Right now, everyone wants to take Jim Tressel and the Ohio State Buckeyes and throw them away because of their recent poor performances in big games. These criticisms are simply unfair.
1. The USC, Florida, and LSU teams that beat Ohio State did so because they not only had better players, but the superior athletes were at the very positions that give Ohio State the most trouble.
USC, Florida, and LSU weren't 30 points better than Ohio State (who, let us remind you, had to play two of those three games without their best offensive players—Ted Ginn Jr. against Florida and Beanie Wells against USC) in terms of overall talent, but their ability to exploit Ohio State's weaknesses resulted in Ohio State getting smothered.
For example, suppose a team has a great QB and WRs and an opportunistic defense, but a suspect running game and offensive line. That team will cruise right along, piling up points on offense and getting sacks and turnovers on defense, looking like a team for the ages—until, that is, they play a team with five future NFL draft picks in its front seven!
Eight sacks and three INTs later, the same head coach that is a genius for revolutionizing the college game with his spread the field with three and four WRs offense, and who has NFL owners and general managers offering him piles of money, is an idiot who can't coach.
The people criticizing Ohio State right now very likely root for teams who also would stand no chance against a national title contender whose scheme and best athletes exploit the limitations of your scheme and best athletes.
2. Pardon me, but who else was going to play in these games? Are we criticizing Ohio State for playing USC on the road?
(Please recall that the year Ohio State won a national title, they demolished Pac-10 champions Washington State on the road. A lot of folks want to pretend that Carson Palmer's USC won the Pac-10 that year, but it ain't true. WSU got the privilege of getting crushed by Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl that year, while USC got to play Iowa, remember?)
Somehow I missed YOUR PROGRAM'S offer to fill that spot on USC's home schedule.
As for their playing in the national title games: Who else was supposed to go? In both 2005 and 2006, Ohio State was No. 1 by virtue of having the best record in college football.
And why did they have the best record? Simple: The very same Ohio State scheme that made them look VERY BAD in losses against Florida, LSU, and USC is what keeps them from losing to teams like 6-6 UCLA and 4-7 Stanford.
Yes, that was aimed at the not few people whose true ire at Ohio State is due to their conviction that the Buckeyes kept USC from putting the SEC in their place in those games.
The very same thing that makes Ohio State reliable and dependable against mediocre teams is what makes them vulnerable against teams that emphasize a more aggressive—and risky—style. It is a tradeoff.
If you are a Midwestern program that can't count on the edge talent (QBs, WRs, LBs, DBs) that schools in California, Texas, and Florida get just by keeping their own players at home, your best bet is to build a system that allows you to win nine or 10 games a year with players in your own region, and that allows you to steal a player or three from another region.
Terrelle Pryor is at Ohio State instead of Texas because he saw Troy Smith win a Heisman and get drafted at Ohio State. That wouldn't have happened had Ohio State lost to Northwestern and Purdue that season.
3. Compare the grief that Ohio State is getting now to the teflon that Bobby Bowden and FSU got during their run. FSU lost three of their four title game appearances, including embarrassing losses to Florida (52-20) and Oklahoma (13-2, and it wasn't that close).
This was with Bobby Bowden's long history of losses to Miami, usually because a coach who owed his success to the passing game and taking big risks all of a sudden fell in love with running up the middle and playing for field goals.
We also don't like to talk about media favorite Steve Spurrier's record in big games that don't involve Phillip Fulmer, or how the media has at one point or another manufactured stars out of people like Jeff Tedford, Mike Bellotti, Charlie Weis, Joe Tiller, Bob Toledo, Mike Leach, Terry and Tommy Bowden, and Rick Neuheisel.
Many of those guys have gotten fired—or settled into mediocrity—without nearly as much criticism as Tressel has received for losing only to 12-0 Texas, 11-1 Penn State, 12-1 Florida, 11-2 LSU, 9-3 Illinois, and now No. 1 USC since 2004.
4. Claims that Ohio State plays a weak schedule are giggle-inducing. The only conference whose non-league schedules do not include three games against mid-major and I-AA teams is the Pac-10.
The Big East does it. The ACC does it. The SEC does it. The Big 12 does it.
And with all respect due to the Pac-10, a fat lot of good it has done them, hasn't it? Seriously, where has this policy of scheduling tough non-league games gotten the other nine teams in this conference, who aren't within shouting distance of USC or any other national contender, including Ohio State?
As far as the Big Ten being so bad...compared to whom? What great things have the Big East, ACC, Big 12, or the little nine of the Pac-10 done the past six years against either USC or the SEC champs?
