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Evan Spencer generated headlines last season with strongly worded comments about how his Ohio State team would fare against Alabama and Florida State.
A year later, he and the Buckeyes will get a chance to prove that they can actually āwipe the floorā with the top-ranked Crimson Tide -- and they might even get a shot at both of them.
āI was confident in my team then and confident in them now, and Iām really glad that we get to play them,ā said Spencer, whose team will face Alabama on Jan. 1 in a College Football Playoff semifinal. āObviously being a competitor and the type of guy that I am, I want to play the best team in the country, I want to play the best athletes in the country and I want to play the best-coached teams in the country.
āAnd the fact that weāre in the playoffs gave me a chance to play, hypothetically, the best teams in the country. Every athlete, thatās all they can wish for. Iām confident in my guys and I think that weāll do well.ā
Spencer was joking with reporters when he made those comments last November, but the situation blew up in his face a bit. Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer publicly rebuked the receiver and temporarily banned him from speaking to the media.
Spencer later tweeted an apology for showing what Meyer deemed a lack of sportsmanship.
āI just felt that it was necessary,ā Spencer said Sunday. āMaybe some people were taking it differently than the intentions that I meant it. I solely meant it in the purpose of just showing my confidence in the guys that we had and none other than that.ā
Spencer said he thought back on the controversy over his comments when he learned that the Buckeyes would face Alabama in the playoff. But he has bigger concerns than validating his comments from a year ago -- namely getting a win on New Yearās Day in order to play the Florida State-Oregon winner on Jan. 12 with a national title at stake.
ā[I thought about it] little bit, but I was more thinking about the fact that we get to play the No. 1 team in the country and we get to show how good a team when we are,ā Spencer said.
Of course, the Buckeyes never got a shot at Alabama or Florida State last season. They were undefeated at the time of Spencerās comments and riding a winning streak that would stretch to a school-record 24 games before Michigan State upset them in the Big Ten championship game.
Auburn, which knocked Alabama out of the mix with its own upset win, went on to play Florida State in the BCS title game instead. The Buckeyes would close the season with another loss, this time to Clemson in the Orange Bowl, and Spencer learned a valuable lesson in humility.
āWe did a lot of great things in that season,ā Spencer said. āGranted, we didnāt finish it the way we needed to and wanted to, but I felt that last year was definitely a really great learning experience for me personally and us as a team.ā
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A year later, he and the Buckeyes will get a chance to prove that they can actually āwipe the floorā with the top-ranked Crimson Tide -- and they might even get a shot at both of them.
āI was confident in my team then and confident in them now, and Iām really glad that we get to play them,ā said Spencer, whose team will face Alabama on Jan. 1 in a College Football Playoff semifinal. āObviously being a competitor and the type of guy that I am, I want to play the best team in the country, I want to play the best athletes in the country and I want to play the best-coached teams in the country.
āAnd the fact that weāre in the playoffs gave me a chance to play, hypothetically, the best teams in the country. Every athlete, thatās all they can wish for. Iām confident in my guys and I think that weāll do well.ā
Spencer was joking with reporters when he made those comments last November, but the situation blew up in his face a bit. Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer publicly rebuked the receiver and temporarily banned him from speaking to the media.
Spencer later tweeted an apology for showing what Meyer deemed a lack of sportsmanship.
āI just felt that it was necessary,ā Spencer said Sunday. āMaybe some people were taking it differently than the intentions that I meant it. I solely meant it in the purpose of just showing my confidence in the guys that we had and none other than that.ā
Spencer said he thought back on the controversy over his comments when he learned that the Buckeyes would face Alabama in the playoff. But he has bigger concerns than validating his comments from a year ago -- namely getting a win on New Yearās Day in order to play the Florida State-Oregon winner on Jan. 12 with a national title at stake.
ā[I thought about it] little bit, but I was more thinking about the fact that we get to play the No. 1 team in the country and we get to show how good a team when we are,ā Spencer said.
Of course, the Buckeyes never got a shot at Alabama or Florida State last season. They were undefeated at the time of Spencerās comments and riding a winning streak that would stretch to a school-record 24 games before Michigan State upset them in the Big Ten championship game.
Auburn, which knocked Alabama out of the mix with its own upset win, went on to play Florida State in the BCS title game instead. The Buckeyes would close the season with another loss, this time to Clemson in the Orange Bowl, and Spencer learned a valuable lesson in humility.
āWe did a lot of great things in that season,ā Spencer said. āGranted, we didnāt finish it the way we needed to and wanted to, but I felt that last year was definitely a really great learning experience for me personally and us as a team.ā
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