Five Things: Purdue
Rose records 1 of 8 OSU breakups (AP: Gilliam)
Defensive Line Sets the Tone
We must consider the level of competition but the D-line gave Painter and the entire Boiler offense fits for much of the day.
Once again, Thaddeus Maximus led the charge up front recording six stops including two TFL’s, a forced fumble and a sack. Dude has been a flat out monster since cracking the starting lineup. I love his motor. The move is one of few coaching decisions that hasn’t made me vomit in this train wreck of a season though it should’ve come about a month earlier.
Gibson wasn’t alone this week, however, as Abdallah contributed a sack (3 tkl) with Larimore and Denlinger adding their own TFL’s. Worthington was also a presence adding 3 stops in addition to helping hurry Painter in the pocket.
The pressure from up front helped force a supposed preseason Heisman candidate into a 23/51, 1 INT performance and the group also helped stop the run as Purdue was held to 2.7 yards per carry (26/70).
Again, the level of competition must be factored in, but the line has at least shown some improvement in both production and in their ability to tie up blockers so the LB’s can make some stops (Animal 10, Freeman 9).
Bottom line, this unit still has a ways to go but at least they are showing signs of life. With Ringer in the on-deck circle, they’ll need to prove this wasn’t more a product of Purdue’s suck than their growth if OSU plans to escape East Lansing with a W.
Time for a Change at PK?
Considering our offense is famous for getting less effective the closer it gets to the goal line, should OSU consider putting AARP co-chair Ryan Pretorious on the pine in favor of Aaron Pettrey?
Yesterday’s 38 yard miss in the 2nd quarter capped off the most aggravating possession of the day (more on that later) and probably got the crowd in trouble with all the goody-two-shoe fans as boos rained down on the field at a clip Pacman Jones would be proud of.
On the year, Pretorious is now 13/17 but he’s only 6/10 from 30+ yards out and just 2/5 from 40+ while Pettrey is 2/2. I know, that’s just two kicks, but Pettrey was also 5/7 last year from 40+ yards. Some might advocate the current pseudo two-kicker system wherein Pettrey kicks the long ones but I say bench Pretorious and let Pettrey kick full time. I’m tired of holding my breath waiting for the ball to first clear the line of scrimmage then to see if it might actually have a straight flight pattern.
This Week’s WTF? Coaching Moment
There were a few WTF Coaching Moments to choose from but nothing was more upsetting than OSU’s response to the Jenkins INT that set the Buckeyes up at the Purdue 30 yard line with 14:54 left in the half and already up 10-0. This was a chance to step on Purdue’s neck so what do Tressel and Bollman come up with? They insert Mo Freaking Wells into the lineup and proceed to run him two straight times setting up a 3rd and 5 which turns into 4th and 2 after a Pryor scramble then Pretorious shanks the aforementioned 38 yarder. Cue me reaching for the nitro-glycerin pills…
What’s so mind-blowing is that unless Beanie was unable to play, which didn’t yet appear to be the case, why the F is Mo Wells in there with a chance to put the game away? I’ll tell you why. Probably because Tressel was sticking with his usual script of getting his backup RB in there early to get some touches.
I don’t necessarily disagree with that strategy as a basic concept, however to not have Beanie in on that series, with that field position, is a crime. Also, I think that strategy is further compromised when it’s not truly your second best RB (Boom) that you are putting out there - it’s your third best RB, behind a horsesh!t line. To not have your best players on the field at that time is a disservice to your team. Period.
I feel like a growing segment of the fan base continues to pile on Heacock and Bollman (rightfully so) but at what point does some of the blame shift to Tressel? It’s not like he’s a CEO/Coach like Cooper where the assistants do all the heavy lifting. Plus, he’s the same guy that was getting credit a few weeks back for waking up the offensive line. Now that they are clearly back in their slumber, does that mean all the heat goes back to Bollman but not Tressel? I’m tired of it.
Don’t misconstrue my comments to say Tressel needs to go because he doesn’t. I just think he should be held more accountable because he’s not putting his players in the best position to succeed with his play calling and his loyalty to at least one coordinator that is no longer effective is jeopardizing the program.
Beanie Expresses Frustration
Don’t know if you caught the actual postgame locker room interviews on Fox local but Beanie was clearly frustrated with the way the game unfolded. Besides his own health issues - his toe and a recent flu bug - he also chose his words carefully while offering not-so-veiled criticism toward the play calling and the performance of his offensive line.
