Jim Tressel Wins Rose Bowl for the Big Ten and Ohio State

Not that he will admit it, but Jim Tressel won the Rose Bowl and doing so benefited a beleaguered program and conference. The real issue is why he has to keep justifying himself when OSU keeps being so dominant. 

Not to take anything away from Pryor, but the quarterback is a true sophomore. His comparison should not be against Vince Young, but rather just young. He's only 20 by a few months and has had only two seasons of real football under his belt. Yet Tressel exploited his powers and even utilized his weaknesses as strengths to defeat a good opponent in the Oregon Ducks.

Not that this position must be defended, but for those who have been thinking otherwise, it's important to show how obvious this is.  Some of the most important marks of good coaching are turnover margins and penalties, and in both OSU came out on top.

The next point is how Tressel called for a game plan that gave Pryor easy throws. Both live and in replay it's scary to see Pryor throw the ball. His unrefined and sloppy delivery must scare receivers as well, but his choices and poise more than made up for his lack of a developed passing ability. And I say it this way because I really believe that he can become what people expect him to be, but this has more to do with him becoming a passing threat than a better runner.

Let's just look at the first series. Easy throws and easy reads. Pryor's 26-yard run came on a drop back that would have been either an incomplete pass or a throw away for a standard quarterback, but Tressel put Pryor in a perfect position by using his receivers to clear the D-backs out and the O line to give Pryor the time to set up his move. But I digress. I think the point is clear: Tressel set up OSU with a game plan that was designed to take chances and beat a good Oregon team. 

That being said, it still seems like an annual process to defend the team that has played in the most BCS games and the only team to play in two Championship games since its inception by the BCS. And of the eight times they played, they won five times, won one national title and only played in the Rose Bowl (where the Big 10 champ has an automatic berth) once.

If Ohio State isn't good enough to play with BCS teams, why do they win BCS games? And why don't the final BCS, AP, and Coaches' Poll rankings show them to be less than stellar? Below are the final rankings in the AP Poll for OSU, starting with 2009:

Final AP rankings: 2009: No. 8(*TBD), 2008: No. 9, 2007: No. 5, 2006: No. 2, 2005: No. 4, 2004: No. 20, 2003: No. 4, 2002: No. 1. 

These average final rankings since 2002 are only surpassed by USC, with an average rank of 5.375 and tied by Florida (6.625). So OSU is only as good as Florida in the past eight years and not quite as good as USC.  This looks about right when you also look at the NFL.

As alluded to by Brent Musburger, OSU cranks out NFL players. But, unlike what Kirk Herbstreit seemed to note, OSU does not take a back seat to USC.  Since 1999 OSU has had 70 players selected in the NFL draft (17 first round). This is the most of any school.

But maybe now there doesn't need to be any more defending of the Buckeyes' ability to stand with top-ranked teams.  My perception is that there is so much expectation, that OSU will be among the top five teams each year, and when they fall anywhere short of that, aspects of the program are blamed and examined. 

The reality may be that because the OSU system does not provide enough fodder for ESPN highlight reels through huge passes and five wide-out sets, they are seen as a second-rate team, but if you ask BCS coaches who they want to face off against next year, I think very few will pick Tressel.