Couldn't agree with you more...the level of conservatism coming from Tressel is now borderline absurd and irrational. What really bothered me was when he said that the game would come down to the last play during the halftime interview. What kind of attitude is this to have from a head coach? Shouldn't he have wanted, or at least tried, to put Iowa away in the second half like they did to Penn State the week before?
Allowing less talented teams to stay in the game and have a chance to win in the fourth quarter is a recipe for disaster. Especially because one loss can change the course of an entire college football season. What is the point of recruiting five star quarterbacks and wide receivers if you have no intention of using them to win big games?

Dude...

O-State ran for over 200 plus yards at 4.5 yards a clip...

No turnovers...

How many "bad decisions" did Pryor make?

At one point it was starting to look like a blow out until the kick return team wet the bed...

If the offense continues to run the ball as well as they have the last two games and the defense plays like they do...they will kill whoever they play in the Grand Daddy...

Duane, you obviously are so much smarter than Tressel, Pete Carroll, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer combined. I don't see why someone doesn't just snatch you up and put you on their sidelines. Hey, I hear Charlie Weis's job might be opening up - no doubt, just hand them your resume and they'll hire you on the spot.
Your keen insight amazes me. Think of all the money they could save - you wouldn't need coordinators. You could do all the coaching by yourself! Your 20:20 hindsight could not be sharper.
Hey, the Buckeyes won and survived perhaps the worst few minutes in OSU history - an interception TD called back because of an offsides, terrible kickoff coverage resulting in an Iowa TD, a sure OSU interception that was botched, resulting in a Hawkeye reception that led to the tying TD. But they survived, and after Michigan it's on to the Rose Bowl.

Buckeye Bob, Tressel is only having this much success because we are playing in the big 10. Watch last years fiesta bowl again. had we jumped on Texas when we had a chance that game would have been over with in the first half.

To Buckeye Bob --

Duane may not be Urban Meyer, but he's a hell of a lot smarter than you. I'm not sure how you could have watched the same game we did and come away with the impression that Tressel called a good game. We took precisely zero chances down the field. We ran the ball on first down almost every play. Even when we hint at the read option, Pryor NEVER keeps the ball.

When we started with the ball on Iowa's side of the field after they kicked the ball out of bounds and added a personal foul, you could see that Tressel had no intention of playing for anything but a field goal. With a backup kicker who he didn't trust from the same distance against Penn State, you have to try to move the ball to at least set up a shorter FG. We also had the ball back with 2:30 left and we made no real attempt at running a two minute drill to win the game. How can Tressel be content to go to overtime when we're playing with a backup placekicker. He's lucky the defense dominated Iowa in OT to the point where they were forced to throw a hail mary on 4th down.

Face it, we won this game in spite of our coaches.

The typical layman Buckeye fan cannot fathom that a real fan can be happy for the win and critique at the same time. They forget that that's what coaches do. They watch film the next day to look for faults, both in players and hopefully in play calls. While everyone is ecstatic over the results, Duane is spot on in his analysis. For the above stat lover that saw a different game than I where OSU was 'pounding' for over 200 yards and 4.5 ypc....you take out 4 runs and OSU rushed 47 times for a 2.7 ypc. You take out six plays and OSU rushed 45 times for 2.4 ypc and passed for less than 100 yards and only 6 yards per completion. That is what Duane is talking about

...
written by dvo45, November 15, 2009
Dude...

O-State ran for over 200 plus yards at 4.5 yards a clip...

No turnovers...

How many "bad decisions" did Pryor make?

At one point it was starting to look like a blow out until the kick return team wet the bed...

If the offense continues to run the ball as well as they have the last two games and the defense plays like they do...they will kill whoever they play in the Grand Daddy...

All that went right and still needed to go into overtime to win it. Why is that?

We will NOT beat top teams like this. No, we won't. We haven't. Not for years.

Duane,

After the way they destroyed a senior who was talked about as being maybe the best qb in the conference in Clark, how does a gameplan like this get put together. My biggest frustration was that there was no pressure, no presnap movement, no defensive line stunts, etc. This was blander than my girlfriends cooking.