“We’ve got to be able to pass the ball. Me being a running back, you’re probably not expecting me to say that. But it’s true. We’ve got to pass the ball. Not even to give me more room, just to have a better game plan. We’ve got to get the ball downfield to Robiskie and Hartline and all our young guys. We’re just not getting the ball to our playmakers.”
I can’t find any other actual transcript quotes but he also made it clear the offensive line needed to block because it doesn’t matter what play is called if the backfield is full of defenders before a play can develop.
One last thought on Beanie. While I’m sitting here banging on Tressel for not having Beanie in on a key drive, I can’t help but feel Beanie is sometimes more than okay with being out of the lineup. I mean, if Spielman was a RB on the sidelines during that 2nd quarter drive starting at Purdue’s 30, do you think he’d just be standing off in the distance with his helmet pushed up waiting for the coach to send him back in? Me neither. Just sayin’.
Jenkins is So Fun to Watch
I want to end on a positive note so how ’bout Malcolm Jenkins yesterday? In the first half alone he registered a blocked punt, an interception and a sick pass breakup on a 4th and 2 try.
Beyond the statistical production, he continues to be the emotional anchor of a defense that has played better in recent weeks and we’re gonna miss him more than we realize when he heads to the NFL.
45 Responses
Freudian slip? Mike Jenkins? I assume you mean our current shut down corner and not our all time reception yards leader.
Matt - 10/12/08 @ 3:13 pm - #
I do that everytime. Fixed.
Chris - 10/12/08 @ 3:16 pm - #
Why can Tress recruit players with different names already.
Apparently your chance of starting for tOSU increases if your name is Jenkins, Wells, or Maurice.
Mike - 10/12/08 @ 3:32 pm - #
-Agree with your comments on Beanie being OK with being out of the lineup
-Agree with the fact that Tressel needs to start fielding some criticism for production or lack thereof. Since the ‘02 he has had a lot of free passes. However, this is certainly his worst year in what many thought would be his best.
-For those who are angry about fans being angry, let me say this: 16-3 vs Purdue with no touchdowns is not a victory. Take a look at what has happened since OSU’s loss, and then take a look at what has happened since Florida’s loss. Two TOTALLY different stories. It has everything to do with our own performances. Not some OSU hater myth.
sam - 10/12/08 @ 3:35 pm - #
According to reports on the O-zone, Beanie was suffering from the after effects of the flu. So his stamina was low. That explains some of the outer limits substitution patterns yesterday. When I saw that, I actually gave an audible sigh of relief, because the Buckeyes are going to need Beanie next week to have any shot at winning.
Todd (NotBoeckman) - 10/12/08 @ 3:43 pm - #
I agree with Beanie and I’m glad he said something. Playcalling accounts for half the troubles on this offense. Tressel sits up there all week long, telling the media til he’s blue in the face that he doesn’t shrink the playbook for Pryor….then Saturday comes and we don’t throw the ball before 3rd down on 90% of our drives. The playcalling this whole season has been abysmal. We thought the staff was saving plays for USC, but that game has come and gone and we still put forth a vanilla offensive gameplan week after week. That’s probably the most frustrating aspect of this team to me.
That speaks to the other point brought up which I’ve been saying since we got killed out in LA; Tressel is just as, if not more, culpable for this team’s performance than either Bollman or Heacock. Clearly, I’m not saying he has to go; Tressel’s a phenomenal coach. But last time I checked, Bollman wasn’t the head coach and neither was Heacock. Some people were ripping Bollman for the offense after the USC game, not knowing it’s Tressel that calls the plays. The bottom line is that until we open up the playbook, this offense will continue to sputter.
And we need to keep getting these freshman onto the field and into the game. It’s amazing how comfortable Thomas, Posey, Sabino and Pryor look out there at times versus how lost some of our upperclassmen appear to be. Thomas takes the opening kickoff back 40 yards in one of his first opportunities to start and 2 plays later, Ben Person is getting flagged for a false start or Hartline’s dropping another catchable ball. It’s crazy.
