I hear you, Buckeye Nation.

You have been embarrassed by the Tat Pack and know there are rumblings out there that Ohio State’s recently tagged players should begin serving their suspensions now, meaning not play in the Sugar Bowl vs. Arkansas on Jan. 4.

You also pulled up a footstool and a bowl of Cheetos on Jan. 1 and watched the Big Ten go a robust 0-5 in various bowl games. Northwestern couldn’t get on top of Texas Tech. Michigan State ran into a buzz saw against Alabama. Michigan offered no defensive resistance (what else is new?) against Mississippi State, Penn State couldn’t hang on against Florida, and Wisconsin saw what all the fuss was about regarding TCU.

And, unfortunately, you are well aware of Ohio State’s unconscionable 0-9 record vs. the SEC in bowl games.

You are wondering if you want to even invest much emotional energy into this next game and if your beloved Buckeyes are about to become a national punchline again.

Well, I’m here to talk you down off the ledge.

Ohio State is still the pick in this game, in my opinion. Arkansas will be a tough out and Ryan Mallett is a big-time quarterback with a big-time arm. Pulling away to a comfortable tier won’t be easy at all. But the Buckeyes can come up with key stops and are not going to stop fighting in this game.

It should be entertaining and highly compelling. The guys in the funny jackets and the televisions executives should get the entertaining unopposed college football game they crave.

But why should anyone believe it will in OSU’s favor?

History. Yes, bad history. Because it’s got to change at some point, and now is as good a time as ever.

So what are we talking about here? Certainly we can remember some recent failures, most notably when the Buckeyes were overwhelmed by Florida and LSU in back-to-back national championship game appearances.

But if it is time for OSU to exorcise the demons of bowl games past, maybe it’s also a good time to review and reassess the damage.

One might expect that a program as successful as Ohio State has been for decades that an 0-9 mark against any conference would require a combination of negative forces. Sure enough, when looking back it’s clear the Buckeyes not only suffered from poor play in those games but also bad breaks, bad calls and even bad timing.

Let’s take a look:

Jan. 1, 1978, vs. Alabama, Sugar Bowl in New Orleans – This game was billed as a “classic confrontation” since the organizers were able to pit an Ohio State team coached by Woody Hayes against another legend, Paul “Bear” Bryant. It turned out to be a mismatch. The Buckeyes were coming off a 14-6 loss at Michigan after fattening up on a weak Big Ten. Third-ranked Alabama was simply the better squad and proved it in a 35-6 walkover. In fact, OSU didn’t even get on the scoreboard until the fourth period when Rod Gerald pitched a 38-yard touchdown to Jimmy Harrell. The truth is Woody was at the end of his coaching rope. He burned his players out by having them practice in New Orleans for two full weeks while Bear brother the Crimson Tide over just four days before New Year’s Day. ’Bama wasn’t exactly sharp, though. The Tide committed 10 fumbles – but amazingly lost only two of them. OSU finished a frustrating 9-3 season that also included a memorable 29-28 loss to Oklahoma at the Horseshoe. The 1977 Buckeyes entered the bowl game ranked ninth and fell to No. 11 in the final Associated Press poll while ’Bama was second in both major polls to Notre Dame.

Jan. 1, 1990, vs. Auburn, Hall of Fame Bowl in Tampa, Fla. – The Buckeyes were in over their heads once again and lost 31-14. John Cooper did a good job of returning OSU to a bowl game after a two-year hiatus and the Buckeyes were even competitive at Michigan, losing 28-18 to fall to 8-3. The reward, though, was a matchup with a No. 9 Auburn squad that was loaded and heavily favored. Surprisingly, Ohio State jumped out to a 14-3 lead but the Tigers scored a TD with only 11 seconds left in the first half and swung the momentum back their way. Quarterback Reggie Slack sandwiched scoring passes around a 5-yard TD run in the second half. OSU’s offense sputtered as flanker Jeff Graham, who had five catches for 103 yards in the first half, missed the second half with a groin pull. Ohio State’s fortunes were improving but the Buckeyes (8-4) didn’t have enough to pull off the upset. They finished at No. 24 while the Tigers moved up to No. 6.