I get tressel ball works and I may not like it but it can be brutally effective. When has "Heacock-ball" ever been described as brutally effective? When this kid was allowed to sit in the pocket time after time after it was apparent that the defensive line wasn't getting there by themselves there was no counter punch.

This staff has more talent than anyone they play in the conference but they play so freaking soft and conservative. I get that they could run the ball but Posey has been getting downfield and making big plays lately and they didn't take one shot. Not one pass to stretch things out. It is one thing lean on the run but at some point when the running game is going like that you take advantage of what it is doing to the defense.

The pansy play calling that lead to the barclay miss when a td puts that game away wasn't smart it was pathetic.

I am happy that they are back in Pasadena but incredibly disappointed with the regression the staff showed in this game.

One, you give absolutely no credit to Iowa. Yes, there were injuries but they were all on the offensive side of the ball. Iowa's secondary was easily one of the best we faced this year. Their Oline was not a bunch of bums either, especially without the refs calling the holds. And their QB had a great game. Iowa did not achieve their excellent record thru smoke and mirrors. In fact, IMO, they are a much better team than PSU.

Two, people at the game could clearly see why we were running instead of passing. Iowa keep both safeties deep and our receivers weren't getting any separation. Excellent job by Pryor for not forcing anything. Again, there is a reason Iowa is rated 3rd in the country in pass defense and 1st in interceptions.

Third, you really think the coaches wouldn't have run Pryor more or played Miller if it wasn't for injuries?

Fourth, the Bucks had it wrapped up but the gods of luck stepped in. The kick off return, TD called back and the easy interception that ended up being a first down, different result from any of these would have sealed the game.

One thing I forgot to mention. This is another game where our punter did not help us. Field position is so essential to Tresselball. We just don't have that weapon this year. Not having a punter that could punt us out of bad field position or put our opponent into bad position is something we are missing this year. It has been so consistent that we have grown to expect it.

the D and special teams let this team down, not the offense. the punting, return game, and obviously the kick return were dreadful. and vaunted D couldn't get off the field when it mattered -- again. Texas, SC, and now Iowa. Anyone see Heyward or Gibson when it mattered? Not me. Yet we continually bash the O??

Amen Duane!!

This "hopefully the other guy will hand it to us" is ridiculous. That said, it certainly works in MAC, B10 and other lesser leagues...as long as we always have superior talent across the board.

Mark my words, if we play like this and meet the Oregon we've seen since the Cal game (minus the egg they layed against Stanford) we'll get smoked. Frankly, the same goes if we get the Stanford we've seen the last 3 weeks.

-You can't just take out the best 6 runs and recalculate the average anymore than I can take out the bottom 6 and say how awesome we are! Take mean or medium and compare it to previous means and mediums

-I thought we ran the ball well and didn't have an issue with all the play calling, you run the ball until the stop it. Loved the wildcat!

-TP is playing better, he's not making mistakes, now he needs to get better and JT will let him put it up more! Was very impressed and happy with his progress the last 2 weeks, even if his numbers are not great!

-The D shut down the run but didn't seem to get a lot of pressure. Their qb didn't hold the ball very long and they rolled him out a lot, but I still expected our D-line to get more pressure!

-Our LBs played well, AR still frusterates me, love the kid, but he can't play at this level!

-Our special teams were horrible! Most of our kicks were very short our returns were below average and we gave up a TD return, duane you should focus more of the blame on special teams!

Duane has a lot of good insights - that us why we read his blog. But, he is adding on frustrations from past games and years in his analysis. I saw an Iowa team that is very solid - they beat an SEC team last year in the bowl game and beat a good Arizona team as well. The WR group is fantastic. Both lines are very, very good. And, we were winning 24-10 in the 4th quarter before the KO return. And, on the drive that tied the game, we blew two interceptions that would have sealed the game.
Ohio State ran for over 200 yards. That is outstanding by any stretch. They have just won back to back games against legitimate top 20 teams.
Ad for unleashing Pryor - his turnaround since Purdue has been fantastic. That is not all Pryor. That has a lot to do with the coaches. Pryor has arguably cots Ohio State 3 losses in his time here - against one game that he realy won with great play (Wisco 200. Now maybe that is all coaching, but I see a player that is so talented that he didn't learn a lot in high school. What a job to turn him around. The LAST thing we want is to undermine his confidence again.
I think Ohio State will challenge for a national title with Pryor and will win two BCS bowls with him at the helm. But, he is a piece of the puzzle, We did the same with a kid named Krenzel. Turning him loose has not worked well to date - and Duane - after two great wins - is critiquing a win in that we didn't do that. I don't see it.