West Virginia beat UGA in the Sugar Bowl! Well, here's a great big pat on the back. Texas beat USC for the title! Well, you take a pat on the back PLUS a cookie.
Did either WVU or Texas maintain that elite status? No! Has anybody else even done what they did? That's what I thought.
What is going on is that the media is turning people against Ohio State, clearly one of the top four programs of the decade (behind USC and LSU, but right there with Oklahoma), because the media hates Ohio State's run-oriented offense.
Can a program that doesn't have direct access to the best players in Florida, Texas, and California OR warm weather that allows them to recruit nationally actually win anything with a pro-style offense? If so, we haven't seen it.
OK, forget the pro-style offense. Let's talk about the spread passing offenses, where you don't really need the prototypical pro-style QBs, WRs, or OLs.
Can you win a national title with the types of offenses that you see or have seen at Oregon State, Arizona, Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Arizona State, Cal, Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Missouri, Colorado, Louisville, Cincinnati, Purdue, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Michigan State, and now Auburn?
The truth is that this offense has produced five national titles: BYU (1983), Miami (under Dennis Erickson in 1989 and 1991), Florida (1996), and Oklahoma (2000).
As BYU is obviously irrelevant, and we have already established that you will never get the QBs and WRs to Ohio State that Miami and Florida will get...I think that Tressel is looking at what Bob Stoops accomplished with Josh Heupel, Nate Hybl, and Jason White with the spread and considers himself just about even.
This is especially true when you consider that Oklahoma has changed offenses some four times since that 2000 title. Some of it was due to former offensive coordinators Mike Leach, Mark Mangino, Chuck Long, and Kevin Sumlin becoming head coaches elsewhere, but a lot of it was in fact due to Bob Stoops feeling that his offense let him down against great defenses.
What about the spread or read option, you say? My reply: What about it?
Ohio State ran some of it with Craig Krenzel and won a national title in 2002. Ohio State ran it even more with Troy Smith in 2005 and came within two plays (against 12-0 Texas and 11-1 Penn State) of playing for the title that year—and they still won a BCS bowl.
And precisely what offense do you believe that Tressel recruited Terrelle Pryor to run? Ohio State actually recruited one of the top QBs in the Southeast to run that offense—Antonio Henton in 2005—but it turned out that Tressel didn't like Henton's passing ability or decision-making, and he gave the job to Boeckman instead.
(My opinion: This was a mistake not dissimilar to Tressel's initially favoring Steve Bellisari over Craig Krenzel and then Justin Zwick over Troy Smith. Tressel tends not to realize that in his system a scattershot athletic QB will take him a lot further than a pedestrian dropback passer, even one that can scramble a bit like Boeckman. Troy Smith won big games in Tressel's offense back when he was barely a 50 percent passer.)
This is not to say that Tressel should necessarily discriminate against dropback QBs that can make plays. If the next Mark Sanchez wants to come to Ohio State, recruit and play him.
But Tressel should realize that if the QB isn't the next Mark Sanchez, then he won't have the pass-blocking offensive linemen, tailbacks that can pick up blitzes and catch passes, tall WRs that run routes, or fast TEs with good hands that it requires to make him look good.
Without those players around the QB, what you get is Todd Boeckman, Justin Zwick, and Steve Bellisari. Better yet, even WITH those players you get John David Booty, who despite West Coast and media hallucinations never got USC any closer to winning a national title than Boeckman did.
If John David Booty couldn't handle UCLA's defense in 2006 (which was mostly DeWayne Walker's scheme), then how would he have handled Florida's defense (which was Charley Strong's scheme AND several future NFL starters)?
A lot of Tressel bashers have forgotten the guy that he replaced: John Cooper. Cooper was a former Pac-10 guy (Arizona State) who spent YEARS trying to build Ohio State into what USC is now, or for that matter what FSU and Miami were.
What did he find out?
That Bobby Hoying was as good as it got for QBs that he could get to Columbus. That his WRs were either tall fast guys that couldn't catch or short fast guys that couldn't run routes, and his TEs were plodding run blockers.
He found out that his OLs weren't fast, quick, or agile enough to set up either those ridiculous passing lanes or those seams for USC's tailbacks to get huge plays on receptions and screens, and even if he did, his tailbacks weren't versatile enough to take advantage of it.
Result: Not only did Cooper not build Ohio State into a Midwestern pro-style dynasty—he couldn't even beat Michigan! So he was fired and replaced with a coach who could not only beat Michigan, but also virtually everybody else.