Jim - 10/12/08 @ 3:50 pm - #
Given some time to cool off after the game, I make no changes in my belief that Bollman and Heacock should be toast at the end of the season. Our talent level at almost every position is on par with the USCs, LSUs, and Floridas of the world, but these coaches do not want to maximize that talent. Instead, they want safe, soft, simple gameplans that only work vaguely well if every single player is sync. Rather than being aggressive on either side of the ball, we’re boring, predictable, and yeah, we look slow. I honestly can’t blame anyone for thinking Ohio State is a slow team because while the 40 times say different, the gameplans make us look slow and unathletic. The O-line actually is those two things because it is coached and conditioned to be big, fat, and the defense doesn’t dictate how the game goes, it reacts, it sits back, it waits for something to happen, and that something is usually a five-yard gain followed by 9 arm tackles and James Laurinaitis jumping on the pile to increase his tackle total.
Tressel is still a top five coach, in my mind. But he’s slipping, there’s no doubt. It’s partly due to his own nepotism, and keeping Bollman and Heacock around about 2-3 years past their “prime”. This team, this program needs young blood on the coaching staff if it wants to remain elite. That’s the simple fact of the matter.
poguemahone - 10/12/08 @ 3:50 pm - #
Amen.
Poe McKnoe - 10/12/08 @ 3:52 pm - #
Regarding the opening of the playbook and such, I think so much of this stems with the offensive line. If the staff feels the line can’t protect on certain plays that may take a little longer to develop, they’re not going to call those plays. I’m not giving the playcalling a pass, but you know the line’s play factors into it at least a little bit.
And the line’s play comes back to Bollman. Poe had a clever comment yesterday about how at first it was the Florida and LSU defensive lines that were just plain better. Now it’s Purdue’s defensive line?
Jason - 10/12/08 @ 3:56 pm - #
I also want to add that I really think the nadir of the current coaching staff will be the Penn State game. That one has about an 80% chance of getting really ugly, really quick. I’m already having visions of Derrick Williams and Co. darting through our bullshit soft zone dancing in my head.
These guys manhandled Wisconsin, healthier Travis Beckum in tow, in Madison, by 42 freaking points. Four-tee tew poy-en-ts. We scraped by with three, and most of that final drive came down to the luck of the draw. I have no confidence whatsoever that Heacock can hold them under 40 pts.
poguemahone - 10/12/08 @ 4:07 pm - #
Lord above but you guys are all about the sky falling. It wasn’t their best day, it’s a true frosh QB in his 4th game as a starter. Every team we play is always going to give us their best shot, without fail. Purdue is a sad offensive team but they played hard on defense and we didn’t get anything going.
I still don’t believe that PSU is a lights-out team. They played a Wisconsin team that is still recovering from last Saturday’s epic slug fest against us. I think the whole “Game-after-wisconsin” flatness works both ways, and Wisconsin was just sapped. I think we are going to play PSU a lot better than anyone is giving us credit for, and we have never lost to PSU at the ‘Shoe since they joined the Big 10.
Next week’s Buckeyes will look a lot different than last weeks Buckeyes. And I think we play better on the road anyway. For now, just be patient, let Tressel and Pryor and all the rest get the kinks out. John Cooper. John Cooper. John Cooper. We won’t win every game, and some games we do win won’t be blowouts. But it could be much, much worse. John Cooper.
Matt - 10/12/08 @ 5:00 pm - #
matt keep drinking that buckeye koolaid, the season is halfway over and we still have guys like you saying, wait until next week… The same thing you types said last week.. I can’t stand this blind support for our team… Take that to the bucknuts board where there is a whole cult of tressel can do no wrong supporters.. If you ran a business with your mindset it wouldn’t be in business…. And ROFL at thinking psu is not a lights out team
baba booey - 10/12/08 @ 5:35 pm - #
Well if there was any good to be taken away from the offense, it was Pryor’s body language after the last possession. He was visibly upset. I think he is going to start running at the first opportunity instead of continuing to look downfield at a bunch of scrub receivers playing patty cake out there…
Ryan B. - 10/12/08 @ 5:38 pm - #
Baba Booey, did you really, truly, physically roll-on-the-floor-laughing while thinking about my PSU comment? Cause that’s just cold, and adds injury to insult, what with you you rolling on the floor laughing; that’s physically taxing in of itself, but then by getting back up, returning to your computer, and letting me know via 11W text comment that my outlandish views on PSU precipitated said rolling on the floor.