Duane buddy I think you got this one all wrong. We were up 24-10 with 10 minutes left in the game. At that patcular point the game plan was not only working it was producing a solid game.

You can bitch about an unimaginative game plan only when we aren't averaging 4+ per carry over 40 carries. We tried to air it out, I don't know if you saw, but they took it away every time. Try giving the Iowa D a little credit. They aren't too shappy.

As for the D, you are just mistaken. I saw more blitzes this game than any this entire season. I think you didnt notice because none of them worked. The Iowa Oline dominated the OSU DLine, and the bucks didn't make thier QB look good....he was good. We dont have a QB that can make the throw he did for the TD.

I have some bones to pick with the drive that started on the 45, and that's it. Other than that this gameplan was working and working well for 50 minutes.

Mr. Long,
First of all, word. Second, what about the situation at punter? Please tell me Ben Buchanan is hurt. I can't imagine that a consensus top-five K/P out of HS is worse than the kid we have out there now. The guy just doesn't seem to be physically capable of kicking it 40 yards through the air.

Reset at each game to zero
written by SFBuck, November 15, 2009
Duane has a lot of good insights - that us why we read his blog. But, he is adding on frustrations from past games and years in his analysis. I saw an Iowa team that is very solid - they beat an SEC team last year in the bowl game and beat a good Arizona team as well. The WR group is fantastic. Both lines are very, very good. And, we were winning 24-10 in the 4th quarter before the KO return. And, on the drive that tied the game, we blew two interceptions that would have sealed the game.
Ohio State ran for over 200 yards. That is outstanding by any stretch. They have just won back to back games against legitimate top 20 teams.
Ad for unleashing Pryor - his turnaround since Purdue has been fantastic. That is not all Pryor. That has a lot to do with the coaches. Pryor has arguably cots Ohio State 3 losses in his time here - against one game that he realy won with great play (Wisco 200smilies/cool.gif. Now maybe that is all coaching, but I see a player that is so talented that he didn't learn a lot in high school. What a job to turn him around. The LAST thing we want is to undermine his confidence again.
I think Ohio State will challenge for a national title with Pryor and will win two BCS bowls with him at the helm. But, he is a piece of the puzzle, We did the same with a kid named Krenzel. Turning him loose has not worked well to date - and Duane - after two great wins - is critiquing a win in that we didn't do that. I don't see it.

Why does it have to be this way? Why do we have to shut down the offense and try to hang on to win. Yes, I am critical of this way of winning. All it does it reinforce Jim Tressels belief in this way of doing things, and it will not win against the opponents you have to beat to win a national championship.

Except for the times it did, you mean.

...
written by John Colosimo, November 15, 2009
Duane buddy I think you got this one all wrong. We were up 24-10 with 10 minutes left in the game. At that patcular point the game plan was not only working it was producing a solid game.

You can bitch about an unimaginative game plan only when we aren't averaging 4+ per carry over 40 carries. We tried to air it out, I don't know if you saw, but they took it away every time. Try giving the Iowa D a little credit. They aren't too shappy.

As for the D, you are just mistaken. I saw more blitzes this game than any this entire season. I think you didnt notice because none of them worked. The Iowa Oline dominated the OSU DLine, and the bucks didn't make thier QB look good....he was good. We dont have a QB that can make the throw he did for the TD.

I have some bones to pick with the drive that started on the 45, and that's it. Other than that this gameplan was working and working well for 50 minutes.

We were not blitzing all game. No, we were not. Go back and check. That was confirmed in the first e-mail I read after the game. It was from a coach.


We tried to air it out but they took it away from us? I don't get that one. Not when Pryor was 14 of 17. We stopped trying to throw the ball. I don't know why. If Pryor was making bad decisions it would be one thing. 14 of 17 says he was on his game. He only carried the ball 8 times. Those 8 carries includes called runs. If they were covering that well we would see more runs than that, or more incompletions. Lets go out and try to win the football game. Can we do that? Can we try it just once?