Jan. 1, 1993, vs. Georgia, Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando – This is the first such OSU-SEC bowl matchup that could have gone either way. In fact, the Buckeyes and Bulldogs put on a very entertaining show with tailbacks Robert Smith and Garrison Hearst both on top of their game. Hearst struck first with a 1-yard plunge to open the scoring. Smith scored from a yard out in the second period and each star runner scored again in the third to set up a 14-all tie and dramatic ending. Kirk Herbstreit was engineering an apparent go-ahead scoring drive when he collided with fullback Jeff Cothran on a handoff attempt and the ball came loose. Georgia’s Travis Jones recovered the fumble on the 20 and the Bulldogs scored the winning touchdown with 4:32 left to post a 21-14 victory. Again, the Buckeyes fought valiantly but were quite up to the challenge. No. 8 Georgia got 163 yards rushing from Hearst and another 242 in the air off a clan performance from quarterback Eric Zeier. Smith had 112 yards rushing in his final game as a Buckeye but Herbstreit’s finale wasn’t up to snuff. He was just 8 of 24 passing and pitched an interception. OSU (8-3-1) fell from No. 15 to 18 in the final AP poll. Georgia stayed at No. 8.

Jan. 2, 1995, vs. Alabama, Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando – Here’s where it starts getting really frustrating. The Buckeyes lived up to Cooper’s promise and won their bowl game at the end of the 1993 season and they also knocked off Michigan for the first time since 1987 with a resounding 22-6 win over the Maize and Blue in Columbus. But Penn State locked up the Rose Bowl bid and a date with Oregon and forced second-place and 13th-ranked OSU to square off with a motivated Alabama team. The Tide came to Florida ranked No. 6 and scored 10 points in the final 4:29 to pull out a 24-17 win. The game-winner was a 50-yard yard catch and scurry by ’Bama tailback Sherman Williams with 42 seconds remaining. Williams also had 164 yards rushing and 155 receiving while Joey Galloway kept OSU in it with eight catches for 146 yards and two scores. OSU (9-4) fell a peg to No. 14 in the final poll while Alabama, two years removed from a national title, moved up to No. 5.

Jan. 1, 1996, vs. Tennessee, Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando – Here we go again. The 1995 Buckeyes were a thing to behold for 11 weeks. They survived a murderous schedule behind record-breaking performances from tailback Eddie George (who won the Heisman Trophy and several other national awards), quarterback Bobby Hoying (Draddy Award) and wide receiver Terry Glenn (Biletnikoff Award) while the offensive line was anchored by Orlando Pace (Lomardi Award). They also downed six ranked teams until a 31-23 loss at Michigan. That sent the Buckeyes back to Disneyworld and set up a top-five matchup with the Volunteers as the two teams were tied at No. 4 in the rankings. OSU was bucking to win 12 games for the first time in program history and scored first when George capped a drive on a 2-yard TD run. But the Buckeyes didn’t fare as well on the Citrus Bowl turf in the driving rain and lost 20-14. Hoying fared well in his matchup with Peyton Manning but UT running back Jay Graham turned the game with a 69-yard scoring run with 23 seconds left in the first half. The Buckeyes tied the score at 14 on a Rickey Dudley TD catch and were in the game to the end but they committed four turnovers. It was discovered after the game that the Tennessee players changed into longer-toothed cleats at halftime that should have been declared illegal. OSU ended up 11-2 and No. 6 while Tennessee moved up to No. 3 in the final AP poll.

Jan. 1, 2001, vs. South Carolina, Outback Bowl in Tampa – This was a nadir of sorts for the OSU football program as the Buckeyes lost 24-7 and the hero for the Gamecocks was a fireplug of a tailback named Ryan Brewer, a Troy, Ohio, native and former “Mr. Football” who was not recruited by Ohio State. The Buckeyes outgained USC and had more first downs but were victim to big plays and untimely mistakes. The only OSU score came when Mike Gurr pounced on a loose ball in the end zone. Brewer accounted for 214 all-purpose yards and was named the game’s MVP. OSU made announcements of its own afterward as athletic director Andy Geiger, citing a “deteriorating climate,” sacked Cooper, the dean of Big Ten coaches at the time. Ohio State finished a respectable 8-4 but Cooper, who was 111-43-4 at OSU, fell to 2-10-1 vs. Michigan and 3-8 in bowl games. The Buckeyes were No. 18 going into the bowl game and finished out of the polls.

