Buckeyes trying to avoid deja vu all over again

NEW ORLEANS -- The speed thing you can accept. Jim Tressel's Columbus Beef Trust has been told for years that it is slower than a broken watch. At least when it comes to that big, bad, blew-by-you SEC speed.

Jim Tressel looks to avoid mistakes that cost his team in last year's championship game. (AP)

Ohio State coaches have all but admitted it in their preparations for Monday's national championship game. In December, they installed a practice drill called "SEC Tiger Drill." That's not too obvious is it?

"I think it's our coaches saying, 'Maybe they are faster than us. Maybe we do need to work on our speed,'" said Ohio State offensive tackle Alex Boone.

How many programs have a "speed coordinator?" Former Olympic sprinter Butch Reynolds helped put together the drills. Practices are twice stopped at random so the team can run sprints the width of the field.

"I wish we would have done it last year," defensive back Malcolm Jenkins said.

Pouncing on the speed angle this week is easier than a hooker a block off Bourbon Street. There is at least a kernel of truth to it. Conclusive video evidence shows that Florida wiped Ohio State off the field a year ago in the BCS title game.

"It's the worst game I've been a part of," said quote box offensive tackle Kirk Barton.

In general, the Big Ten doesn't have the same team speed as the SEC. Look at the Buckeyes' bowl record against the SEC: 0-8. That would be all there is to it if the Buckeyes kept their mouths shut.

A physical deficiency you can accept -- and fix with recruiting. A mental lapse, no. That's why the vibe coming out of Camp Olentangy this week is so disturbing. The Buckeyes, who had won it all in 2002, who were No. 1 again in 2006, who produced a Heisman Trophy winner and numerous NFL Draft picks last season, phoned it in that night against the Gators.

"Complacency was an issue, maybe, last year," All-America linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "Maybe we were satisfied with what we had accomplished."

Laurinaitis isn't the only one to say it.

"It wasn't the speed at all," receiver Brian Hartline said. "It was purely the execution. We thought we could show up and win. It was overconfidence."

But how? Why? Tressel and his boys were good enough to beat Texas and Michigan last season, and develop one of the best defenses in the country. And then choke in the biggest game of the season. If the Bucks had become fat and happy, that's an indictment of Tressel's entire program, not just the players' wheels.