I look to the decisions that kept up from putting this game away. We get the ball on their 45 after a kick-off violation and a personal foul. We run the ball three times into the line. We do not try to get a touchdown. Didn't even try. That was all about setting up for a field goal. Who didn't know that Tressel was going to do that? If everyone reading this knew, didn't Ferentz? We end up taking, and missing, a long field goal.

We intercept a pass right about our 40 with 50 seconds to go. We try to throw the ball one time, then run it into the line twice to run out the half.

This way of playing football does not create enough opportunities to win football games. Not against good teams. Yesterday was one step beyond. He played it so close to the vest that he did not take advantage of opportunities that were presented.

...
written by Francis, November 15, 2009
Mr. Long,
First of all, word. Second, what about the situation at punter? Please tell me Ben Buchanan is hurt. I can't imagine that a consensus top-five K/P out of HS is worse than the kid we have out there now. The guy just doesn't seem to be physically capable of kicking it 40 yards through the air.

I have never found out what is going on with the punting situation. I was not as impressed with Buchanan as a punter as I was as a kicker. Maybe they want to take that booming leg and turn him into a punter. Jim Tressel says the punt is the most important play in football.

...
written by ford.304, November 15, 2009
Except for the times it did, you mean.

When was that?

Big Man, I stopped with those comments on boards a while back. Those who wear the blinders are proud when they beat their 4 yr. old daughter in checkers and equate to beating Bobby Fischer in chess.

...
written by beenthere77, November 15, 2009
One, you give absolutely no credit to Iowa. Yes, there were injuries but they were all on the offensive side of the ball. Iowa's secondary was easily one of the best we faced this year. Their Oline was not a bunch of bums either, especially without the refs calling the holds. And their QB had a great game. Iowa did not achieve their excellent record thru smoke and mirrors. In fact, IMO, they are a much better team than PSU.

Two, people at the game could clearly see why we were running instead of passing. Iowa keep both safeties deep and our receivers weren't getting any separation. Excellent job by Pryor for not forcing anything. Again, there is a reason Iowa is rated 3rd in the country in pass defense and 1st in interceptions.

Third, you really think the coaches wouldn't have run Pryor more or played Miller if it wasn't for injuries?

Fourth, the Bucks had it wrapped up but the gods of luck stepped in. The kick off return, TD called back and the easy interception that ended up being a first down, different result from any of these would have sealed the game.

So when the safeties play deep you can't throw the ball? We can't call routes that take advantage of that? Been having good debates with you for a long time. You know football better than that.

We won a game and it feels more like we escaped with it rather than we took it. I'm wondering if IOWA was a better team than I thought or did we play down to them. I'm leaning toward the later, Tressel ball made this game closer than it should have been, we didn't bring consistant pressure and didn't take shots down the field. I saw the opening play a first down pass to a TE and for a second thought we were going to see an evolving offense coming to take advantage of a maturing TP, then came back to reality.
I was watching the game with some guys while playing in my poker league and when they cheered an Anderson Russell pick I shook my head and had to explain he only made the play because he was out of position.
I mention this because of some comments I read in this post, Duane is a student of the game and like me we will take a win but understanding the X's and O's of the game it's hard to feel good about a win like this.
Point being it's easy to read between the lines and know what line people stand in, one line is obviously longer than the other, fans can get excited about this win. Those that understand the game beyond a final score already know what I mean.

Iowa was in the game because of the KR TD, The Chewka and Rolle drop INT... Williams offsides....

I think we will trust the coaches more than you. Sorry but it's the truth. It gets the job done now enjoy the win and the rose bowl coming up.

Duane,

I hear you!

Watching JT walk up & down the sidelines while looking at his play list while the defense is on the field just pisses me off. He needs to pay attention because the guy can motivate & get in players faces when needed.

You’d think with all of that contemplation he’d come up with something better than the garbage we received during the Iowa game.

I just love the fact that we started going back to the I formation with young Boren pounding people. A pretty effective approach wouldn’t you say? Tell me that formation doesn’t just scream “play action”?