Jan. 1, 2002, vs. South Carolina, Outback Bowl in Tampa – So much had changed for Ohio State, most noticeably the public rally behind new head coach Jim Tressel, and the Buckeyes had a chance at a reprieve with a rematch with the Gamecocks in the very same bowl setting. However, the unranked Buckeyes were still a work in progress and looked ill-prepared in falling behind 28-0. That’s when Steve Bellisari inexplicably began playing the best quarterback of his life and engineered a comeback. The Buckeyes finally dented the scoreboard on the last play of the third quarter with a 2-yard Bellisari run and they proceeded to find the end zone three more times in the fourth quarter. However, Bellisari threw an interception right after the Buckeyes got the ball back, setting up a Daniel Weaver field goal as time expired and a 31-28 USC win. In keeping with OSU’s postseason pain against the SEC, the weak 42-yard kick just barely eked over the crossbar. OSU had to settle for a 7-5 record, but the fortunes around the program changed dramatically the following season.

Jan. 8, 2007, vs. Florida, BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Ariz. – Tressel and the Buckeyes returned to Arizona, where the Buckeyes had won the Fiesta Bowl four years earlier to complete the 2002 national title, as a legitimate college superpower and the nation’s No. 1 team. They left with a black eye that theoretically has not yet healed – a 41-14 embarrassment at the hands of the cocky Gators. It all started off well enough as Ted Ginn Jr. returned the opening kickoff at University of Phoenix Stadium for a 93-yard touchdown. But the black cloud resurfaced as OSU’s exuberant celebration of that play led to Ginn injuring his leg and the Ohio State offense stagnated much of the day. Heisman Trophy-winning QB Troy Smith was an absolutely dreadful 4 of 14 for 35 yards passing and was sacked five times. Meanwhile, the defense couldn’t get Florida off the field. OSU had dumped No. 2 Texas and No. 2 Michigan during the season but never was able to match up with a two-loss, second-ranked Florida team and suffered the worst loss of the Tressel era to that point. This is a stink bomb that is yet to be explained.

Jan. 7, 2008, vs. LSU, BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans – Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The Buckeyes entered this contest after a win over Michigan and atop the BCS ratings but didn’t do enough to change the minds of Big Ten doubters. The Buckeyes actually had a slip-up during the season with a loss to Illinois but December losses by West Virginia and Oklahoma put them back in the driver’s seats heading into the postseason and back in the Superdome. However, awaiting them were frenzied LSU fans with boisterous chants of “S-E-C! S-E-C!” The Buckeyes again scored first, this time on a thrilling 65-yard blast by running back Beanie Wells, but mistakes mounted on both sides of the ball and special teams – an Austin Spitler personal foul on an LSU punt proved extremely costly – and the Tigers eventually found high gear in a 38-24 win. Wells had 146 yards rushing but the Tigers defense battered QB Todd Boeckman and the defense forgot to cover tight end Richard Dickson, who caught two Matt Flynn passes for touchdowns. This may have been less painful than the title-game loss 364 days earlier, but not by much.

To turn it around, Ohio State needs to be confident in its ability and unaffected by its troubled past in such games. And that seems to be the pervading attitude.

Senior cornerback Chimdi Chekwa, a product of the South, seemed to sum it up the best.

“I’m not bothered about the speed (factor) at all,” he said. “If this was a track meet then maybe I’d be worried a little bit. But it’s a game of football. You go out there, you prepare, and the better team that day wins. Arkansas is a good team on film, they’re a fast team, but it’s just a good solid football team. So is Ohio State. And we’re just going to go there and try and get this win.”

And on being oh-for-the-SEC, Chekwa added, “It doesn’t affect me. I wasn’t a part of all of those teams. Each team is different and this team has its own challenge against Arkansas.”

The thought here os that Ohio State will meet that challenge, which means you can come down off that ledge now.