By Paul Daugherty
The Cincinnati Enquirer

TEMPE, Ariz. - After Ken Dorsey is blitzed back to South Beach and throws four interceptions ... after Mike Nugent validates Jim Tressel's right-of-Reagan offense with five field goals ... after Craig Krenzel scores the game-winning touchdown on a quarterback draw, thereby upholding the honor of football-playing molecular genetics majors everywhere.

Maurice Clarett will fly home without a plane.

Can it be done? Can Ohio State stop Miami's epochal 34-game winning streak, shut down the Hurricanes' Pro Bowl-in-waiting offense and win its first national title in 34 years? When all is said and done, will all of what Clarett has said and done be forgotten in a wave of euphoria that will last at least until spring practice?

Uh ...

Well ...

Here's what Miami doesn't do well:

Play penalty-free. The Hurricanes average 85 penalty yards.

Defend the run. They give up 171 yards a game.

Play without yawning. They were losing to Rutgers after three quarters. The only explanation was boredom. "Sometimes, they lose interest," said Boston College coach Tom O'Brien. It's hard to handle the ball when you're filing your nails.

So, it's doable for the Buckeyes, right? It's possible Jim Tressel, a terrific coach and the world's Most Boring Man, could rock-a-bye the 'Canes all by himself. It could come to pass that all that Ohio State poise, teamwork and heart will be enough to put the world back on its conservative, blue-collar axis.

"Superior special teams, relentless defense, mistake-free offense," said tight end Ben Hartsock, who has been sitting too close to Tressel. He needs to be de-programmed. "If we can come out and not be concerned with how fast they are and how flashy their offense is and just play old-school Buckeye football, we'll have every chance in the world to win."

Or maybe not.

Miami has to lose

"Do I think Ohio State can win? No, I think Miami has to lose. They're that talented," said O'Brien. We talked to Tom O'Brien because BC has played the Hurricanes as well as any team the last two years, and because he's a 1966 graduate of St. Xavier High. O'Brien thinks the Bucks will win if Miami plays poorly or somehow treats the game like Rutgers II.

"They just have so many weapons at so many positions," he said.

In 2001, BC lost 18-7 to Miami but had a first-and-goal with 30 seconds left when a pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. At Miami this season, BC trailed 17-6 with 11 minutes to play. A missed field goal and two turnovers later, the Eagles lost 38-6. Miami scored three times in three minutes.

O'Brien figures Ohio State's best chance is to control the ball for 40 minutes, shut down Miami tailback Willis McGahee and keep pressure on Dorsey until he makes a mistake. Which, O'Brien figures, he will: "He's soft. We rattled him pretty good."

The Buckeyes are mature, disciplined and confident, which would be an advantage if the Hurricanes weren't the same way. This isn't a set-up game like the 1987 Fiesta Bowl, when Joe Paterno's Penn State squared-aways took all that Miami woofing and stuffed it in a black high-top football spike. These Hurricanes aren't clowns. They run the circus.

Maybe yet another week of playing Little Brother to a nation of doubters will help the Buckeyes. "It's getting kind of old hearing how great Miami is," defensive tackle Tim Anderson said.

It could be the expected pro-Ohio State crowd will help. "People are dying to see us lose, man," said Miami center Brett Romberg. "It would make their Christmas holidays."

But you can't pin your hopes on a pocketful of ifs. If we can run. If we can stop their run. If we can get in Ken Dorsey's face, he'll panic and throw interceptions.

The Hurricanes deal in whens. When the passing game bogs down, we'll hand the ball to McGahee. When Clarett gains big chunks of yardage, it will be between the 20s. When we decide to score quickly and in bunches, we will.

Did you know Miami's average TD-drive time is one minute and 58 seconds? Or that in seven games this season, McGahee averaged at least 7 yards a carry? If you throw in his receiving yards, McGahee averaged 7.2 yards every time he touched the ball.

That's flying without wings - something Maurice Clarett would love to be doing at midnight tonight. Odds are, he'll be grounded.

E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com