Does JT take advantage- hell no. I’m not suggesting we start throwing the ball all over the place, but go for the decisive win, take freaking advantage of what you have!

His absolute garbage play calling will get lost in the just deserved hoopla from another championship, but buck fans expect more.

Just look at the top shelf athletes/players we have that we don’t utilize. It reminds me of the guy that drives a Porsche in the right lane as I pass him in my 6000lb pickup.

Don’t get me wrong, these are definitely the good old days. Another Big Ten championship along with the Rose Bowl has a placed a smile on my face that would make the joker proud and I’m not going to lose sight of the teams wonderful accomplishments.

Maybe the co-DC’s could get together with JT and they could agree who’s turn it was to play vanilla so we don’t almost snatch a loss from the jaws of victory like we did yesterday.

It’s going to take a much more attacking offense to win the Rose & any game of that caliber. Be honest people, we all recognize that, why doesn’t JT?

Absolutely dead-on Duane. Don't check out Bucknuts messageboards though...apparently you're not a fan if you don't believe Jim Tressel is an offesnive guru. :-/

What went "wrong" in that game happened after we were up 24-10. A KO return and a drive that got two HUGE breaks led to the tie game.
Ohio State almost never loses when they have a 14 point lead in the 4th quarter.
TP is pretty banged up and has finally been playing in a way that isn't causing us to lose games. And now, we are unhappy with not turning him loose.
What is the flavor of the day? Texas? Used to be Oklahoma. Florida? With a 3 year starter Heisman winner and a great defense I am not sure they are that great on O.
As for the beef with Cordle - Mliller and Adams are both hurt. Who else is there?

Sir Duane,

Reality is we have a coach that will ALWAYS error on the side of caution. Doesn't matter how loud we scream at the TV, and I did, it's the way it is. In all our losses, the only time I thought his conservatism killed us was this year's USC game. Sure an argument can be made for last year's PSU game but we both know that game was in the bag if Pryor doesn't fumble. No mistakes and we walk away with the W. OTOH, opening up the offense against PSU would have been like rolling dice. Chances of mistakes would have gone up without the certainty of having the skill to overcome those mistakes.

As for throwing underneath against Iowa, why take the risk? The Bucks were moving up and down the field quite consistently without the added risk.

Hard to fault JT for shutting it down at the end of the half when Iowa did the exact same thing at the end of regulation. However, even I lost it on the run up the middle on 3rd and eight. But to rip the whole game plan because of that series is a bit overboard, IMO.

I....... 150% agree with Duane... I said to my friend oh know the "prevent" offense is back out there. I will never understand it.

Ok, here they ar Duane:

1st Q

900 Zone Blitz on 3rd and 10
458 OLB Blitz on 2nd and 9
103 6-7 man blitz on 3rd and 11

2nd Q

650 5-6 man blitz on 2nd and 10

3rd

900 5 man blitz on 2nd and 5

4th

1138 corner blitz on 2nd and 10
1132 corner blitz on 3rd and 15
653 Blitz on 2nd and 13
509 OLB blitz on 1st and 10
358 S blitz on 2nd and 7
247 6 Man blitz on 2nd and 7 for the game tying TD pass.

Surprised you dismissed it so fast Duane.

We blitzed, it didn't work. I can't believe anyone could have missed how much we blitzed even at 1st pass.

To John anthony:

As you can see from my post, there wasn't a damn thing about "prevent" on our last Defensive stand. Were were anything from BUT prevent the ENTIRE 4th quarter on defense. I have no idea what game you were watching.

One more qualifier Duane....

I only counted pass play blitzes

John,

Read what I said... "Prevent OFFENSE" not defense.

Its like the Matrix, people are finally waking up and realizing that Tressel and his offense are murder on the eyeballs. I want to like him so much, but when I watch the actual games, I want to punch a hole in my television. Slowly, I am getting used to it, as it will never change as long as he is here. He will probably retire in 3 or 4 years, maybe then we can get excited to watch a modern offense that attacks the opposing team.

and see what they got.

