when you have to worry about impressing voters. Defense is sexy,
but it's got to be over the top good. It's
got to be numerous picks and returns for touchdowns and sacks.
(19:26):
Sometimes when you're keeping teams off the board and you're
beating bad teams barely because you have great defense, it's
not sexy enough. So Ohio State goes into this national
championship game very very unsexy. Well, and that's it is
you you mentioned just from the sex appeal of appealing
to the posters, and that's why you have the running
up to score helly, No matter how many algorithms you
(19:47):
add to the equation. Now from playoffs selection, you're still
looking going, all right, how much does it help if
we score another touchdown here? How much does it help
if we keep rolling it up? Just like you were
Steve Spurrier thirty years ago. But you you look at
their scoring game to game, they only scored more than
thirty points three times. One of those was a fifty
(20:08):
burger on San Jose State, alright, hamburgers later on everybody,
you know, forty five points against Indiana, and then there's
another thirty four point output. But overall it's grinding out games,
defense coming up with big plays. So you're rolling through
going all right against a big time, high powered opponent.
(20:30):
One can they shut them down in the same way? Right?
Is this just a function of a couple of bad
Big ten teams? Uh? San Jose stayed on the schedule
and so on, versus can your offense score against the
team of this caliber? And it's you know, the classic
Bowl matchups as you get into them, where now it's
all right, you're facing a different caliber of talent, right,
because this wasn't the running guns, shoot him up Big
(20:54):
ten that it's become right. This was still coming out
of the three yards at a cloud of dust and
we'll grind end you out. Yeah. Look, perfect example, the
game winning drive against Michigan. They're down nine seven midway
through the fourth quarter. Their defense has held Michigan to
nine points. Ohio State couldn't do anything. Craig Crenzel then
leads a drive I said, the big first first down
(21:15):
on a On a fourth down, quarterback Sneak completes a
big wheel route past to Maurice Clarette, which lives in
Ohio State. Lore A the wheel play that goes in
for the go ahead touchdown John Navar, who was playing
quarterbacks for Michigan there. Yeah, I think he beat Michigan.
I think he beat Ohio State once. Navarre did. But
I think that's what every Michigan quarterback. They beat him
once and they lose the next three. Yeah, but if
(21:36):
you got one, you can at least say we're part
of the one time club. You know, they get down
the field and score a touchdown Navars picked off on
the final play of the game by Will Allen, and
and here goes Ohio State. Everybody doubting them all the
way to the National Championship game, where they were a
twelve point underdog to the University of Miami twelve points
twelve with all of the defensive efforts that they'd put
(21:59):
up over the worse the year. Not just hey, you
you can score lowly here you're going to give up
And suddenly this defense that had been so great all
season long, this team is gonna be able to exploit
the holes behind Ken Dorsey. So one of the great
National Championship games of all time await us and one
(22:20):
of the biggest controversy still to this day. As Special
Teams with Jason Smith and Mike Harmon continues. What grows
in the forest trees, Sure, No, what else grows in
(22:41):
the forest, Our imagination, our sense of wonder and our
family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from this
and connect with this, we reconnect with each other. The
forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near
you and start a floring. I discover the fourth Dot
(23:02):
Org brought to you by the United States Fourth Service
and the ad Council. And we're live here outside the
Perez family home, just waiting for the And there they go,
almost on time. This morning. Mom is coming out the
front door, strong with a double arm kid carry. Looks
like dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear.
Oh but the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys
(23:26):
are everywhere. Oh but mom has just nailed the perfect
car seat buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter,
who looks to be about nine or ten, has secured
herself in the booster seat. Dad zips the bag clothes
and they're off. Ah, but looks like Mom doesn't realize
her coffee cup is still on the roof of the
car and there it goes. Oh, that's a shame that
(23:49):
mug was a fam favorite. Don't sweat the small stuff,
just nailed the big stuff, like making sure your kids
are buckled correctly in the right seat for their agent's eyes.
Learn more NHTSA dot gov slash the Right Seat visits
n h s A dot gov The Right Seat brought
to you by Mitza and the AD Council. If I
could be you and you could be me for just
(24:10):
one hour, if you could find a way to get
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and for some that feeling lasts more than a moment.
We can change that. Learn how it Belonging begins with
us dot org brought to you by the AD Council.
(24:32):
Welcome Out in the Shoes. Special Teams with Jason Smith
and Mike Harmon continues now as we take a look
back at the two thousand and two Ohio State Buckeyes.
He win an absolute thriller in a controversy filled National
(24:54):
Championship game over the Miami Hurricanes to win the National Championship.
There are so many twists and turns in this game,
which eventually is won by Ohio State. One of the
big plays early on in this in in in which
look we watched Ohio States defense get a couple of
turnovers early, they forced a fumble by Ken Dorsey. They
(25:16):
turn a seven nothing deficit into a four teen seven lead.
But one of the biggest plays comes to us courtesy
of Maurice Clarette, who is obviously at the end of
his run as an Ohio State running back. Nobody knows
it at this point, but he makes one of the
biggest plays in the National Championship game. In the Fiesta Bowl,
Sean Taylor, the late Sean Taylor, picks off Craig Krenzel
(25:38):
deep in Miami territory. Ohio State is going in for
a score and Taylor's returning it and Clarette comes from behind,
strips Sean Taylor of the ball, and Ohio State recovers.
They get a field goal. But this was a play
that was, Oh my goodness, what a momentum swing and
Taylor can't hold onto the football, and Maurice Clarette the
biggest play he makes in the National Championship because he
(26:01):
didn't have a great game running the football. The biggest
play was that stripped from behind that gives Ohio State
another drive, a chance to put points on the board
and takes momentum away from Miami extend to a ten
point lead instead of having it be potentially a tie
ball game. Momentum, the crowd, all of those things suddenly
swinging back. And it's just funny when you get into
(26:22):
games of this magnitude and you think about the star
power on these fields, Right, Sean Taylor, who was one
of the most dominant players in the secondary that we'd
seen uh and Willis mcgahey who goes onto a fabulous
career on the other side, and Clarette the career that
might have been um but for you know, some issues
(26:44):
that befall him. But in this case, you just got
that big swing right there for a Maurice Clarette not
giving up on a play. How many times you watch
college and pro as soon as the balls turned over,
guys start looking at the sideline. Guys kind of half
run act into into a play. I see more kickers
get involved in play sometimes than skill position guys. You know,
(27:07):
you usually have the the hogs from the offensive line
doing their best to track down someone on a return.
But here it's Clarette making the big play. That is
the first drive of the second half. So instead of
Miami having the football down a touchdown, Ohio gets a
field goal and they go up by ten. So now
it's say seventeen seven lead, and this is where Miami.
(27:29):
At some point I'm saying to myself, Miami's got the horses.
All right. This is Larry Coker in his second year
at Miami. You know, Rob Chatzinski is the offensive coordinator.
Ken Dorsey had a huge year. They have Willis Mcgahey.
There is star power all over this team, all right.
I mean, I mean, look, yeah, we're top five Heisman finalists.
(27:49):
I mean, Andre Johnson was on this team. You know,
Frank Gore was on this team. Peyton, I mean this,
Kellen Winslow when he was a good tight end was
on this team. They had star power every Wedneston tight
end before he switched to being a full time offensive lineman.
And it really shocked me that they couldn't get out
(28:10):
offensively on Ohio State more than they did, and that
I thought, Okay, here's how the game's gonna go. Miami's
gonna struggle early and then they're gonna impose their will
on the game and they're gonna go up and down
the field on Ohio State. And that just didn't have
to start getting that lean as as you would with
your offensive line and especially behind the running of mcgahey.
(28:30):
But certainly that's one of those moments that just lives
on in national title lore while we go through that.
But you know, the defensive side of the ball, they
had my guy, Vince will Fork, who's you know, the
captain of my wall of mean, especially once he was
wearing the overalls. Sure, that became a big deal later on,
but for the purposes of of the offense of this game,
(28:51):
just kept waiting for it to click right, I mean,
it was a twelve point spread. Eventually the damn had
to break. Did Willis mcgahey break through touchdown run that
cuts the lead to three and suddenly Miami's got momentum.