I put Tressel in the same category as Mack Brown and Tom Osborne from the last decade: guys who do nothing but win, yet the media turns everyone against them because they don't like the way that they win.
Instead, the media proclaims everybody who can produce a seven-win season throwing the ball 50 times a game to be the next coaching genius that will revolutionize the game, only to see that guy either get fired four years later, or still winning seven games a season 10 years later.
No disrespect to guys who get fired, or even more so, to guys that can maintain a winning program: It is just appalling how the media will proclaim their greatness while belittling people that win, and win big.
The reality is that Tressel is in this for the long haul. There won't be a loaded USC or an angry SEC team waiting in the title game every single year. Coaches head for the NFL or lose their edge, teams go on probation—everything goes in cycles.
In 2010, Pete Carroll could be head coach/GM of the Lions, and the SEC gauntlet of Meyer, Spurrier, Richt, Saban, Tuberville, Fulmer, Nutt, and Petrino may have become impossible to navigate, etc.
Tressel could then find himself in the national title game against an Oklahoma or Texas (or a Missouri, Kansas, Oregon, South Florida, or Virginia Tech) with junior Heisman Trophy winner Terrelle Pryor under center.
Who would be favored to win that game? Tressel already knows the answer, and that's why he isn't changing a thing—nor should he.
26 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
David Kuykendall 9 months ago
dude osu is horrible for a top team. 1 they play about 5 mac teams a year 2 the big 10 is the worst conf with wisconsin as the best team in it 3 teams worth mentioning not a big deal the ACC has just as good of teams as the big 10 with VT,VA,Wake,MIAMI,FSU, and BC while i dont think the best team in acc is as good as wisconsin the best BIG 10 teasm they certainly are better all around and so osu plays a tough team twice a year in wisconsin and or penn st and than a bowl team and they just lost their only chance at any respect the rest of the season so sorry but i wont stop dissin osu
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Joe Fletcher 9 months ago
dude - try some punctuation and spacing. people might take this rant a little more seriously...
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Ron Brown 9 months ago
Can't be taken seriously listing "VA" as a top team.
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Ed Henry 9 months ago
the "terrific" scheme that all osu fans says Tressel is a genuis for is quite blnt to me. Play down to their competition and not enough with teams that are competitive.
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kevin zen 9 months ago
Gerald, you obviously know your CFB and I appreciate the unbiased approach you take; quite refreshing on this site. It's unfortunate that the points you make will go over the heads of or ignored among the bashers.
Over 95% of the nation's football programs (you know, all the ones that have never played in a "Big Game") would take Tressel and his record of sustained excellence in a heartbeat.
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Dustin Haley 9 months ago
Finally, someone said it! Good Job!
Belliari... Name makes me tremble.
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Joe Fletcher 9 months ago
Buckeye fans are all about bashing every other team in the country for being overrated and are quick to evoke the standard "When was your team's last National Championship?" I take special exception to this being a Notre Dame fan. Yes, the Irish had a down year in 2007. Yes, they have struggled mightily in bowl games. But Ohio St. has lost back-to-back national championships in two blowouts, not to mention the Trojan Boot that was inserted into to their collective rear last weekend. They have blown their big games as much as anyone. 2002 was a great year for them, but even then they won half of their games by 7 points or fewer, and needed a McGahee injury and overtime to beat the Hurricanes. I feel like they are just as deserving of a bashing as they give to other schools like Michigan and Notre Dame.
Wisconsin is the class of the Big Ten this year anyways...
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Dustin Haley 9 months ago
"Buckeye fans are all about bashing every other team in the country for being overrated and are quick to evoke the standard 'When was your team's last National Championship?'"
Joe, your stereotyping of Ohio State fans is typical of all big college football programs, even your beloved Notre Dame.
If any OSU fan actually uses that statement towards Notre Dame fans, they are ignorant. It's easily countered with "We have 11 NC's compared to your 5."
Point being, anyone who uses such an unintelligent statement isn't really a fan to begin with, and should not be taken seriously.
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Joe Fletcher 9 months ago
Dustin - you are proving my point in that all of the "Ohio St. bashing" the article talks about can be written off if you want to. generalizations aside, the point is, OSU hasn't performed well in big games over the last 6 years. i'm an irish fan, and the same can be said as of late. but if any team in the country gets bashed more than notre dame, i'd like to hear about it. because they are independent, they have the anger of teams in all different conferences. their schedule hasn't been what it used to be, but thats because BC, Pitt, Michigan, Michigan St., Purdue, Washington, and UCLA aren't the same programs as they once were. ND still plays USC every year, and they will be at the coliseum for the second straight year on 11/29. Ohio State agreeing to go to USC one year after they beat up on Youngstown St. and then nearly blew a layup against Ohio U. isn't to be commended, its to be expected. for a team that wants to prove itself, these games are necessary, and ohio state looked bad again (beanie or no beanie)...
