Tee Martin and Marcus Outzen. Who and who? Exactly.

The last time an NCAA football national championship featured two extremely unknown quarterbacks was 1999, in which Martin's Tennessee Volunteers beat Outzen's Florida State Seminoles 23-16 in the Fiesta Bowl. That was also the first year the national championship teams were decided by BCS psychomath.

Since then, every national championship game has featured at least one quarterback in the top five in Heisman voting, often with winners and multiple QBs:

• 1999 — Michael Vick, Virginia Tech (3rd in voting)

• 2000 — Chris Weinke, Florida State (won), Josh Heupel, Oklahoma (2nd)

• 2001 — Eric Crouch, Nebraska (won); Ken Dorsey, Miami (3rd)

• 2002 — Dorsey (5th)

• 2003 — Jason White, Oklahoma (won)

• 2004 — Matt Leinart, USC (won); White (3rd)

• 2005 — Vince Young, Texas (2nd); Leinart (3rd)

• 2006 — Troy Smith, Ohio State (won)

And there's your collegiate quarterback pedigree in national title games. Makes you remember the times when folks like Chris Weinke and Jason White were once touted as great athletes, doesn't it?

It might speak volumes in terms of how much we once thought of quarterbacks of top-ranked football teams. Of the aforementioned QBs, the only ones with NFL talent were Vick, Leinart, and Young. The jury's still out on Troy Smith, but even he had a hellacious game last year in the BCS National Championship Game. That particular game, won by Florida, was decided by other non-quarterback players.

And that will also happen tonight. When Ohio State and LSU kickoff for the national championship, the starting quarterbacks will be Matt Flynn and Todd Boeckman. Nope, no star power there, even though Boeckman has the 12th best QB rating in the country.

This is actually a refreshing change of pace, because I've always thought too much emphasis has always been placed on the quarterback position. It's the most important spot on the field, granted, but it's not the end-all-be-all of college football. After all, there's a reason LSU hasn't lost a game in regulation, and it isn't all because of Matt Flynn (75th-best QB rating, ranking below quarterbacks from Duke and Temple). It's because football is — how do I put this — a goddamn team game.

But that's not to say the Buckeyes and Tigers don't have standout players. They do, and they both play defense. For Ohio State, it's two-time All-American linebacker James Laurinaitis. For LSU, the stud is defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey. Although LSU has a halfway impressive offense, this defensive struggle might be best watched in a way I've never done before — keeping the eyes on the other side of the ball.