Blitzes
written by John Colosimo, November 15, 2009
Ok, here they ar Duane:

1st Q

900 Zone Blitz on 3rd and 10
458 OLB Blitz on 2nd and 9
103 6-7 man blitz on 3rd and 11

2nd Q

650 5-6 man blitz on 2nd and 10

3rd

900 5 man blitz on 2nd and 5

4th

1138 corner blitz on 2nd and 10
1132 corner blitz on 3rd and 15
653 Blitz on 2nd and 13
509 OLB blitz on 1st and 10
358 S blitz on 2nd and 7
247 6 Man blitz on 2nd and 7 for the game tying TD pass.

Surprised you dismissed it so fast Duane.

We blitzed, it didn't work. I can't believe anyone could have missed how much we blitzed even at 1st pass.

By your numbers we blitzed five times in the first three quarters. You call that blitzing??? We should have been all over this kid and took away any confidence he had very early. He is a freshman in his first start. We let him find a rhythm and a comfort zone.

Duane you are avoiding the fact that we blitzed 33% of his passes when you said we didn't blitz all game.

You are also avoiding the realization that when we blitzed the most, the 4th Q, is when they were most effective moving the football.

The game defining play in OT we had a 3 man rush.

I think you need to rewatch the game Duane. Your take is, IMO, and you know I have respect for your opinion, wrong.

My point is that blitzing was not the problem, and I think if you rewatch the game, you will agree.

I also think it is ridiculous to hammer any coaching before the 4th with 10 minutes left. The game plan had us up 24-10 with 200 yards rushing at 4.5 per rush and zero turnoverers against the tema witht he most INT's in the country.

Take a step back, hammer JT for some gutless playcalling in the back half of the 4th, and call it a day. Because that is all that deserves cricism.

Take a step back, hammer JT for some gutless playcalling in the back half of the 4th, and call it a day. Because that is all that deserves cricism.

I think that's a valid stance really. Iowa started to have that luck working in their favor in the 4th as well. It was crazy. The 99yd KR when OSU gave up contain -- had we given up a KR yet this year? The pass Rolle and Chekwa missed... unbelievably lucky. The Gibson INT for a TD -- I'm not even sure Williams was totally offsides when the play was snapped. He wasn't according to the ABC line of scrimmage marker at least.

Tressel played pretty damn conservatively and I don't understand why, since clearly our methods with Penn State worked so well. But it worked, barely, and here we are. I agree that, in the 4th quarter, we appeared to win the game despite the playcalling and not because of it. You could almost hear Tressel's sphincter tighten on television.

..
written by John Colosimo, November 16, 2009
Duane you are avoiding the fact that we blitzed 33% of his passes when you said we didn't blitz all game.

You are also avoiding the realization that when we blitzed the most, the 4th Q, is when they were most effective moving the football.

The game defining play in OT we had a 3 man rush.

I think you need to rewatch the game Duane. Your take is, IMO, and you know I have respect for your opinion, wrong.

What we are disagreeing about is what defines blitzing. I am a 46 defense guy. I was never happier than when Pug turned loose the Silver Bullets. Attack, attack, attack. I believe in going out on my shield. 33% is not enough. That would never be enough but when a kid is being effective you have to get more pressure on him. For 45 minutes of the game according to your numbers, we blitzed him 5 times. Before the game I said this kid should have night terrors and the monsters in his dreams should wear scarlet and gray. I can re-watch as many times as you want me to. I am not going to change my mind that we did not put enough people in this kids face. 5 doesn't work? Go with 6. 6 not getting the job done? Go with 7. Send as many players as is necessary to get this kid out of rhythm and off his game. We never did that.

3 man rush did not have anything to do with the key defensive series that won the game for us in overtime. It was a couple of seniors stepping up and making great individual plays.

...
written by SFBuck, November 15, 2009
What went "wrong" in that game happened after we were up 24-10. A KO return and a drive that got two HUGE breaks led to the tie game.
Ohio State almost never loses when they have a 14 point lead in the 4th quarter.
TP is pretty banged up and has finally been playing in a way that isn't causing us to lose games. And now, we are unhappy with not turning him loose.
What is the flavor of the day? Texas? Used to be Oklahoma. Florida? With a 3 year starter Heisman winner and a great defense I am not sure they are that great on O.
As for the beef with Cordle - Mliller and Adams are both hurt. Who else is there?