But Willis mcgae he is one of the poster boys
of this game. If you remember, this is the game
in which mcgahey suffered a really horrible knee injury later
(29:14):
on in the second half, in which he missed the
vast majority of the next year, And that really started
the discussion of, oh, my goodness, willis mcgahe. He looked
at him, did he have insurance? Was he able to
make sure that's his last college game? Because he was
one of these stars in all of college football, would
have been a top three or top four pick, but
(29:34):
he injured his knees so badly that he falls in
the draft because he's gonna miss almost all of the
next year of play. The Buffalo Bills take him, and
it takes him a little while to get into that run.
And this was really the first injury where college football
players parents everybody says, hey, you know what, maybe playing
in a bowl game might not be what you should
do if you're gonna wind up being a high first
(29:56):
round pick. And now we see it all the time
where players miss bowl games because they're worried about an injury.
It doesn't matter what my team is playing for. I
gotta sit out because I gotta preserve my career at
the next level. It's not gonna help me if somebody
takes up cheap shot at me in a game and
I get hurt. It helped. It stinks, but hey, I
got you here, so I'm gonna sit this game out
and then go to the NFL. No, and that that's
(30:17):
the difficult part of this process was from mcgahey. I mean,
that was just gruesome, right, So that wasn't just an injury.
It was awful. That was one that you don't watch
a second time. It's a screen pass in which he
gets hit by Will Allen. His left knee gets bent
backwards and it was tough to see tears of the
a C L pc L M C L. It was
(30:39):
really difficult. And like I said, he was going to
be a top three, top five pick. Instead it was well,
now he's gonna go in the third or fourth round.
He eventually does get taken by the Bills and sits
out all of two thousand and three before going onto
thousand yards seasons. So it did turn out okay for mcgahey,
but he was the real first guy that was playing
the bull game. Really we should be doing okay, And
(31:02):
now you just say no, of course, you and I
form Syra Houston Northwestern going to a Bowl every year
would just be nice enough. Miami kicks a field goal
to send the game to overtime, and in overtime, Miami
scores first seven yard touchdown pass from Ken Dorrisey to
(31:22):
Kellen Winslow. Ohio State. Now in overtime has to go
for the touchdown otherwise they lose the game. Craig Krenzel
completes a fourth and fourteen pass to Michael Jenkins that
keeps the drive alive, and then it comes down to
the fourth and three play, which is now known as
the call. What looks to be an incomplete pass thrown
(31:43):
by Craig Krenzel. You watch Miami celebrate. Larry Coker runs
on the field. Miami's your national champions because a fourth
and three pass from inside the five yard line goes
incomplete in the end zone. However, official Terry Porter calls
pass interference on my AMMI defensive Backglenn Sharp. They get
a new set of downs. They go in for the
(32:04):
game tying touchdown. Now, this is a play that many
of us have seen many times. Was this a past
interference play or not? It has been broken down as
well by the letter of the law. It's past interference.
This game was being referee pretty rough. You know, there's
a lot of physical play that both sides had gotten
away with it. But even earlier in that possession, right,
(32:26):
the Jenkins pass was potentially offensive past interference, yes, but
back then you didn't call offensive pass clubbed you guy know,
I mean he pushed off on Sharp you know who
then got called for Who's gotta be piste off going minute?
Jenkins doesn't get called, but I get called for this.
I've seen the play and you know what it is.
(32:47):
It's a no call. It's a no call. It's really
hard to say there's an ocal because we saw it
in the Super Bowl a few years ago, right, the
big no call on fourth down with Colin Kaepernick, and
when the Niners played the Baltimore Ravens and it was
it's pacific no. It's a good no call, and that
helped clinch the game for the Ravens. But the fact
that Porter took a while to throw his flag, and
(33:09):
that's what I have a problem with because he said
after the game, I wanted to replay it in my
mind to make sure it was past interference, and then
I threw the flag. You know what. That's a case
where if you didn't see it, it's not a flag.
If you got to think about it, like going to
the Hall of Fame, you gotta think about it. Yeah no,
you're not a Hall of Famer. It's I gotta think
(33:29):
about it. I'm throwing the flag. That's why that was
a bad call, because it's either you gotta see it
right away, pass interference I'm throwing not I gotta think
about it, because boy, I don't want to leave this
game being the guy who didn't throw the flag. You
know what, Let me throw the flag and we'll let
the players on the field decide it. No, if it's
a penalty, it's a penal. If it's not. If it's
good defense, it's good defense, and they throw the flag.
(33:50):
And that's really hard for Miami going from we've just
won the National Championship too. Oh hey, no, yeah, no,
you have it. I mean that that was really that
was the worst part of that, to say, you want
to talk about a deflation. But what's funny is in
the back end of it is that Referee Magazine called
it one of the best eighteen calls. Look at and say,
(34:11):
but you wanna you want to back up by a
referee magazine is not gonna call something bad. Here's the
worst referees and referee magazine. No, it's referee magazine is
gonna slight the good referee. It would be the eighteen
times you could have done better. Section. You know that
that was it was a no call for me. But
now Miami's gotta go back and play. Next overtime, Ohio
(34:34):
State gets the ball. They go in for a touchdown,
five yard touchdown run by Martice Clarette. Miami gets its
second possession. They have to get in the end zone
right now, Derrick Crudip comes in the backup quarterback because
Ken Dorsey gets knocked silly on a play, so now
he has to come out of the game. He's still woozy.
The backup comes in completes a fourth down pass to
(34:56):
Kellen Winslow. At that point, I go, this game is over.
Derrek kri He's he's in the huddle going sud ha ha,
and he completes a fourth down pass to keep the
drive going. And then he goes right back out of
the game, right because now Ken Dorsey comes back in
on the file. Hey, hey, get back again and get
back in again. Nowadays, how did he get cleared. Did
(35:19):
he go through the proper concussion protocol to get back
in the game or was it? Dude, are you okay?
Come on man, this is the nation. Joe Montana? Great,
what are you doing? He's it's Ken Dorsey. The guy
thinks he's Joe Montana. He said candy and ran back
on the field and go out three things. He's Montana.
But you watch Dorsey play, you can tell he is
still not himself. Hurricanes get stopped in their first three
(35:42):
plays after that, including Dorsey missing a wide open player
for what could have been a touchdown, and on fourth
and goal he's pressured, he chucks it up desperation pass incomplete.
No flags on that play in Ohio State? Are your
two thousand and two national champions? At the game was over,
I still couldn't believe they were the national champions. No,
(36:03):
it was one that again because of the officiating and
the twists and turns and big injury and and everything
that it just left you exhausted. For one. But you
you look at games like this compared to how they're
officiated today, when you talk about instant replay and challenges,
(36:23):
I mean, you're not gonna overturn any of these just
like they don't do from New York in the National
Football League, you know, as you and I speak. But
it's just a different era, right, a lot more physical
and and for this one it was it was a slugfest.
It really was that. It was a battle and a
war of attrition. It was shocking, it was exciting, it
(36:44):
was everything you'd want a National championship game. And with
the big controversial call that lives forever, I mean, you can't,
you can't dial it up any better than that. Did
the right team win? Well, the call was made and
Miami did have a chance at Ohio State made all
the plays. Jim Trestle does not get enough credit for
the coach he was, obviously because the way things ended
amid scandal, he has to resign. Players are getting free tattoos.
(37:08):
Terrell Prior is at the crux of this, and we
forget just what a great head coach he was. Three tattoos.
I mean, that's here. You gave me a jackie, you
gave me merch. I traded in for tattoos. There's the problem.
You yeah, shouldn't have done it, but I mean that
the fact that that's a rule and we can do
a podcast on in an n C double a rules
(37:30):
another time. But the fact that that's the scandal that
hits him with all the other stuff that's gone on
Big ten and in football in general, that that's it.
