Think Miami fans are upset about the controversial pass-interference call that reversed an apparent Hurricanes national championship Friday night? This website received a hit today from someone doing the following Google search: Ohio State illegitimate championship.

The person was probably disappointed in what he/she found: a Nov. 26 blog post that mentioned then-#2 Ohio State and also mentioned Nebraska’s status in last year’s title game as “an ‘illegitimate’ national-championship contender.” Alas, Google, like a referee, does not always give you what you want.

Tonight at around 8:30 PM Eastern time, USA Today national high-school football player of the year Chris Leak — a quarterback — will announce his college choice live on ESPN2 (at halftime of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl high-school all-star game). According to sources close to Leak, as quoted in the Charlotte Observer, the smart money is on the University of Florida. But USC seems to be Leak’s second-most-likely choice, and there’s hope yet that the sources are wrong and Leak wants to be a Trojan. At least, that’s what I’m hoping. With Heisman winner Carson Palmer graduating, the Trojans desperately need a star quarterback.

UPDATE, 8:51 PM Eastern time: D’oh! He’s going to Florida, as expected. Oh, well.

UPDATE, 01/06/03, 1:14 AM Eastern time: Here’s a CNNSI story about Leak’s decision. Here’s one from the Charlotte Observer.

Some more newspapers with front-page coverage of Friday’s Miami-Ohio State championship game:

The Dayton Daily News front page


The Cleveland Plain Dealer front page


The Arizona Republic front page


The Arizona Daily Star front page


The Orlando Sentinel front page


The New York Times front page

Click here to view the Miami Herald’s front page.

Thanks to the Newseum and the Herald and Plain Dealer websites for the above images.

Also, if you’d like to read the Ohio State student newspaper’s article about the game, click here.