The difference between the offenses of the schools you mention and ours is they are regularly good and sometimes great. We have had a year and a half since Jim Tressel got here that the offense has been good.

I gave Cordle a pass. I was talking about recruiting. It would have been nice to be able to fall back on Zebrie Sanders and not ask a kid to do something that he was not capable of doing. We put all of our eggs in one basket with the often injured Mike Adams. The only reason being that they want to keep the numbers low and count on versatile linemen. It hasn't worked. Ask the Technician. It is something we agree on. He is an old school guy who calls himself a blatant apologist. Even he says we don't have enough kids in the program and all that moving around is counterproductive. I did a blog on this last week. We don't know if Jim Bollman can teach and motivate offensive linemen. What we do know is his low numbers and versatile lineman principles are a failure. We saw it Saturday with what happened to Cordle.

I still must be missing something. We rushed for over 200 yards. Anytime you rush for over 200 yards, you are doing something right on offense.
Again - that game was basically slated away at 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter until the KO return - a freak play in the JT tenure to say the very least.
Same goes for the TD drive that tied the game - the offsides has nothing to do with the INT, and the other pass was dead to rights and should have been an INT. The fact that it was caught by Iowa was an INCREDIBLE break - without that catch, I think Iowa doesn't score.

If you are unhappy with a game where we rush for >200 yards and clinch a Rose Bowl berth against a very good team, I think you are probably rooting for the wrong team in the wrong conference.

Even the OT - ugly as it was - Barclay hit the FG right down the middle with leg to spare. It would have been just great to get sacked and be out of FG range. The same people yelling at that play call were also yelling at JT for NOT playing conservative and kicking the FG against USC. Can't have it both ways.

Have there been times in the last 2 years (2008 and 09) where I have been frustrated with the offense? You bet. Did we get blown out in 2006 with our best ever offense? You bet. Did we lose big in the BCS game after 2007 with a reasonable offense? You bet. In 2009 did we have a not fully formed QB and new starters at all other skill positions plus a very young OL? You bet. Has the team evolved on offense to have the kind of offense that JT used in 2002-03 to win back to back BCS bowls? Looks like it to me...
Don't let the sour taste of a poor offense from 2004 and 2008 and some big blow out losses ruin the fun of watching a 5th straight big ten title, a great turnaround after one of the worst losses under JT (at Purdue), and the evolution of a QB to a point where you will slowly see a rebirth of aspects of the late 2005-06 offense. That was back when JT briefly understood offense, befor his early onset senility set-in....

Listne, I have a ton of respect for Duane and a lot of the other posters. But, I think we are not seeing logical reasoning. I have seen other years where Duane is bemoaning the lack of a good ground game. We now have that, and the beef is something else.

I also happen to think the Big 10 is a little better this year than it has been. I think the 4 best teams - Ohio State, PSU, Iowa, and Wisconsin will go 2-2 in bowls at worst. With the amount of talent Ohio State lost (both WRs and Wells, JL, Freeman, and Jenkins) - this has been a good year. A very good year.

Yeah Duane, our biggest blitz of the day was on the play Iowa scored the game tying TD in the 4th.

I give up, I think you are out of your mind to be discussing anything other than the last 10 minutes of the game.

The kid was beating our blitzes. I rewatched every Iowa possession last night just to make sure I was being accurate.

Bottom line was that our non-blitzing plays were just as effective if not more. That isn't an opinion, it's fact.

And Vandenburg is better than Stanzi. He made some throws that we couldn't defend even when played perfectly.

And after 50 minutes we were up 2 TD's and had 200+ rushing yards. The only reason there is any critism at all today is because Iowa returned a kick for a TD and Nathan Williams was offsides on a critcal play.

I'm done on this. I don't think people are being rational.

Listne, I have a ton of respect for Duane and a lot of the other posters. But, I think we are not seeing logical reasoning. I have seen other years where Duane is bemoaning the lack of a good ground game. We now have that, and the beef is something else.

I also happen to think the Big 10 is a little better this year than it has been. I think the 4 best teams - Ohio State, PSU, Iowa, and Wisconsin will go 2-2 in bowls at worst. With the amount of talent Ohio State lost (both WRs and Wells, JL, Freeman, and Jenkins) - this has been a good year. A very good year.