That guy got a tattoo for free, and you know
what he had to give up that Letterman's jackety didn't
want this thing that they gave me for free. Year here,
(37:50):
just putt like four more tats on me. Man, he
just wants the swag bag from the bull game. He
got an MP three player and and a you know,
I set a headphones at a sweatshirt al right here, Well, yeah,
I don't worry about it. We're fine, We're absolutely fine.
He doesn't get that credit because he what he came
(38:11):
in and turned a program that was always talented, but
when it came to putting your feet to the fire,
they faltered instead. They had the belief, and he instilled
that belief that this is a program that's gonna continue
and I'm gonna be at the head of this and
I'm going to continue on with it as long as
I want to go. It's a shame that's how it
ended for him, because of what happened Obviously they had
(38:32):
their problems and he had to go. But just the
image of him, the sweater vest, everything is buttoned up
and all kinds of crazy stuff is going on beyond. Hey,
when you can do that, when you can at least
give the image that I'm in charge of things, it
doesn't matter what happens behind closed door, six and four
in Bowl games, sixties, six and fourteen in the Big Ten,
(38:53):
and one oh six and twenty two overall as the
head coach of the State Buck Guys during his run,
I mean, that's just absolutely absurd. For his career, a
seventy winning percentage, So talking about domination throughout. But for
Jim Trestle, you know, history not as kind perhaps as
(39:14):
it should be. This team as a whole not regarded
typically very well. I mean, there was an ESPN poll
that ranked him the worst champion of a twenty year period.
I say, I don't know that you can say that
they beat the best team. They beat him, and and
it was a dominant game defensively. You could say that, hey,
did Miami have a bad game. Yeah, but they had
(39:35):
a bad game because Ohio State was that good, you know,
and in the Ohio State made all the place was
Craig Krenzel. Great, No, but they look at all the
NFL talent that we didn't talk. Will Smith was on
this team starting defensive end. They put I think seven
of their uh starting defenders went on to long careers
in the NFL. This was that good a defensive team.
But defensive teams, unless you're the eight five Bears or
(39:56):
legendary teams like that, you just don't get to do that.
Other teams do that up to scoreboard, Yeah, I mean
you want the sexiness of points. As we said that
was that wasn't the hallmark for this team. They had
a couple of explosions against the inferior opponents or where
the defense just put it late at the table for
them to just finish the job. But when you played
that kind of defense, again, Joe Tiller only been doing
(40:19):
his thing and produce for a couple of years at
this point, so the Big ten hadn't changed, so naturally
you hadn't changed the style of game you were playing either,
which is why when you played the SEC or the
Pac ten and whatever else, and all of a sudden
you're facing all these big, fast wideouts and the offenses
are that much more prolific or going to the sec
(40:41):
more three yards in a cloud of dust. But still,
you know, just a different in terms of the athletes
or the Florida schools that it was always seen as
a mismatch in bowl games and sometimes they get run
out of the gym and they would diminish the fact
that you had the cannibalization and just a different style
of play across the Big Ten. Before we get to
(41:02):
the where are they now? Maurice Clarette has become the
most visible personality associated with this two thousand and two teams.
Everything was at his feet. He was the first freshman
to be the leading rusher on a national championship game.
Since I'm on green of Nebraska and Ohio State is
thinking we're gonna win it all next year. The year after,
(41:24):
there's Heisman trophies. There's the NFL in his future. But
that was it for Ohio State all right. In December,
he had gotten upset with the team because they wouldn't
let him fly back for a friend's funeral. That was
the first part of the divorce proceedings that started between
Clarette and Ohio State. He gotten a very highly publicized
shouting match with his position coach during the Northwestern game
(41:47):
earlier in the year. Later on, after the National Championship,
it was revealed he didn't go to any classes during
his only year at Ohio State. This story gets out,
it's an academic scandal, and Ohio State has no choice
but dismiss him from the team. So now he is
no longer an Ohio State Buckeye. He suites to get
into the NFL Draft. He wins his case, but there's
(42:09):
some shenanigans legally that prevent him from getting into the NFL.
So now he's a man without a team well in
that city, becomes a guy with a couple of injuries
coming out of that freshman year, but signs an agent
because he's told, hey, you're clear, you're gonna be good.
So he and Mike Williams of USC go and they
sign agents. And then once they're told, oh no, you
(42:31):
can't and c double A won't let them back. So
now they're in no man's land right And at the time, man,
I guess they could have gone and played in Canada.
Probably could have gone and and done that, but otherwise
you're without a home. And from Maurice Claret it became
just the beginning of a downward spiral, waiting on that
opportunity to try to get into the NFL and a ruling.
(42:55):
And we've had this conversation I once wrote, I think
it was about a five thousand word guy a tribe
about their their legal situation, how screwed they got in
the process because of bad advice and just a bad rule. Right,
if a team wants to take a shot on you
after a year or just like in in basketball at
times and time again that you know, coming out of
(43:16):
high school, and they want to put you into a
developmental program, why not, right. Maurice Clarette coming off an injury,
could have got bulked up, could have got rehab on
the leg and everything else and gone on and maybe
a straight path into a viable NFL career. But instead
he's a man without a home. He challenges the NFL's
(43:37):
rule that a player have to wait three years until
after graduating from high school. He loses in two thousand four,
but he gets in the two thousand five draft. He
trains he does not have a great combine. I remember
mel kiper I did shows with mel Kiper at ESPN.
At that point he was saying he's gonna be a
six or seventh round pick, but the Broncos draft him
at the end of the first day in the third round,
(43:59):
and Clarette actually gets into the National Football League. His
career never gets off the ground. It's revealed his battled
depression alcoholism since his earliest two thousand and two, and
then he has two really disastrous legal moments. One is
a robbery conviction in which he attempted to rob a
(44:20):
couple of people with a gun outside a bar in
early two thousand and six, and then he had the
instance in August of two thousand and six in which
he was arrested after he made it a legal you
turned driving in his car, led police on a chase
uh in an SUV that reportedly belonged to his uncle.
When they finally stopped Clarette, they look in the car
(44:41):
and he's got all kinds of weapons in there, loaded
a K forty seven katana blade, loaded handguns, everything, and
an open bottle of Great Goose vodka. And this was
really the end of the Maurice Clarette story where I thought,
Oh my god, this guy, he needs so much help.
He has gotten it. He turned his life around after that.
He started to counsel players so they wouldn't fall in
(45:04):
to the same traps as him. But you know, his
career was something that really it was. It was the
shiny example of all right, here's how to achieve and
then here's what not to do. So there's Maurice Threat
who was able to turn his life around later on,
but the twist and turns to get there were really crazy.
What about some others in where are they now? All right,
(45:31):
we got Ben heart Suck. We mentioned him a little
bit earlier, played in the league for Jets Hawaiian awhile yep,
he's now an agent. About that? Went on the other
side saying, wait, I can get a couple of percent
by just hyping guys. Yeah, I'm in on that. Uh.
Tim Anderson defensive line played in the league for a
little bit. He's a history teacher and he also does
(45:51):
he's a wrestling coach. Adrian Clark became a trainer and
works with offensive lineman working on their technique. So if
you want to be a dancing bear in the NFL,
you go find him to be a bear. Why it's
not all about the bears. Have you never heard that? Yes?
I know, but you brought it up just because you're
(46:11):
a Bears. You're right, Santonio Holmes Staler all of that.
Uh does a lot of work for the Sickle Cell
Research and Foundation that he is started. You've got Donnie Nikki,
uh financial industry from met Life about that new a
Gan Nikki guests. You could say he'd save me some money.
(46:34):
Nicely done, just friends. Does some insurance work in Columbus,
a little bit of media work. Doesn't everybody buy their
Craig Crass I can talk to him about two thousand two,
how many insurance calls I think goes? And where guys go? Hey,
tell me about the national championship? All right? Five? So
fourth quarter comes and here's what happens. Great. I bet
she's got a nice life and a nice house and
(46:54):
everything else. So he tells that every day, just keeps
telling stories and gets more clients ten times a day.