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Jim Douglas 9 months ago
Gerald is missing the fact that OSU is an overrated team. Beanie Wells would not have scored 35points to win the game for OSU.
OSU has been an overrated team for the past 2-3 years, Big 10 in fact is an embarassment to football. And I agree with the first comment - OSU plays all the crappiest team and comes up. They are chokers, they only have a good marketing department which goes around sounding OSU to be a good team.
Mark my words, they are going to choke again before the end of the season - still be Big10 champs, since Big10 is lame, come to the Rose Bowl and get run over by the Pac10 #2 team. Then commentators like Gerald will talk about how tough it is to be on the road, how some Ginn/Wells was injured and would have score 58points otherwise to win the game.
USC exploited OSUs weakness, thats what good teams do and for a team to only get exploited and not use any of their strenghts means that the team was sub-par. OSU is a lame ass team. Anyways its entertaining for eveyone else to see OSU being emabarassed year after year after year
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Chris Schmidbauer 9 months ago
wow jim i hope you have a large mouth, when you insert your foot in it later on this year.
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Gerald Ball 9 months ago
Jim:
If Ohio State is so overrated, name all of these teams that are so much better. Who is your team, Jim? Is it USC? If so, was it USC before their bandwagon opened up in 2002? And for a run oriented team not to have their #1 draft pick at tailback made no difference at all? That is funny, because I hear PAC 10 teams talk about their injuries ad nauseum. Dennis Dixon this. Kellen Clemens that. USC's "historic injury problems" forcing them to play walk - ons in the secondary. How come for everyone else injuries are excuses but for PAC 10 teams they are reasons?
"Beanie Wells would not have scored 35points to win the game for OSU." No, but having Beanie Wells would have meant less pressure on Boeckman and their offensive line, which would have meant fewer turnovers and big penalties. Or are you delusional enough to think that USC would have beaten Fresno and Notre Dame in 2005 or Virginia Tech and Cal in 2004 without Reggie Bush?
"since Big10 is lame, come to the Rose Bowl and get run over by the Pac10 #2 team."
No, the #2 PAC - 10 team has been getting run over in the Holiday Bowl by the Big 12's #4 team, especially after whining about not getting an at large BCS spot. Remember Cal in 2004? Oregon in 2005? Arizona State last year? Losers to Texas Tech, 8 - 4 Oklahoma, and Texas respectively. Your league went 0-4 against the MWC this weekend, and then there were huge losses to Maryland, Penn State, Oklahoma, and BAYLOR out of conference. Hilarious that guys who root for programs that never do anything criticize programs that do. Well let me tell you something genius: Ohio State has as many national titles this decade as the Little 9 of the PAC 10 has had since 1954.
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Buck Phan 9 months ago
OSU was beat up physically. The Big Ten needs to split the conference and play some competition. The conference is a joke, Big Ten champion is like 6th in the SEC.
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Dustin Haley 9 months ago
Umm Michigan - Florida? Nice try.
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Ryan J. 9 months ago
It always impresses me the extent to which some people go to express their hatred for Ohio State. Here is yet another person who has created a BR username simply to post negative comments about the Buckeyes. Weak sauce.
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Ryan Staab 9 months ago
I have to admit: I was a little worried this article was going to turn into a bashfest against other teams but you bring up some great facts. Still, these past three or four losses the last three seasons sting like hell and only give fodder for the haters out there and I'm finding it increasingly hard to defend the Buckeyes against all the criticism.
For a fun experiment, post this over at ESPN as a user blog and see what kind of comments you get ;)
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Jordan Furbee 9 months ago
Gerald, OSU played Wash. St. at home in 02 not on the road!
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Buck Phan 9 months ago
Last year 5 teams were better than Florida in the SEC. People are not haters of Ohio State per say, they don't like the fact that OSU plays such a wimpy schedule every year. OSU should not start the season with 9 wins every year. Starting with Woody, every coach has had a great winning percentage.
The Big Ten is an absolute joke, the Big Ten champion the last 2 seasons was arguably the easiest game on the schedule of Florida and LSU. I'm sure that USC will get more of a fight from teams in their own conference. PAC teams at least put up a fight and don't quit.