Well shit. How am I supposed to cope with that? I’m going to go drink now.
Matt - 10/12/08 @ 5:42 pm - #
With all due respect, Matt, we’ve been hearing that this team was going to improve drastically from week to week since the Ohio game. It hasn’t happened yet. The defense may have come alive yesterday, but the offense is in the doldrums. The defense is an draft prospect-laden unit, it should have been lights out from the start, the offense should have its act together by now.
poguemahone - 10/12/08 @ 5:45 pm - #
I wrote something similar, pretty much piling on Tressel for the recent offensive struggles. He’s the offensive coordinator, and his playcalling has been, for the last 3 games, completely independent of down and distance. Players seem to be able to make plays when given the chance.
To back up your WTF Coaching Moment. How about 4th and goal from the 5. Defense has been dominant all day, you go for that, and pin them down if you don’t make it.
He’s been content to win close and lose close. And it’s getting increasingly frustrating.
wsas - 10/12/08 @ 5:53 pm - #
Has anyone heard how Lawrence Wilson is doing?
Also, did anyone notice how are pass rush picked up once Robert Rose got in there?
Wil - 10/12/08 @ 5:54 pm - #
Saw this quote from Rehring over at OZone:
“I played three different positions today. Coach Bolls told me after the game that I’m the only one he trusts to play three different positions,” said Rehring.
Interesting. I don’t trust him to play one, but Bollman trusts him to play three.
Chris - 10/12/08 @ 6:28 pm - #
I was going for I overdramatic to get my point over, not trying to be too harsh but enough of the denial
baba booey - 10/12/08 @ 6:28 pm - #
As for Wilson, I’ve only read comments from Worthington saying Wilson was in “great spirits” after the game and that he was walking on it. Maybe a twist of the knee…
Chris - 10/12/08 @ 6:29 pm - #
The only place I think is suitable for Rehring is DT on obvious run downs. As fat as he is, he’d be tough to push back. His real problem is getting to the second level and dealing with pass rushing DTs. He doesn’t lack strength or size, he just doesn’t move very well at all. DTs can be gigantic immovable rocks and work - look at Ted Washington.
poguemahone - 10/12/08 @ 7:01 pm - #
Great post Chris about Rehring. Anyone that thinks this team is being coached to its potenial needs a reality check. We are so boring to watch and saw a post earlier saying Tressel win cloes ones and lose close one, I agree with we win close ones but when we lose its a embarrasing loss now. I am really starting to think the Big Ten has been watered down for awhile and Tressel has gotten lucky because it looks to me we get outcoached alot. Beanie against the next to last reanked Defense in the Big Ten and Beanie 95 rushing and Pryor 94 passing is horrible, because Purdue is not a good team. I love the Bucks and i just think alot of concerns are coming out to me with the coaching now, and not just from this year.
JBeveridge - 10/12/08 @ 7:10 pm - #
I concur with the belief that tressel has gotten lucky in this conference. Does anyone honestly think Cooper would not have beaten Michigan more times if the program was in the condition is was in under Carr the last 5 or so years, and certainly now? Seriously, this last 5 years has been the lowest point ever for the conference (the numbers bear that out when you look at bowl records and OOC records, the B10 has been about the 4th best conference) … winning this conference has not been very difficult, very much unlike a decade ago where Penn St and Michigan were still elite and then you had a very good Alvarez coached Wisconsin team as well. Aside from this year Paterno has ruined Penn st, Michigan is what it is now (LOL) and Wisconsin is headed in the wrong direction post Alvarez
Look tressel has been here for about 8 years or so, and in that time, we have had a dynamic offense for about a season and a quarter - the end of 2005-2006 season and the 2006-2007 season until the Fl game. The rest of the time the Offense has been in the lower half of offenses in Div I. Now think about that for a second … with all of the talent OSU gets, it continually is worse than most offenses in the country, when a combined 5-6 programs may have out-recruited us since he has been here.
Tressel has been here long enough for us to have an adequate sample size. The results speak for themselves: He needs to be forced to hire an OC.
Fakewoodyman - 10/12/08 @ 7:33 pm - #
I guess he has been here 7 and not 8, but nonetheless I think that is still enough games to determine he is never going to build a real offense
Fakewoodyman - 10/12/08 @ 7:40 pm - #
In analysis of the Florida loss to Ole Miss it was said that Urban Meyer was outcoached. At least JT beats his Old Misses when he is outcoached.