I bet she's got a lot of Augusto Mike Doss.
We talked about him before zimmer Biomet medical sales rep.
And then I got one more for you because I
know you're gonna like this. Go ahead. He got Rob
Sims all right, played the league a little bit. Blaye
in Detroit with Calvin Johnson. Two of them have started
(47:17):
their own little cannabis run there in Michigan, and they've
also got a giant research thing going on with Harvard. Wow,
everything and everything related to cannabis and it's use. So
there is our look back at the two thousand and
two Oha State Buckeyes national champions pulling one of the
(47:38):
big upsets in college football history in an incredibly memorable
game against the Miami Hurricanes. I'm Jason Smith. He's Mike Harmon.
You can hit us up on Twitter at how about
a Fresca or Mike is at Swollen Dumb. Let us
know what you think, let us know what teams you
would like to see spotlighted on Special Teams with Jason
Smith and Mike Carmen. We'll talk to you next time
(48:06):
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(48:31):
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(49:36):
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Heart Radio Greetings and Welcome inside the latest Special Teams
(01:22):
with Jason Smith and Mike Harmon podcast. On Special Teams,
we take a look back at individual seasons in sports
history and celebrate what made them so great. For those teams,
whether it's football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, archery, highlight. We're
gonna go back and look at highlight at some point.
I can't wait the history of highlight. Maybe in a
little AUSSI rules football, oh AFL, Collingwood Magpies, Yeah, okay,
(01:46):
uh goat roping? Is there really great moments and great
single seasons and goat roping history? I don't know. Calf roping, Oh,
calf roping, go roping. No, but I'll go to calf rope.
I don't know. I think there's any kind of roping.
I don't know. Maybe they're state fair that we can
find some great stats, are great performances. I don't know.
I watched the King of the Hill episode where Bobby
(02:07):
became a rodeo clown, so suddenly that was in my head.
In that game, it was rope ro ro ro ro ro.
Uh So Today on the podcast again, your host Jason
Smith Mike Harmen. Our show is heard on Fox Sports
Radio Monday through Friday ten pm to two am, East
Coast time, seven pm to eleven pm on the West
Coast run over four D affiliates coast to coast. You
get our special brand of entertainment, humor, and whatever Harmon
(02:31):
decides he wants to say on a daily basis, Hey,
sometimes you gotta take it left turn and take people
down the road they don't know they want to go on.
And that's what we do each and every night. Tonight
is a tough road because my wife, being a Michigan
fan going to Michigan, She's had to sit around all
week while I have had notes on the two thousand
two Ohio State buck eyes all around the house, pictures
(02:53):
of Maurice Clarette and all those guys Crenzel. I got
big fat heads on the wall. Why do you have
this Ohio State because we're gonna do Ohio State this week.
But I can't just put it somewhere. I don't see it.
I said, look, we did Michigan. She was, yeah, just
put this someplace else. So I had to put it someplace.
That's kind of that's anger. The two thousand two Ohio
State Buckeyes, who played one of the most memorable national
(03:15):
championship games ever, became legendary over the course of this
college football season, and in January, one of the great
college football years of all time in Ohio States started
two thousand and two the second year under Jim Trestle,
who you could tell there was something special going on
because it was the year before when he got hired
(03:36):
from Youngstown State and he got up at the basketball
game and said, you'll be proud of this team. In
three and twelve days and we played the Michigan Wolverines.
They played them, they beat them, and you realize, wait
a minute, this guy maybe ushering in the non John
Cooper era of Ohio State football, where Ohio State had
plenty of chances in the nineties to compete for a
(03:56):
national championship. They lost to Michigan all these times, and
it was boy, no matter who OHIWSE State beats, they
can't beat Michigan. Jim Trestle ushered in that era, which
they've enjoyed for the better part of twenty years. No
matter what you did the rest of the year, it
didn't matter. I mean, it's one of those rivalries many
go to the wayside based on scheduling, based on how
you go through the process, and certainly with the big
(04:19):
tenant and it's evolution and growth, you've seen some of
that fractured, right because of the schedule imbalanced, but Ohio
State Michigan. You want to get people riled up. I mean,
you have the microcosm of your wife, but it's certainly
you go. You go into any sports bar when that
game is on, and it's really an interesting sociological experiment
(04:39):
because there's a lot of anger being tossed back and forth,
even where we are in southern California. Heading into the year,
there were two big announcements that Ohio State dealt with.
Number one was Mike DAWs, two time All American, decided
to stay in an emotional announcement, and Maurice Clarette enrolled
early so he could play four Ohio State in the fall.
(05:02):
Maurice Clarette, who had one year of college football and
there are a few people had a more memorable year
than Maurice Clarette. No, obviously he's run into trouble throughout
the rest of his career, but this one year Ohio State,
I mean, he's gonna live forever. Yeah, great comeback story
in terms of life and post football and some of
those transgressions in some ways, well, you know, look at
(05:24):
the irony of a guy who graduates early and then
I really didn't take a class while he was at
Ohive State. But that's a whole other thing. As from
Mike Dawson went on to a nice NFL career when
he was done. Perhaps we'll talk about him a little bit.
Uh in our where are They Now portion of the podcast,
Shodow Mike Dawson became a second round pick. But that
(05:45):
was gonna be the heartbeat of this team. Whatever was
gonna happen offensively, you knew you were bringing back a
stalwart defense. Here's some of the star power on this
Ohio State two thousand two team. Chris Gamble, who were
gonna talk a lot about here on the podcast, played
both offense and defense. Ben Hartstocker went on to a
long career in the NFL. Will Allen as well. Bobby
(06:07):
Carpenter linebacker, Dustin Fox who actually follows me on Twitter. Uh,
a media man, Yeah, a j Hawk. He was a
freshman on this team. Mike Nugent went on to kick
in the NFL for a really long time. A lot
of Jet ties to this team. Actually, no, there's not.
Santonio Holmes was on this team as a fresh it's
not and they were winners and then they came to you.
(06:30):
It's not about the Jets. Nick Mangold was the center
on this team. Troy Smith, went on to win the
Heisman Trophy years later, was the backup quarterback on this
team as a freshman. Michael Jenkins was the star receiver,
Craig Krenzel was the quarterback, and on Jim Trustle's staff
a young man named Mark D'Antonio, who then went on
to her great career head coach at Michigan State, the
(06:53):
great Luke Fickle mel Tucker distinguished careers for all and
and certainly Dantone has had some big years for Michigan State,
hanging around in the Big ten and and vexing um
well these buck ays at time, so Ohio State did
have a great defense going into this year. What else
were people talking about as we get ready for the
(07:15):
two thousand two fall campaign. Here is two thousand two
pop culture in review. The big movies in two thousand
two included Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, the
Middle One. Okay, al right, the really long one in
the middle that was, oh my god, I just kept
bridge from the first one of the last one. They
(07:36):
were long books, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets.
There you go, Spider Man, But I mean, like this
is like four Spider Man. Yes, this is are you're
gonna get into an Elizabeth Banks thing about which Spider
Man iteration was. Listen, spider Man. Tom Holland was the best.
Everything else was Yamma. Williem Dafoe was pretty cool. He
was good. William Dafoe was a good villain. I I oh, sorry, spoiler.
(07:58):
If you haven't seen that Spider you know Men in
Black two Star Wars episode Long Ago Clones. Yeah, I
know ago. I remember going with a group from work
to a very early showing of both Phantom Menace and
then later on attack of the Clones. I was the
guy armed with two very large jugs of quote unquote
orange juice for the morning showing. Was it just orange juice? Okay?
(08:23):
Very good? That's good. Uh. The Angels won the World Series.
How long ago was that? People forget that? Oh? Yeah,
that's right. That's great players, you know. And the thing is,
had the Angels not one, Barry Bonds would have been
the m v P of the World Series. He was
having a great World series, but that relentless lineup of
the Angels just too much about that the outlier of
(08:43):
the Bonds career. He was having a Great World Series.
