Why Don't Ohio State, Jim Tressel Bashers Trash USC and Pete Carroll?

Yet where Carroll's domination of the Pac-10 is proof of his and USC's brilliance, Tressel doing the same to his conference (which not only includes Michigan but also a Penn State team that is very good when they run an offense that fits their talent, and a Wisconsin team that not long ago was hammering the Pac-10 champions in Rose Bowls) is evidence that the Big Ten is the worst conference in college football and whose champion should be banned from the title game even if they are undefeated and everyone else has a loss.

I really don't blame the media for this. The media is always going to be biased towards 1) West Coast schools, 2) private schools, and 3) schools that feature the passing game.

No, this is on the fans who just accept this "USC is obviously the best team in college football, even when they play like dirt and especially when they lose" nonsense, and who accuse anyone who challenges them of being biased and not giving USC enough credit, especially if it is an SEC fan.

This is not to be mistaken as so much of a defense of Tressel. I found Tressel's benching of the five-year senior who took his team to the Big Ten title and the championship game last season for a true freshman who put the whole college football world through a self-serving dog and pony show during the recruitment process disgusting.

Yes, Boeckman needed a strong running game to be able to effectively run his offense. If Tressel wanted something different, he should change his offense so that he can recruit different QBs (remember, Brady Quinn chose Notre Dame over Ohio State almost solely because of Tyrone Willingham's pro style offense).

Better yet, he should have got on the phone and recruited Jacquizz Rodgers, who appears to have chosen Oregon State over powerhouses Arizona, Baylor, Kansas State, Louisiana Tech, SMU, and Houston.

But wait—it appears that ILLINOIS recruited the kid as well! Now you see why Illinois is giving Ohio State so much trouble...they are recruiting the types of ATHLETES that Tressel seems not to know that he needs.

Tressel probably was among the many who backed off Rodgers because he was only 180 pounds soaking wet and carrying lead in his pockets. Never mind the fact that THE KID SCORED 52 TOUCHDOWNS AS A JUNIOR IN TEXAS 4A BALL!

I forgot, I am supposed to be DEFENDING Jim Tressel, not bashing him. I can do that by comparing him to Pete Carroll once again. After all, Pete Carroll didn't recruit Jacquizz Rodgers either, despite the fact that Rodgers is a four-star recruit from Texas whose skill set, according to the recruiting services, was very similar to that of Reggie Bush.

So where Tressel ignored a highly recruited player who didn't fit his system, Carroll ignored a highly recruited player who not only did, but unlike Ronald Johnson, apparently also has the ability to hold on to the football.

After this weekend, when the polls come out, USC will not drop very far (they will almost certainly be ahead of not only Ohio State but also every other one-loss team, including the loser of the SEC top 10 showdown between UGA and Alabama, and also Virginia Tech who is undefeated since switching QBs, and will probably even be ranked higher than undefeated UConn, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, and South Florida, you East Coast bias hypocrites), and the media will start charting their path to the title game.

Even if the title game is between two undefeated teams, the media will claim that we need a playoff, because why should USC not have a shot at the title just because they stumbled? After all, they only lost by six points, and you know how tough road games are in the Pac-10.

Look at how they destroyed Ohio State. They destroyed Virginia and Notre Dame too...it isn't their fault that Virginia and Notre Dame are mediocre...those are traditionally strong programs! And is there a better coach in college football in Pete Carroll?

In other words, it's the same excuse that they make for USC every year, and the same excuses that they made for FSU throughout the 1990s (except that at least in the case of FSU they were losing to top 10 Florida and Miami teams instead of Stanford and Oregon State).

The fans will go for it, just like they always do, when the truth is that Tressel does as well or better than Carroll with lesser players on offense—and so do not a few other coaches for that matter.

Enough is enough. If you are not going to criticize Pete Carroll, USC, and the Pac-10, then be silent against Tressel, Ohio State, and the Big Ten.

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