Reality is a good thing but this whole sky is falling bit is a little much.
Jim - 10/12/08 @ 7:42 pm - #
Fakewoodyman,
That’s a lot of assumptions.
Poe McKnoe - 10/12/08 @ 7:42 pm - #
Does anybody know what the AD’s role is in things like this? I mean can Gene Smith - who probably knows a little bit about college football - give Tressel a call and say, dude WTF w/ the soft zone? or, why does our O-line suck so bad? or, WTF JIM BOLLMAN?
Of course the football program is Tressel’s to run, but the AD is his boss, right? Could he not bring some pressure to bear when it comes to things like coordinators if Tressel seems to be content with these guys because of personal loyalty, etc?
El Caballo de Sangre - 10/12/08 @ 7:45 pm - #
yeah you are right, that is a lot of assumptions. the only thing I am saying is that Cooper never got the benefit of coaching when the conference is this bad and when the Michigan program was steadily degrading right before their fans very eyes … that’s all
Fakewoodyman - 10/12/08 @ 7:58 pm - #
Cooper was a great recrutier and a lousy game day coach. Please tell me that anybody thinks that Coop would be sitting on 3 Big-Ten championiships and going for #4……. OSU has lost Exactly 1 conference game in more than 2 1/2 seasons…. how awesome is that. I hate the Boooooring offense, but i would rather win games as opposed to putting up 500 yds of offense in an exciting loss. Tressel is who he is and he obviously coaches old school. His comfort zone is old school and if he produces results, dont look for that to change. Pryor has shown some early (and expected) jitters and Tressel will keep the game plan in the Stone ages until he shows the ability to absorb the details. As for the Coordinators, I think the AD does have some power in this, but Tress has ALOT of support from the Alumni, etc… and he may have more bling than the AD. Heacock needs to go for sure and I am starting to come around to the fact that Bollman is the problem and not the other issues that have been discussed.
Mitch G. - 10/12/08 @ 8:22 pm - #
Thanks Mitch. It is nice to see that there are others with an opposing veiw to the vocal few that insist the glass is half full.
Jim - 10/12/08 @ 8:31 pm - #
Tressel may have the support of the Alumni, but if the team keeps looking like this and Tressel refuses to acknowledge that there might be a problem (top 10 recuiting classes, producing bottom 50% offenses. Beating the teams that you are supposed to beat, and losing ugly to the teams with which you should be competetive (LSU, FL, USC)). The Alumni love that he wins a lot of games. We ALUMNI, absolutely hate getting EMBARASSED in big games. I live in a state where there are no real college football programs, where people have their favorite PRO team, but people don’t eat, sleep, breath college football. Thank goodness that I don’t live in southern california, or SEC country with the way we have played in BIG (nationally televised non-big ten) games. Yes we did well against TX in 2005 and 2006, but over the last 2.5 seasons… I’m not trying to say that I have a problem with Tressel, but if things keep going the way they have been going, Coach Tressel may lose some of that alumni support.
vermont buckeye - 10/12/08 @ 9:38 pm - #
Fakewoodman- I will answer your question. I do not honestly think Cooper could win in the “watered down” Big 10. He had possibly the best 3 years in my life time, 95-97 and had exactly 1 Rose Bowl to show for it. He never seemed to win a bowl game. He had some of the best Buckeyes ever and completely wasted their talent. Maybe I am biased, I was at the infamous 1996 game in which Shawn Springs fell down. I watched him destroy non-conference opponents only to be beaten in the Big 10 by lesser competition.
I think Coop won a grand total of two bowl games (someone correct me if I am wrong), but to suggest he would do better than Coach Tressel is ridiculous. I lived through the Cooper era, trust me barely winning is much better than not winning.
Robb - 10/12/08 @ 9:45 pm - #
Yesterday started our Ridley Scott. 100% pure adrenaline. In the end, we endured something of Ishtar-like proportions. But, instead of the standard ten bucks a head, I got knocked for 65.