And also the euro became the unit of currency. I
like that in Europe the euro. Will you figure euro
for Europe? I had? It's not like the euro was
in the United States. Euro in Europe. You want another
good sports one, give me another good one. The w
w UF had to become the w w E after
the World One wildlife. You know, but I really can't
(09:07):
fail to understand, and that whole thing is this is
that the w w F, the World Wrestling Federation, was
monstrous w w F wildlife. How did they not have
the best lawyers to win in court that that? And
how do you claim that anybody's confusing the two until
the bumper stickers of the hand bears the chairs came out.
(09:28):
It's really no confusing the two. So this is what
the world was talking about. As we head into two
thousand and two, into the Fall War, Ohio State makes
a run to a national championship thanks to their defense
thanks to a controversial call in the bowl game that
is still controversial. We get into the season as Special
Teams continues. Next, I'm John Gonzalez, the host of Sports Illustrated. Weekly.
(10:03):
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we all want. Everything from investigating the Super Bowls impact
(10:26):
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Weekly is here to bring you the entertaining tales you
can't get anywhere else, the kinds of stories that make
you smile and laugh, clap and cry, marvel, think, and
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look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face
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Guide is this fascinating world? Find a forest near you
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the Forest dot org. Brought to you by the United
States Forest Service and the AD Council. The Ohio State
buck Eyes came into two thousand and two ranked thirteen
in the country. They had some potential national championship dreams,
but in the beginning they just had to win some games,
(12:15):
and Ohio State had two tough ones coming out of
the gate in their first three where they faced Heisman
Trophy candidates Cliff Kingsbury guess Jason Guesser. When Cliff Kingsbury
first was was a Heisman Trophy candidate with Texas Tech
while winging the ball all over the place. Problem was
they had a bad offensive line and nobody. They didn't
(12:37):
play a lick of defense. As for guess er, uh yeah,
he in Washington State, another team expecting the explosive offense,
but certainly this Buckeye defense was a formidable opponent. Texas
Tech was able to put the most points on the
board that Ohio State gave up during the regular season
with twenty one. However, Ohio State's offense rolled to a
(12:59):
forty five one victory. Meanwhile, in Game three against Washington State,
who was ranked tenth in the country at the time,
their defense shut them down at home, winning twenty five
to seven. In his first two games in college football,
Maurice Clarette scored five touchdowns and in the game against
Washington State he ran for two hundred and thirty yards.
(13:20):
And I remember then the question was can a freshman
win the Heisman Trophy? Ken Maurice Clarette this kind of story.
He was the breakout star in two thousand and two.
Can he win the Heisman Trophy? To thirty five touchdowns?
But he suffered a knee injury and he missed the
next game. If he had been able to stay healthy
all year long. Because Maurice Clarette was in and out
(13:41):
of the lineup, and this was the Maurice Clarette freshman sensation.
Maurice Clarette. If he was able to stay in the lineup,
he would have won the Heisman. But he kept getting
dinged up. He'd miss a game, come back in play
a game, missed two games that really hurt him. But man,
if he was able to play top to bottom with
the story, Ohio State was moving all the way up
to the top of the rankings, he would have won
(14:03):
the Heisman. Now that would have been a fun decision
to have, to see, right, because, as we know, the
Heisman voters certainly don't want to go back to the
well a second time. Sometimes you get the career Award,
and generally if you're a youngster breaking onto the scene,
they don't want any part of it. Right, you have
to have transferred, sat out, been injured, gotten some kind
(14:25):
of formal release, gone into transfer portals or whatever we're
gonna call it in a given day, and have some
long road. Not hey, I graduated early and I'm on campus.
Ohio State gets the midway point of the season ranked
number five in the country. They had blown out San
Jose State fifty to seven, and then a string of
close games, and this is where Ohio States defense stepped
(14:48):
to the forefront. They beat Wisconsin by five, They beat
Penn State thirteen to seven. They beat Minnesota, who was
ranked in the top twenty five. They beat per Due
ten to six. They won at Illinois over time twenty
three to sixteen. All of these games were close and
there were many nonbelievers. I remember this year's boy, how
(15:09):
good is Ohio State? How good is the Big Ten?
We don't know. They just keep eking out these victories
over these teams that are not very good. Yeah, I
mean there's a passetter Fearence call and and other things
that that seem to go their way. Right, It's one
of those where bounces happen. You're talking about ten Chicago
Bears season, when all the turnovers and everything go back
(15:31):
to the Super Bowl appearance they made with Rex Grosser
to bring up Bears. Your Bears have to work. Sometimes
you gotta be Midwest. I mean, I don't understands played
for the Bears, so I'm gonna make that he barely
played for the ship. The idea just being sometimes all
the calls seem to go your way, all the bounces
(15:52):
go your way. This is a season where they lived
dangerously on a week to week basis. So even even
a couple of the mid season games, they had early,
early struggles to break out of the gate and then
needed late comebacks. Here the same thing as we got
deeper into the schedule and we we get to this
produe game where it's just a grind a grind into
(16:13):
the fourth quarter before you finally have that breakthrough touchdown pass.
One thing that's forgotten a lot in this because we
had seen Charles Woodson do it five years previously, become
the first primary defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy.
But did he win because he played defense? No, he
won because he played a phenomenal defensive back. He also returned,
he was on the return game, and he played offense,
(16:34):
and he made big plays for his team down the stretch,
big plays on offense. Chris Gamble was that guy for
Ohio State, a wide receiver who turned and started playing
defensive back during the season, and he had numerous interceptions
in big games. Every game they played. I felt like
Chris Gamble comes down with this big interception, and you know,
(16:56):
obviously didn't have the star power of Woodson in Michigan,
but he was every bit that player for Ohio State.
Well somewhere he was gonna find the ball like just
a ball hawk, which is what made him eventually a
number first round pick as a defense and back once
he converted full time. But here facing Kyle Orton, cell bears.
(17:17):
Are you only gonna bring up bears? How about the
neck beard? He was the guy that threw the pick.
He did have a great neck beer, but he threw
the pick that gamble caught. I'm just right that you
know that way that that's allowed. Okay, that's allowed. You
had to go to the replay book. However, Ron's not
overturning that. He's just gonna laugh and say I don't
(17:39):
care when you Mike Pereira. Mike Pereira said, hey, I
just put down my wine so I can give you
an update. That's what happened. Harmon can say whatever he wants.
So by this point, for Ohio State, look, their defense
has been rolling that we talked about some of the
big players on defense. They go into their showdown against
number twelve Michigan ranked number two in the country undefeat
(18:00):
at this point, and there have been many classic Ohio
State Michigan games where There are so many twists and turns.
This was not one of them. This was a defensive struggle.
Craig Krenzel was able to run for a key fourth
and one first down. And really, Krenzel was a player
who just made enough plays all season long. Right, was
(18:20):
he the most talented of quarterbacks. No, but he made
just enough place. He threw a touchdown pass, just clutch
enough in the fourth quarter, he drove the team down
to a game winning drive or a game clinching drive,
just enough to keep the job. And he did it
against Michigan. The defense shuts down the Wolverines like they
have all season long. They win fourteen to nine, and
(18:42):
they head in to the National Championship game in Tempi
in the Fiesta Bowl, up against Miami. And still nobody
was giving Ohio State do because the the overarching story
we we got into it, nobody really believed how good
they were, even when they beat Michigan. Here it was
well Michigan, but they were right twelve and it's a
fourteen nine. People. Look, and I've seen every Ohio State
(19:02):
Michigan game for the past thirty years. I'll tell you
which ones are great, which ones worried This is one
of those it's tough to watch games, you know, it's
it was. It was really difficult, and it was Ohio
State just made enough plays. It was a grind. And
there is something to be said for style points, especially
when you have to worry about impressing voters. Defense is sexy,
but it's got to be over the top good. It's
got to be numerous picks and returns for touchdowns and sacks.