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Chris Schmidbauer 9 months ago
Florida played Western Carolina in 2006 and LSU played Middle Tennesee and Louisana Tech. Give the Buckeyes a ltittle credit. If that isn't Buckeye bashing I don't know what is
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Ryan J. 9 months ago
Pac-10 teams have the advantage of familiarity and catching USC being complacent. See last year's USC loss to Stanford, a team that few will argue was better than Ohio State.
As for your comments about the Big Ten, your agitation is misplaced. The Big Ten has been no worse than third or fourth best in the past few years. Sure it's not as tough as the SEC, but no other conference is. And every major school plays out of conference cupcakes. Ohio State isn't different than any of the other national powers.
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David Kuykendall 9 months ago
i never put va as a top team i said they are a talented team meaning they could win 7-9 games this season and my whole point was they play decent teams in their conf penn st and wisconsin are the only 2 legitimate teams in the big 10 and it shows. For example osu had to play just about every team from ohio and the mac to go undefeated ooc only to lose to ILL who while is good isnt bcsd material yet than they say its not fair because they dont play a conf championship game so they cant win as many games as a sec or big 12 team. The point is osu complains about the crititisism they get and while they are the biggest overated team in the nation
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Ryan J. 9 months ago
What are you trying to say here? Ohio State has beaten Wisconsin and Penn State routinely in the recent past, and they're going to give both of them all they can handle this year.
Additionally, there are 12 teams in the MAC, and one other Ohio team that plays Division I football. The schedule only allows for four non-conference games. It is 100% impossible for Ohio State to play all of those teams.
Also, the Big Ten doesn't have a title game (per NCAA rules), but then again, no one is forcing any of the other conferences to hold such a game, either. They make a ton of money off of the game and don't care that it screws their teams in the national championship hunt.
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Joe Schmoe 9 months ago
Gerald,
It's not the bashing that bothers this Buckeye fan. It's the constant hyping. Our team has become the O-Hype-o State Buckeyes. First thing every year, some media guru revs things up by touting the Bucks as a contender. I'm not sure if Tressel believes them. I doubt the entire team believes them. But OSU fans sure do. Then it's like Lucy pulling the football out just as Charlie Brown tries to kick it. The only thing different this year is that fortunately we were spared spending an entire season on borrowed dream time.
Next year, of course, we all know OSU will be the team to beat because we'll have Terrell Pryor playing full time. (Ha! The hype continues. So will the disappointment).
Oh, sure. We attract high school three and four-star players and the occasional five-star dude, but most of them are from Ohio, Pennsylvania or Michigan. Thirty years ago that would have been a great achievement. Thirty years ago those now-rusting states had more population to choose from. Now I'm wondering if the cream of the crop didn't pull up stakes and head elsewhere when Ohio's economy started "heading south". Are we, Rivals and ESPN really sure that a four-star Ohio recruit in 2008 is the equivalent of a four-star Ohio recruit in 1978? Let's hope Tressel can keep pulling them out of Florida, Texas and hopefully California, because that's where the really good ones are.
What's wrong with admitting we have an average team, even with Beanie Wells in there? It certainly was an average team that lost to LSU last January, and most of the same personnel is back this season.
Take Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks for comparison purposes. Always high expectations, but always a bridesmaid, yet a team that packs the fans into each and every steamy Columbia game, come win or lose. Is winning everything?
On second thought, that may not be a good example. O-Hype-o State has never beaten a gridiron team from the entire state of South Carolina. Oh, well. Maybe we could downsize to the FCS if fans insist we field a contender every year. Just look at how we whipped Youngstown State.
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Ryan J. 9 months ago
Sure the Bucks have been a bit overhyped and overrated in the past few years, but they've consistently been a top 10 team since they won the title in 2002. Even this year, they took a big lump, but they're not nearly as bad as some would have you believe (or even the score of the USC game would indicate). There's no question that the talent is there, it just seems that a few positions are weak and that Tressel needs to re-evaluate some of his play-calling. Times are rough now, but I have very little doubt that this team will be back on top very soon. Keep your head up.
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David Kuykendall 9 months ago
its not just osu the whole conf sucks penn st and wisconsin arent great but they arent overhyped at least and yes im not saying that osu cant play all of those teams but to play them and claim your the number 1 team in america is insane usc was game i could have respected osu playing but they beat so bad i cant
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Kurt Martig 9 months ago
Gerald, great article, as someone else commented above, 95% of this will (or did) certainly fly over the heads of most readers.
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