TEMPE, Ariz. - The first potential distraction to this season's national championship game occurred yesterday when Ohio State's star tailback, Maurice Clarett, revealed that he would rather be home attending the funeral of a lifelong friend than preparing for Friday's Fiesta Bowl against top-ranked Miami.

"I guess football's more important than a person's life to them," Clarett said of school officials at yesterday's news conference. "That's why I'm ready to get this game over with and go back home. I'm kind of messed up right now because they jerked me [around]."

Clarett, who emerged as one of the nation's leading rushers as a freshman with 1,190 yards, was unable to attend yesterday's funeral of Juaquin A. "Juan" Bell, 23, who was found dead last week in his Youngstown, Ohio, apartment. Bell had been shot multiple times, according to police.

Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger said that Clarett had never signed the paperwork needed for him to get financial aid in a matter such as this.

Even if Clarett had signed the proper forms, it still would have been subject to approval by the NCAA, which usually only allows such an expenditure in case of the death of an immediate family member.

"We offered to reimburse him, but he elected not to do that or couldn't afford to, or there wasn't anybody in his family who could," Geiger said. "We were stuck in a place where the rule is that we couldn't go forward and buy a ticket. That was upsetting to him. But there wasn't any effort on our part to keep him here."

Clarett, who has scored 16 touchdowns despite shoulder problems, said he informed Ohio State coach Jim Tressel on Friday of his wishes to go home for a few days. Tressel said yesterday that the "decision was out of our hands," but he understood Clarett's disappointment.

"I know he's really distraught over losing a very close friend," said Tressel.

But Tressel also said that school officials never denied Clarett the opportunity to return to Youngstown.

"I suppose that anyone's take on a situation is their own. But, no, I wouldn't call it that," Tressel said. "The best thing is to say it didn't work out."

Said Clarett: "I'm not really supposed to be here, but it's cool. This happens in life. There's bumps in the road like everything else, but I'll be all right."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.