(19:26):
Sometimes when you're keeping teams off the board and you're
beating bad teams barely because you have great defense, it's
not sexy enough. So Ohio State goes into this national
championship game very very unsexy. Well, and that's it is
you you mentioned just from the sex appeal of appealing
to the posters, and that's why you have the running
up to score helly, No matter how many algorithms you
(19:47):
add to the equation. Now from playoffs selection, you're still
looking going, all right, how much does it help if
we score another touchdown here? How much does it help
if we keep rolling it up? Just like you were
Steve Spurrier thirty years ago. But you you look at
their scoring game to game, they only scored more than
thirty points three times. One of those was a fifty
(20:08):
burger on San Jose State, alright, hamburgers later on everybody,
you know, forty five points against Indiana, and then there's
another thirty four point output. But overall it's grinding out games,
defense coming up with big plays. So you're rolling through
going all right against a big time, high powered opponent.
(20:30):
One can they shut them down in the same way? Right?
Is this just a function of a couple of bad
Big ten teams? Uh? San Jose stayed on the schedule
and so on, versus can your offense score against the
team of this caliber? And it's you know, the classic
Bowl matchups as you get into them, where now it's
all right, you're facing a different caliber of talent, right,
because this wasn't the running guns, shoot him up Big
(20:54):
ten that it's become right. This was still coming out
of the three yards at a cloud of dust and
we'll grind end you out. Yeah. Look, perfect example, the
game winning drive against Michigan. They're down nine seven midway
through the fourth quarter. Their defense has held Michigan to
nine points. Ohio State couldn't do anything. Craig Crenzel then
leads a drive I said, the big first first down
(21:15):
on a On a fourth down, quarterback Sneak completes a
big wheel route past to Maurice Clarette, which lives in
Ohio State. Lore A the wheel play that goes in
for the go ahead touchdown John Navar, who was playing
quarterbacks for Michigan there. Yeah, I think he beat Michigan.
I think he beat Ohio State once. Navarre did. But
I think that's what every Michigan quarterback. They beat him
once and they lose the next three. Yeah, but if
(21:36):
you got one, you can at least say we're part
of the one time club. You know, they get down
the field and score a touchdown Navars picked off on
the final play of the game by Will Allen, and
and here goes Ohio State. Everybody doubting them all the
way to the National Championship game, where they were a
twelve point underdog to the University of Miami twelve points
twelve with all of the defensive efforts that they'd put
(21:59):
up over the worse the year. Not just hey, you
you can score lowly here you're going to give up
And suddenly this defense that had been so great all
season long, this team is gonna be able to exploit
the holes behind Ken Dorsey. So one of the great
National Championship games of all time await us and one
(22:20):
of the biggest controversy still to this day. As Special
Teams with Jason Smith and Mike Harmon continues. What grows
in the forest trees, Sure, No, what else grows in
(22:41):
the forest, Our imagination, our sense of wonder and our
family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from this
and connect with this, we reconnect with each other. The
forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near
you and start a floring. I discover the fourth Dot
(23:02):
Org brought to you by the United States Fourth Service
and the ad Council. And we're live here outside the
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Welcome Out in the Shoes. Special Teams with Jason Smith
and Mike Harmon continues now as we take a look
back at the two thousand and two Ohio State Buckeyes.
He win an absolute thriller in a controversy filled National
(24:54):
Championship game over the Miami Hurricanes to win the National Championship.
There are so many twists and turns in this game,
which eventually is won by Ohio State. One of the
big plays early on in this in in in which
look we watched Ohio States defense get a couple of
turnovers early, they forced a fumble by Ken Dorsey. They
(25:16):
turn a seven nothing deficit into a four teen seven lead.
But one of the biggest plays comes to us courtesy
of Maurice Clarette, who is obviously at the end of
his run as an Ohio State running back. Nobody knows
it at this point, but he makes one of the
biggest plays in the National Championship game. In the Fiesta Bowl,
Sean Taylor, the late Sean Taylor, picks off Craig Krenzel
(25:38):
deep in Miami territory. Ohio State is going in for
a score and Taylor's returning it and Clarette comes from behind,
strips Sean Taylor of the ball, and Ohio State recovers.
They get a field goal. But this was a play
that was, Oh my goodness, what a momentum swing and
Taylor can't hold onto the football, and Maurice Clarette the
biggest play he makes in the National Championship because he
(26:01):
didn't have a great game running the football. The biggest
play was that stripped from behind that gives Ohio State
another drive, a chance to put points on the board
and takes momentum away from Miami extend to a ten
point lead instead of having it be potentially a tie
ball game. Momentum, the crowd, all of those things suddenly
swinging back. And it's just funny when you get into
(26:22):
games of this magnitude and you think about the star
power on these fields, Right, Sean Taylor, who was one
of the most dominant players in the secondary that we'd
seen uh and Willis mcgahey who goes onto a fabulous
career on the other side, and Clarette the career that
might have been um but for you know, some issues
(26:44):
that befall him. But in this case, you just got
that big swing right there for a Maurice Clarette not
giving up on a play. How many times you watch
college and pro as soon as the balls turned over,
guys start looking at the sideline. Guys kind of half
run act into into a play. I see more kickers
get involved in play sometimes than skill position guys. You know,
(27:07):
you usually have the the hogs from the offensive line
doing their best to track down someone on a return.
But here it's Clarette making the big play. That is
the first drive of the second half. So instead of
Miami having the football down a touchdown, Ohio gets a
field goal and they go up by ten. So now
it's say seventeen seven lead, and this is where Miami.
(27:29):
At some point I'm saying to myself, Miami's got the horses.
All right. This is Larry Coker in his second year
at Miami. You know, Rob Chatzinski is the offensive coordinator.
Ken Dorsey had a huge year. They have Willis Mcgahey.
There is star power all over this team, all right.
I mean, I mean, look, yeah, we're top five Heisman finalists.
(27:49):
I mean, Andre Johnson was on this team. You know,
Frank Gore was on this team. Peyton, I mean this,
Kellen Winslow when he was a good tight end was
on this team. They had star power every Wedneston tight
end before he switched to being a full time offensive lineman.
And it really shocked me that they couldn't get out
(28:10):
offensively on Ohio State more than they did, and that
I thought, Okay, here's how the game's gonna go. Miami's
gonna struggle early and then they're gonna impose their will
on the game and they're gonna go up and down
the field on Ohio State. And that just didn't have
to start getting that lean as as you would with
your offensive line and especially behind the running of mcgahey.
(28:30):
But certainly that's one of those moments that just lives
on in national title lore while we go through that.
But you know, the defensive side of the ball, they
had my guy, Vince will Fork, who's you know, the
captain of my wall of mean, especially once he was
wearing the overalls. Sure, that became a big deal later on,
but for the purposes of of the offense of this game,
(28:51):
just kept waiting for it to click right, I mean,
it was a twelve point spread. Eventually the damn had
to break. Did Willis mcgahey break through touchdown run that
cuts the lead to three and suddenly Miami's got momentum.
But Willis mcgae he is one of the poster boys
of this game. If you remember, this is the game
in which mcgahey suffered a really horrible knee injury later
(29:14):
on in the second half, in which he missed the
vast majority of the next year, And that really started
the discussion of, oh, my goodness, willis mcgahe. He looked
at him, did he have insurance? Was he able to
make sure that's his last college game? Because he was
one of these stars in all of college football, would
have been a top three or top four pick, but
(29:34):
he injured his knees so badly that he falls in
the draft because he's gonna miss almost all of the
next year of play. The Buffalo Bills take him, and
it takes him a little while to get into that run.
And this was really the first injury where college football
players parents everybody says, hey, you know what, maybe playing
in a bowl game might not be what you should
do if you're gonna wind up being a high first
(29:56):
round pick. And now we see it all the time
where players miss bowl games because they're worried about an injury.
It doesn't matter what my team is playing for. I
gotta sit out because I gotta preserve my career at
the next level. It's not gonna help me if somebody
takes up cheap shot at me in a game and
I get hurt. It helped. It stinks, but hey, I
got you here, so I'm gonna sit this game out
and then go to the NFL. No, and that that's
(30:17):
the difficult part of this process was from mcgahey. I mean,
that was just gruesome, right, So that wasn't just an injury.
