The Roots of Ohio State's Problems, Part Seven: "Tresselball"

A few days ago, I turned into the Incredible Hulk via print and blasted Ohio State's offensive performance against the Nittany Lions this past Saturday. Today we'll continue our multi-series look at problems facing Ohio State, turning our attention to what has been so warmly coined "Tresselball."

I apologize if some of the thoughts correlate with that previous article, but I'm going to try to dive a little deeper into solutions today rather than angry criticism.

I don't know about you, Buckeye fan, but I'm almost tired of turning on Ohio State football now. Maybe I'm alone in this—maybe I'm not "a true fan" for saying this out loud—but watching Buckeye football these days is almost a chore.

Of course I watch, because this is the team I grew up watching as a little kid, and deep...DEEP down, I love this team. But by god, if I don't hate the way this team plays football.

And save it, everyone who wants to hate on this article, because I've already heard it a million times..."This is the golden age of Ohio State football"; "Ohio State's record is blah blah blah and five in the past blah blah years"; "Stop complaining! We're winning"...and so on, and so on...

I'm not going to stop complaining, because the recruiting prior to 2008 was mediocre, the defensive schemes have been softer than your favorite ice cream, and this "offense" has been, other than 2006, absolutely, positively unwatchable.

This is THE Ohio State University, home of six Heisman Trophy winners, rich tradition, second to none facilities, and some of the best, most passionate, and knowledgeable fans around—and we deserve better than the product that is being put on the field.

The offense we've seen ever since Jim Tressel has taken hold of this program is an offense that isn't built to win football games—it's built NOT TO LOSE THEM. "Tresselball" is built on running the football, managing, and dominating the clock...minimizing risk.

Well, I've got a newsflash for the Ohio State coaching staff. Risk leads to reward, and sometimes you have to risk things to make things happen, because right now, it isn't happening for this offense. The Buckeyes have been shut out of the end zone offensively in three games this year!

Someone needs to alert this staff that they are coaching at Ohio State and not Omaha State. Ohio State routinely recruits better athletes even in an AVERAGE recruiting class than probably 90 percent of the rest of the country. The athletes are there to make some plays for you as an offense...but to look at these numbers, you'd never know it.

Total Offense and Scoring Offense from 2003 to this year...

                                   Total Offense                 Scoring Offense

2003                            93rd (332 ypg)                 74th (25 ppg)

2004                            98th (320 ypg)                 71st (24 ppg)

2005                            32nd (422 ypg)                 26th (33 ppg)

2006                            26th (384 ypg)                  8th (35 ppg)

2007                            62nd (393 ypg)                 31st (31 ppg)

This season                   85th (372 ypg)                 67th (25 ppg)

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