NEW ORLEANS — Chris “Beanie” Wells was a first-team All-Big Ten selection, rushing for 1,463 yards and 14 touchdowns during the regular season.
Imagine the year the sophomore from Akron could have produced had he been healthy.
Wells played much of the year with a sprained ankle and all of it with a broken bone in his left wrist, something he didn’t detect until X-rays were taken late in the season.
With the long layoff before the BCS Championship Game on Monday, Wells has had time to heal, but not completely.
“I feel refreshed in a sense, but with a broken wrist, it’s something I’m going to have to deal with and play through,” Wells said. “It was a pain (in the regular-season finale at Michigan), but I wrapped it up and didn’t pay much attention to it. I just got more focused on the game.
“I always knew I would do anything for this football team. Through anything, I want to fight to help this team.”
Even a Wells short of 100 percent has been tough to deal with for opposing defenses. He ran for 821 yards in the last five games, including 222 yards (the most ever by a Buckeye back against Michigan) and both touchdowns in a 14-3 victory over the Wolverines.
The consensus says that No. 1 Ohio State and Wells must run the ball effectively to beat the second-ranked Tigers, who are well aware of the threat the
6-foot-1, 235-pound “Beanie” poses.   
“He’s a big guy,” said LSU’s all-everything defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey. “He runs the ball hard, and he’s got some great moves. I think he’s faster than people give him credit for.
“He’s a quick, powerful guy, and we’re going to have to be on top of our game and try to stop him.”

Old friends

LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini was a four-year letterman and safety at Ohio State from 1987-90, serving as team captain during his senior year, and though he was gone by the time Jim Tressel took over, their paths had crossed before.
“I’ve known coach Tressel a long time,” said Pelini, who will leave LSU after the BCS title game to take over as head coach at Nebraska. “He joked about it with me that I was the first guy that he offered a scholarship when he got the job at Youngstown State. So, obviously, our relationship goes way back. I just have a tremendous amount of respect for him and what he’s been able to do both at Youngstown State and at Ohio State.
“I think he’s the only coach in history to win a national championship at the (Division) I-AA level and (Division) I-A level. He’s had success everywhere he’s been. And not only has he had success, but he’s done it with class.”

Tick, tick, tick

Complaints that college football games were taking too long prompted the NCAA rules committee to alter clock management after the 2005 season, but little has changed.
Though the average game time was shortened from 3 hours and 21 minutes to 3 hours and 7 minutes in 2006, after a little more tweaking to return some of the lost time, the average this season (3 hours and 22 minutes) was actually longer than when the rules committee decided to implement changes.
Don’t blame the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s 3:04 average was the lowest in the nation, while LSU’s 3:40 was the highest.

Buckeye bits

After moving its practice indoors to the New Orleans Saints facility, Ohio State was back outside Friday, preparing at Tulane University. LSU practiced in the Superdome for the second straight day.
The Buckeyes will not practice at the Superdome prior to the title game, while the Tigers are holding all of their pregame practices there.
• Former Browns public relations chief Todd Stewart is the moderator for the daily BCS player and coach interviews at the media hotel.

INSIDE THE GAME

Tigers’ defense not so ferocious lately

LSU’s defense, ranked second overall to Ohio State entering the BCS Championship Game on Monday, showed some holes as the season progressed.
The Tigers, who allowed an average of just 6.4 points and 1.3 yards per rushing attempt through their first five games, surrendered 27.9 points and 4.0 yards per carry over their final eight, which included both of their losses — two triple-overtime defeats at the hands of Kentucky and Arkansas.
Those numbers shouldn’t get Chris “Beanie” Wells and the Buckeyes too excited, though.
Much of the Tigers’ inability to control the opposition’s offense came with LSU’s all-everything defensive lineman Glenn Dorsey (above) playing at half-speed, thanks to a right knee injury he sustained in the eighth game of the regular season against Auburn.
With the long layoff prior to the BCS title game, Dorsey is expected to be healthy and wreaking havoc again.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Honestly, I think a lot of people are doubting us because of what happened last year when we played in the national championship. We had control over what happened last year, but that’s behind us and we can’t go back and change that. Honestly, I think a lot of that is what it has to do with. But there’s nothing we can do about it.”
— Sophomore cornerback Anderson Russell on the criticism OSU and the Big Ten has received this year.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. 

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