My take:
I am sick and tired of hearing the old “Tessel is saving his best for the big games, and he wins so who cares” excuse in regards to the play calling. Seriously, I don’t need to witness Rasta’s inadequacies on a weekly basis. In fact, I don’t want to see Mo Wells in the backfield unless they’re throwing his way, or there’s a wide pitch. If Beanie is huffing fumes, and can’t perform, then go 5 wide and get some quick dump outs. There is simply no excuse for running garbage play after garbage play. Yeah, if you had a decent line, you could get away with it Tress, but you don’t. So… get over it already (And you have nobody but yourself to blame). You need to keep the talent in mind whilst calling the plays.
On the defensive side, I thought that this was the best game yet, by far. MJ finally showed us the stuff that validates his place as a potential 1st/2nd rounder, regardless of the opponent. Plenty of emotion coming from the D side when it really mattered.
On the side, I was just thinking how sorry I am that we don’t have a possession receiver like Gonzo this year (Thought that Hartline was the second coming, but alas. no longer). To me, that will make all the difference in the next couple of games. Not that we needed it last week versus Wisky, but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about the lack of confidence in the receiving corps.
Taco_{pronto} - 10/12/08 @ 10:06 pm - #
Oh, and anybody who looks back to the Scoopie era fondly, either never lived through it, or has serious issues.
There was never a time during the reign of JC, that I did not think that, with game firmly in hand, the D was going to completely melt down… Really. You think the zone D that we drop into now is bad…
Taco_{pronto} - 10/12/08 @ 10:11 pm - #
NOT meltdown.
And on the side… You could never, ever count on JC to win the games he was supposed to win. EVER! Made things a little bit more exciting, but pardon my francaise, he was chit…
Taco_{pronto} - 10/12/08 @ 10:14 pm - #
I would like to point out that Beanie was not able to play as much as he’d liked. Herron was held out. Beanie had the flu and was having fatigue issues. Therefore we were down to Mo Wells and Mo Wells, Jr (Brandon Saine).
Regardless, I was quite annoyed at the playcalling which was somewhere between predictable and announced pre-game. I think Tressel must hate Terrelle Pryor or something, because the man has all but tied the kid’s hands by not letting him throw on early downs. I was in the crowd, and those boos had been building up. The frustration in the crowd was tangible long before the shanked field goal, and there had been a number of booing fans every time a 1st down power run was followed up by a 2nd down counter or draw.
And a note to Heacock: Look what happens when you let this secondary play man. The defense was batting down passes and forcing Painter to hold on to the ball longer than he would ever like to for simple 5 yard routes. No more zone, sir.
Maje - 10/13/08 @ 1:22 am - #
Okay - how many times has OSU lost to much weaker teams in the last few years? Losses comparable to say, USC/Oregon State, USC/Stanford, Florida/Miss State, LSU/Kentucky, etc, etc?
The last one I can think of was maybe Illinois.
Tressel ball isn’t perfect but it ain’t the worse thing around either.
dt - 10/13/08 @ 2:02 am - #
A round of applause to POGUEMAHONE for a his first post, which was great. I agree with everything you said.
And to MATT, who said, “I still don’t believe that PSU is a lights-out team.” R U frigging kidding me? It took OSU everything it could muster, and a little luck even, to beat Wisconsin in a close one.
PSU hands it to Wisconsin 48-7. Get real. PSU is for real. Have you not seen the Big Ten commercial where Joe Paterno grits his teeth and says, “COME TO PENN STATE!” I think the man is taking VIAGRA and STACKER 2s at the same time.
Maybe that is what the Tressel, Bollman, Heacock and the OSU offensive line need to get motivated! ;)
buckeyedude - 10/13/08 @ 5:39 am - #
And in response to TACO, I think Dane Sanzenbacher is Pryor’s go-to guy. I think when he’s back to good health he should start over Hartline, who now has caught a case of the “dropsies”, a la Robiskie. Dane will catch the ball. I give him a break because he was hit simultaneously by three Wisconsin defenders.
