I hate to say it
By George Starks

Rarely there are times when I will admit it but this is one of those times.

“I hate when I’m right.”

I never went public with this but there are ways I can to prove to you that I’m telling the truth.

About two weeks before Ohio State and Michigan State were to play for the Big 10 title, a friend of mine and I were talking about the possibility of the two teams meeting in Indianapolis for the championship.

Five minutes into the game, I told my grandson, Dylan, that I had predicted the Bucks would fall, doing it via text message.

Of course the Buckeyes needed to beat the other team from that state while the Spartans had to win their last game of the season.

While the Spartans won going away, the Buckeyes struggled in beating the Wolverines but it set up the showdown between the two teams.

As my friend and I talked, he said the Buckeyes should win this game even though it wasn’t going to be easy.

My response to him was, “Hold on, not so quick.”

I wasn’t too sure Ohio State could beat MSU.

Coming in with the top ranked defense, Michigan State had held opponents to next to nothing offensively all year long.

For years I have listened to coach’s say, “Defense wins championships and offense wins games.”

Even though I told this to my buddy, he argued that the Spartans hadn’t faced anyone like Carlos Hyde or a quarterback like Braxton Miller.

Although he was right, the bottom line here was going to be defense…and it was.

It came as no surprise that the Buckeyes were held to nothing on offense in the first quarter.

Here’s what did surprise me.

Holding a 17-0 lead, the Spartan defense seemed to quit playing.

That opened the door for the Buckeyes and all of a sudden, it was 24-17 in favor of Ohio State.

I would love to know what was being said to the Michigan State defense but it worked.

As the Spartan defense started to come to life, the Ohio State offense was stymied and the M. State offense was being sparked by that very same defense.

Like it or not, a 24-17 deficit had turned in to a 24-24 tie and it was all because of the Spartan defense.

The green and white defense accounted for the final 17 Spartan points allowing Michigan State to win the Big 10 title.

Now I can honestly say, “I hate the fact I was right in this prediction.”