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Fiesta Bowl preview Dec. 22: Colt McCoy's big game experience and the Longhorns' team chemistry lead John Walters and Tiffany Simons to favor Texas over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

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Texas may be angry, but at least they’re united. Ohio State? The starting quarterback whom Tressel chose not to make available to the media is Terrelle Pryor, a latter-day Vince Young who, believe it or not, is already taller and larger as a true freshman than Young was as a redshirt junior. Pryor, the most coveted prep athlete in the nation a season ago, is the future for Ohio State. Whether he should be the present appears to have been a matter of contention in the Buckeye locker room all season long.

Ohio State, as previously mentioned, is a veteran team. Eighteen returning starters. One of those starters was the quarterback, Todd Boeckman, a 24 year-old sixth-year senior who a year ago threw 25 touchdown passes and led the Buckeyes to the threshold of a national championship.

Boeckman is immobile as compared to Pryor. He is a game manager as opposed to being a playmaker, which is Pryor’s forte. He is meat loaf to Pryor’s sizzling fajitas.

However, the Ohio native is a well-respected veteran (a team captain, in fact) in a locker room full of veterans, many of whom will be millionaires in the next few years. He was first team All-Big Ten a year ago.

And then midway though the USC game he was replaced by Pryor. Boeckman played just two snaps in the following game versus Troy — the hometown fans booed him when his lone pass fell short. The start at USC would be Boeckman’s last, and he would attempt just 15 passes in the Buckeyes’ final nine games.

Boeckman’s demotion seems to have caused a schism in the locker room. Here was a senior-heavy team that twice had advanced to the national championship game, and now the boss was handing the most important position on the field to a true freshman? Observing the Buckeyes, you sensed the resentment among the upperclassmen. Todd Boeckman couldn’t lead Ohio State past USC, but how many quarterbacks could?

Laurinaitis, Ohio State’s most outstanding and most respected player, was asked about whether Boeckman deserved to be under center. His response spoke volumes.

"That's not really my decision and I don't really have an opinion on it," Laurinaitis said. "I've learned in my career here that I really don't have opinions on things I can't control."

Laurinaitis and the Longhorns could have a long talk on Monday about having opinions on matters that are beyond their control. Instead, they’ll just play a football game. And, if they can all somehow get beyond the misery of having been marooned in the Valley of the Sun for a week in January, they might just put on a good show.

They are, after all, two outstanding football teams — if they would just smile.

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