I’ll also be glad to see Boom back in the lineup. Boy how things have changed!
buckeyedude - 10/13/08 @ 5:58 am - #
I don’t think it is so much that Beanie likes being out. I think he buys way too much into being a team player and making sure all his teammates have a shot. I don’t think its that he doesn’t have the killer instincts. But there is a time and a place for being a good guy. Beanie, at 75% still starts on all 120 teams, I don’t care about Moreno or McCoy, best combination period, but the one thing Beanie doesn’t have is the arrogance that you have to have as a gamebreaker. I’m not talking Keyshon “Give me the damn ball” Johnson, But you think about any sport. Down by two at the buzzer, not a man who’d rather have it in his hand than Kobe, Bases loaded, 3-2, down by three bottom of the ninth, Love him or hate him, but Manny is clutch. Need a game winning drive, no on still in the NFL does it better than Favre. They all have that attitude that says, I’m takin this over, Beanie needs to redevelop that like Wisky and Michigan last year.
Sean - 10/13/08 @ 8:29 am - #
Robb and others, I do not think my point was made clearly enough and that is my fault. I am not saying that I would want Cooper over Tressel. What I am saying is that it is my belief ( I think reasonable) to assume that cooper would have won more Big ten titles and beaten a piss poor Michigan program more than he was able to.
No Coach is hated as much as cooper around here, just read the posts and name calling of him, it’s hillarious … yet many of these same people act as though you are the anti-christ if you question Tressel’s accomplishments, with facts nonetheless. The big ten’s bowl record and OOC record since 2000 is terrible.
My biggest point is that Cooper and JT have not, never have, and never will compete against comparable competition. It isn’t a level playing field when you talk about conference titles … it is way easier than when Cooper was trying to win them.
Even those of us that would prefer Tressel over Cooper (Yes I would still take JT) recognize that all of Jt’s successes need to be evaluated in context, which when done so, shows that he has been a good coach, but far from great or excellent. We see that to win the big ten does not TAKE MUCH AT ALL!!!! bit basically means you only have to field a team that can stay within 4 TDS of the top ten teams in the US. That is an undeniable fact.
therefore, it is quite proper to say that JT’s accomplishments are not head and shoulders above what cooper was able to do. You do not thin that Cooper would rather be facing Michy over the last 5 years???? the answer is obvious
Fakewoodyman - 10/13/08 @ 11:26 am - #
scUM has been better the last 5 years than you are giving them credit for. In the last five years they have averaged a 10th place ranking and the Buckeyes have averaged a 9th place ranking.
From 1994 to 1998, arguably the best 5 years of Coopers reign, the results are as follows: scUm had an average 13th placed ranking. The Bucks on the other hand had an average 7th place ranking.
The math speaks for itself. Tressel has played and beaten a better meatchicken team than Cooper did.
Disclaimer: I got the ranking from the following website:http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/umosu/results.htm
If their numbers are inaccurate I apologize.
Robb - 10/13/08 @ 12:42 pm - #
Well Robb, I can’t argue with those numbers. I guess I just say, do you honestly believe that the Michigan teams of the last few years were as good as those years? I don’t.
maybe you can change my mind, I am willing to admit being wrong, but I’m not sure that where AP voters voted teams convinces me it was tougher to win the conference now than then (at least off the top of my head)
maybe I am engaging in revisionist history, but those Michigan teams seemed to have more guys drafted, won more bowl games and overall seemed better. Clearly the Michigan team that we beat in 2006 was as overrated as we were that year
anyway, I appreciate the effort to quantify the argument
Fakewoodyman - 10/13/08 @ 6:08 pm - #
Beanie is right on. The Play calling and personel must change. #71 should never see the field at Ohio State. #7wr should get some touches five would be a good start.
Please stop running Mo Wells up the gut. Tressel go watch how the eagles use Brain Westbrook. Screens and wheel routes. Mo wells has been misused the kid had some crazy stats in highschool (fla).
Beanie isn’t 100% foot or stamina wise. We need him the next two weeks for sure. We didn’t need him to get hurt vs Purdue so I don’t mind him not being use as much as we’d like to see him.
Lastly, Terrelle needs to cut it up field and take the 5-7 yards. Once he gets north and south he’s much harder to stop.
Do we still have a Tight end on the team? Middle is open all day.
tampa buckeye - 10/13/08 @ 7:39 pm - #
Unfortunately, Tampa Buckeye, we are not going change anything. you know that, we know that, and everyone else that posts and prays for change knows that (at least deep down, anyway).
Pray for better players, it’s the only way Tressel teams improve. There will never be a change in gameplan to utilize the talent as best we can, all you get is the same and it’s up to better players to make better plays. I have come to that conclusion
Fakewoodyman - 10/13/08 @ 8:19 pm - #
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