It was awful. That was one that you don't watch
a second time. It's a screen pass in which he
gets hit by Will Allen. His left knee gets bent
backwards and it was tough to see tears of the
a C L pc L M C L. It was
(30:39):
really difficult. And like I said, he was going to
be a top three, top five pick. Instead it was well,
now he's gonna go in the third or fourth round.
He eventually does get taken by the Bills and sits
out all of two thousand and three before going onto
thousand yards seasons. So it did turn out okay for mcgahey,
but he was the real first guy that was playing
the bull game. Really we should be doing okay, And
(31:02):
now you just say no, of course, you and I
form Syra Houston Northwestern going to a Bowl every year
would just be nice enough. Miami kicks a field goal
to send the game to overtime, and in overtime, Miami
scores first seven yard touchdown pass from Ken Dorrisey to
(31:22):
Kellen Winslow. Ohio State. Now in overtime has to go
for the touchdown otherwise they lose the game. Craig Krenzel
completes a fourth and fourteen pass to Michael Jenkins that
keeps the drive alive, and then it comes down to
the fourth and three play, which is now known as
the call. What looks to be an incomplete pass thrown
(31:43):
by Craig Krenzel. You watch Miami celebrate. Larry Coker runs
on the field. Miami's your national champions because a fourth
and three pass from inside the five yard line goes
incomplete in the end zone. However, official Terry Porter calls
pass interference on my AMMI defensive Backglenn Sharp. They get
a new set of downs. They go in for the
(32:04):
game tying touchdown. Now, this is a play that many
of us have seen many times. Was this a past
interference play or not? It has been broken down as
well by the letter of the law. It's past interference.
This game was being referee pretty rough. You know, there's
a lot of physical play that both sides had gotten
away with it. But even earlier in that possession, right,
(32:26):
the Jenkins pass was potentially offensive past interference, yes, but
back then you didn't call offensive pass clubbed you guy know,
I mean he pushed off on Sharp you know who
then got called for Who's gotta be piste off going minute?
Jenkins doesn't get called, but I get called for this.
I've seen the play and you know what it is.
(32:47):
It's a no call. It's a no call. It's really
hard to say there's an ocal because we saw it
in the Super Bowl a few years ago, right, the
big no call on fourth down with Colin Kaepernick, and
when the Niners played the Baltimore Ravens and it was
it's pacific no. It's a good no call, and that
helped clinch the game for the Ravens. But the fact
that Porter took a while to throw his flag, and
(33:09):
that's what I have a problem with because he said
after the game, I wanted to replay it in my
mind to make sure it was past interference, and then
I threw the flag. You know what. That's a case
where if you didn't see it, it's not a flag.
If you got to think about it, like going to
the Hall of Fame, you gotta think about it. Yeah no,
you're not a Hall of Famer. It's I gotta think
(33:29):
about it. I'm throwing the flag. That's why that was
a bad call, because it's either you gotta see it
right away, pass interference I'm throwing not I gotta think
about it, because boy, I don't want to leave this
game being the guy who didn't throw the flag. You
know what, Let me throw the flag and we'll let
the players on the field decide it. No, if it's
a penalty, it's a penal. If it's not. If it's
good defense, it's good defense, and they throw the flag.
(33:50):
And that's really hard for Miami going from we've just
won the National Championship too. Oh hey, no, yeah, no,
you have it. I mean that that was really that
was the worst part of that, to say, you want
to talk about a deflation. But what's funny is in
the back end of it is that Referee Magazine called
it one of the best eighteen calls. Look at and say,
(34:11):
but you wanna you want to back up by a
referee magazine is not gonna call something bad. Here's the
worst referees and referee magazine. No, it's referee magazine is
gonna slight the good referee. It would be the eighteen
times you could have done better. Section. You know that
that was it was a no call for me. But
now Miami's gotta go back and play. Next overtime, Ohio
(34:34):
State gets the ball. They go in for a touchdown,
five yard touchdown run by Martice Clarette. Miami gets its
second possession. They have to get in the end zone
right now, Derrick Crudip comes in the backup quarterback because
Ken Dorsey gets knocked silly on a play, so now
he has to come out of the game. He's still woozy.
The backup comes in completes a fourth down pass to
(34:56):
Kellen Winslow. At that point, I go, this game is over.
Derrek kri He's he's in the huddle going sud ha ha,
and he completes a fourth down pass to keep the
drive going. And then he goes right back out of
the game, right because now Ken Dorsey comes back in
on the file. Hey, hey, get back again and get
back in again. Nowadays, how did he get cleared. Did
(35:19):
he go through the proper concussion protocol to get back
in the game or was it? Dude, are you okay?
Come on man, this is the nation. Joe Montana? Great,
what are you doing? He's it's Ken Dorsey. The guy
thinks he's Joe Montana. He said candy and ran back
on the field and go out three things. He's Montana.
But you watch Dorsey play, you can tell he is
still not himself. Hurricanes get stopped in their first three
(35:42):
plays after that, including Dorsey missing a wide open player
for what could have been a touchdown, and on fourth
and goal he's pressured, he chucks it up desperation pass incomplete.
No flags on that play in Ohio State? Are your
two thousand and two national champions? At the game was over,
I still couldn't believe they were the national champions. No,
(36:03):
it was one that again because of the officiating and
the twists and turns and big injury and and everything
that it just left you exhausted. For one. But you
you look at games like this compared to how they're
officiated today, when you talk about instant replay and challenges,
(36:23):
I mean, you're not gonna overturn any of these just
like they don't do from New York in the National
Football League, you know, as you and I speak. But
it's just a different era, right, a lot more physical
and and for this one it was it was a slugfest.
It really was that. It was a battle and a
war of attrition. It was shocking, it was exciting, it
(36:44):
was everything you'd want a National championship game. And with
the big controversial call that lives forever, I mean, you can't,
you can't dial it up any better than that. Did
the right team win? Well, the call was made and
Miami did have a chance at Ohio State made all
the plays. Jim Trestle does not get enough credit for
the coach he was, obviously because the way things ended
amid scandal, he has to resign. Players are getting free tattoos.
(37:08):
Terrell Prior is at the crux of this, and we
forget just what a great head coach he was. Three tattoos.
I mean, that's here. You gave me a jackie, you
gave me merch. I traded in for tattoos. There's the problem.
You yeah, shouldn't have done it, but I mean that
the fact that that's a rule and we can do
a podcast on in an n C double a rules
(37:30):
another time. But the fact that that's the scandal that
hits him with all the other stuff that's gone on
Big ten and in football in general, that that's it.
That guy got a tattoo for free, and you know
what he had to give up that Letterman's jackety didn't
want this thing that they gave me for free. Year here,
(37:50):
just putt like four more tats on me. Man, he
just wants the swag bag from the bull game. He
got an MP three player and and a you know,
I set a headphones at a sweatshirt al right here, Well, yeah,
I don't worry about it. We're fine, We're absolutely fine.
He doesn't get that credit because he what he came
(38:11):
in and turned a program that was always talented, but
when it came to putting your feet to the fire,
they faltered instead. They had the belief, and he instilled
that belief that this is a program that's gonna continue
and I'm gonna be at the head of this and
I'm going to continue on with it as long as
I want to go. It's a shame that's how it
ended for him, because of what happened Obviously they had
(38:32):
their problems and he had to go. But just the
image of him, the sweater vest, everything is buttoned up
and all kinds of crazy stuff is going on beyond. Hey,
when you can do that, when you can at least
give the image that I'm in charge of things, it
doesn't matter what happens behind closed door, six and four
in Bowl games, sixties, six and fourteen in the Big Ten,
(38:53):
and one oh six and twenty two overall as the
head coach of the State Buck Guys during his run,
I mean, that's just absolutely absurd. For his career, a
seventy winning percentage, So talking about domination throughout. But for
Jim Trestle, you know, history not as kind perhaps as
(39:14):
it should be. This team as a whole not regarded
typically very well. I mean, there was an ESPN poll
that ranked him the worst champion of a twenty year period.
