OSU football team tramples cheerleader during title game intro (PHOTOS)

When all was said and done, the Ohio State football team had a way better finish than entrance at the National Championship Game against Oregon on Monday night — especially for one OSU cheerleader.

Usually, the Buckeyes race onto the field from the tunnel led by four students carrying large flags that spell out O-H-I-O. Before last night's, however, one of the flags got snagged on the ground, tripping a cheerleader and sending several players sprawling.  While the players did their best to avoid trampling the helpless rah-rah to death, the Spirit Squad was left missing an "O."

We spelled #OHIO wrong. Not a good start. Cmon Bucks!! #BucksNotDucks #UOvsOSU

A photo posted by Jason Zone Fisher (@jzfish) on Jan 12, 2015 at 5:26pm PST

Getty Images photographer Tom Pennington got three images of the pompom carnage and the heroic attempts of a male cheerleader who tried to help.

The horror... the horror.

Things ended up OK for everyone involved. Yay team!

Our Cheerleader is ok. Just a miscommunication with the team runout and the producers but everyone is ready for the second half !
— OSU Spirit Squad (@OSU_SpiritSquad) January 13, 2015