I say, I don't know that you can say that
they beat the best team. They beat him, and and
it was a dominant game defensively. You could say that, hey,
did Miami have a bad game. Yeah, but they had
(39:35):
a bad game because Ohio State was that good, you know,
and in the Ohio State made all the place was
Craig Krenzel. Great, No, but they look at all the
NFL talent that we didn't talk. Will Smith was on
this team starting defensive end. They put I think seven
of their uh starting defenders went on to long careers
in the NFL. This was that good a defensive team.
But defensive teams, unless you're the eight five Bears or
(39:56):
legendary teams like that, you just don't get to do that.
Other teams do that up to scoreboard, Yeah, I mean
you want the sexiness of points. As we said that
was that wasn't the hallmark for this team. They had
a couple of explosions against the inferior opponents or where
the defense just put it late at the table for
them to just finish the job. But when you played
that kind of defense, again, Joe Tiller only been doing
(40:19):
his thing and produce for a couple of years at
this point, so the Big ten hadn't changed, so naturally
you hadn't changed the style of game you were playing either,
which is why when you played the SEC or the
Pac ten and whatever else, and all of a sudden
you're facing all these big, fast wideouts and the offenses
are that much more prolific or going to the sec
(40:41):
more three yards in a cloud of dust. But still,
you know, just a different in terms of the athletes
or the Florida schools that it was always seen as
a mismatch in bowl games and sometimes they get run
out of the gym and they would diminish the fact
that you had the cannibalization and just a different style
of play across the Big Ten. Before we get to
(41:02):
the where are they now? Maurice Clarette has become the
most visible personality associated with this two thousand and two teams.
Everything was at his feet. He was the first freshman
to be the leading rusher on a national championship game.
Since I'm on green of Nebraska and Ohio State is
thinking we're gonna win it all next year. The year after,
(41:24):
there's Heisman trophies. There's the NFL in his future. But
that was it for Ohio State all right. In December,
he had gotten upset with the team because they wouldn't
let him fly back for a friend's funeral. That was
the first part of the divorce proceedings that started between
Clarette and Ohio State. He gotten a very highly publicized
shouting match with his position coach during the Northwestern game
(41:47):
earlier in the year. Later on, after the National Championship,
it was revealed he didn't go to any classes during
his only year at Ohio State. This story gets out,
it's an academic scandal, and Ohio State has no choice
but dismiss him from the team. So now he is
no longer an Ohio State Buckeye. He suites to get
into the NFL Draft. He wins his case, but there's
(42:09):
some shenanigans legally that prevent him from getting into the NFL.
So now he's a man without a team well in
that city, becomes a guy with a couple of injuries
coming out of that freshman year, but signs an agent
because he's told, hey, you're clear, you're gonna be good.
So he and Mike Williams of USC go and they
sign agents. And then once they're told, oh no, you
(42:31):
can't and c double A won't let them back. So
now they're in no man's land right And at the time, man,
I guess they could have gone and played in Canada.
Probably could have gone and and done that, but otherwise
you're without a home. And from Maurice Claret it became
just the beginning of a downward spiral, waiting on that
opportunity to try to get into the NFL and a ruling.
(42:55):
And we've had this conversation I once wrote, I think
it was about a five thousand word guy a tribe
about their their legal situation, how screwed they got in
the process because of bad advice and just a bad rule. Right,
if a team wants to take a shot on you
after a year or just like in in basketball at
times and time again that you know, coming out of
(43:16):
high school, and they want to put you into a
developmental program, why not, right. Maurice Clarette coming off an injury,
could have got bulked up, could have got rehab on
the leg and everything else and gone on and maybe
a straight path into a viable NFL career. But instead
he's a man without a home. He challenges the NFL's
(43:37):
rule that a player have to wait three years until
after graduating from high school. He loses in two thousand four,
but he gets in the two thousand five draft. He
trains he does not have a great combine. I remember
mel kiper I did shows with mel Kiper at ESPN.
At that point he was saying he's gonna be a
six or seventh round pick, but the Broncos draft him
at the end of the first day in the third round,
(43:59):
and Clarette actually gets into the National Football League. His
career never gets off the ground. It's revealed his battled
depression alcoholism since his earliest two thousand and two, and
then he has two really disastrous legal moments. One is
a robbery conviction in which he attempted to rob a
(44:20):
couple of people with a gun outside a bar in
early two thousand and six, and then he had the
instance in August of two thousand and six in which
he was arrested after he made it a legal you
turned driving in his car, led police on a chase
uh in an SUV that reportedly belonged to his uncle.
When they finally stopped Clarette, they look in the car
(44:41):
and he's got all kinds of weapons in there, loaded
a K forty seven katana blade, loaded handguns, everything, and
an open bottle of Great Goose vodka. And this was
really the end of the Maurice Clarette story where I thought,
Oh my god, this guy, he needs so much help.
He has gotten it. He turned his life around after that.
He started to counsel players so they wouldn't fall in
(45:04):
to the same traps as him. But you know, his
career was something that really it was. It was the
shiny example of all right, here's how to achieve and
then here's what not to do. So there's Maurice Threat
who was able to turn his life around later on,
but the twist and turns to get there were really crazy.
What about some others in where are they now? All right,
(45:31):
we got Ben heart Suck. We mentioned him a little
bit earlier, played in the league for Jets Hawaiian awhile yep,
he's now an agent. About that? Went on the other
side saying, wait, I can get a couple of percent
by just hyping guys. Yeah, I'm in on that. Uh.
Tim Anderson defensive line played in the league for a
little bit. He's a history teacher and he also does
(45:51):
he's a wrestling coach. Adrian Clark became a trainer and
works with offensive lineman working on their technique. So if
you want to be a dancing bear in the NFL,
you go find him to be a bear. Why it's
not all about the bears. Have you never heard that? Yes?
I know, but you brought it up just because you're
(46:11):
a Bears. You're right, Santonio Holmes Staler all of that.
Uh does a lot of work for the Sickle Cell
Research and Foundation that he is started. You've got Donnie Nikki,
uh financial industry from met Life about that new a
Gan Nikki guests. You could say he'd save me some money.
(46:34):
Nicely done, just friends. Does some insurance work in Columbus,
a little bit of media work. Doesn't everybody buy their
Craig Crass I can talk to him about two thousand two,
how many insurance calls I think goes? And where guys go? Hey,
tell me about the national championship? All right? Five? So
fourth quarter comes and here's what happens. Great. I bet
she's got a nice life and a nice house and
(46:54):
everything else. So he tells that every day, just keeps
telling stories and gets more clients ten times a day.
I bet she's got a lot of Augusto Mike Doss.
We talked about him before zimmer Biomet medical sales rep.
And then I got one more for you because I
know you're gonna like this. Go ahead. He got Rob
Sims all right, played the league a little bit. Blaye
in Detroit with Calvin Johnson. Two of them have started
(47:17):
their own little cannabis run there in Michigan, and they've
also got a giant research thing going on with Harvard. Wow,
everything and everything related to cannabis and it's use. So
there is our look back at the two thousand and
two Oha State Buckeyes national champions pulling one of the
(47:38):
big upsets in college football history in an incredibly memorable
game against the Miami Hurricanes. I'm Jason Smith. He's Mike Harmon.
You can hit us up on Twitter at how about
a Fresca or Mike is at Swollen Dumb. Let us
know what you think, let us know what teams you
would like to see spotlighted on Special Teams with Jason
Smith and Mike Carmen. We'll talk to you next time
(48:06):
before you go, rate and review the show. Whether you're
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whatever it is, give us a rate, tell us you
like it. We will love you forever and ever and ever.
(48:31):
Special Teams is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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(49:15):
what does the chicken say? Draft diraffe? Really? Giraffe giraffe?
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Get it right visits n h S a dot gov
(49:36):
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