I don't recall being upset about the running game. I am bothered that we ended up in a tight game that didn't need to be and we didn't use our best weapon. Pryor showed he was more responsible with the ball in this game than in any game this year. We wouldn't put the ball in his hands. I don't get that. He has been a game changer with his feet. It looks like he is ready to be with his arm too but we didn't go to him. That is the frustration that so many are having right now. Why do we have to play it this way??? We played 2 teams that could beat us this year, USC and Iowa. We lost to one and went into overtime with the other. It comes back to the conservative play on offense. Why can't we go out and try to win the game instead of waiting for the other team to lose it to us? I am answering every question thrown at me. I want the "Tressel-siders" to answer that one for me.
Someone who is standing up to defend the coach to the bitter end, tackle that for those of us who want to keep the head coach and dump the offensive coordinator.

No, I am not talking to you big John. We are having a separate discusssion.

...
written by John Colosimo, November 16, 2009
Yeah Duane, our biggest blitz of the day was on the play Iowa scored the game tying TD in the 4th.

I give up, I think you are out of your mind to be discussing anything other than the last 10 minutes of the game.

The kid was beating our blitzes. I rewatched every Iowa possession last night just to make sure I was being accurate.

Bottom line was that our non-blitzing plays were just as effective if not more. That isn't an opinion, it's fact.

And Vandenburg is better than Stanzi. He made some throws that we couldn't defend even when played perfectly.

And after 50 minutes we were up 2 TD's and had 200+ rushing yards. The only reason there is any critism at all today is because Iowa returned a kick for a TD and Nathan Williams was offsides on a critcal play.

I'm done on this. I don't think people are being rational.

The coaching staff did not agree with you about the non-blitzing plays being as effective if not moreso. There were more blitzes in the 4th quarter than the other 3 quarters put together. We were not getting enough pressure and they accepted that. If we would have gone after this kid from their first possession I think we would not have seen overtime. We would have had more sacks, more hurries, and likely more interceptions. We gave him time. We haven't given anyone time all year.

We gave up a touchdown on a blitz. That is going to happen. The turnovers, sacks, tackles for loss and hurries are going to impact the game more than that one play.

The coaches did not agree with me until they realized they were getting thier asses handed to them by the Iowa Oline....hence the decision NOT to blitz on 3 and 16 in OT. I think the coached learn thier lesson.

I love blitzing Duane, I just absolutely believe that it was ineffictive against Iowa. I thought it during the game and rewatching only solidified my feelings. You don't blitz for the sake of blitzing, you blitz to affect the QB and we weren't getting that accomplished. Chekwa could have used that extra man blitzing to help him out with McNutt, I can tell you that much.

Take a look at this blog, I could have written this game review myself:

buckeyefootballanalysis.blogspot.com

I will say this. We gave up the TD on that blitz, but Iowa's QB looked rattled as soon as we started getting more pressure. He was at his most ineffective in the 4th (and OT) I thought, and that seems to coincide with the increased blitzing. Just a thought.

We didn't blitz in OT, and the increased blitzing coinsided with Iowa driving 70 yards for a game tying TD.

The quarters that Iowa had the least amount of yardage were the 2nd and 3rd, during which we blitzed a total of 2 times.

Actually it was the 1st and 2nd, not the 2nd and 3rd.

1st and 4th - 154 yards 10 points allowed; 9 of the 11 blitzes

2nd and 3rd - 151 yards with 3 points allowed; 2 of the 11 blitzes.

I think the only sack was the OT sack, on a 3 man rush.

...
written by John Colosimo, November 16, 2009
We didn't blitz in OT, and the increased blitzing coinsided with Iowa driving 70 yards for a game tying TD.

The quarters that Iowa had the least amount of yardage were the 2nd and 3rd, during which we blitzed a total of 2 times.

Then why did they decide to blitz? Why would they change their strategy if they felt it was being effective?

Duane. my assumption would be that the coaches assumed that our deep dline would eventually wear them down and get the pressure going.

When that didn't happen they went back to the blitz, which was just as ineffective as it was in the 1st quarter.

In the end they just couldn't find a way to pressure Vandenburg whether they rushed 4 or 7.

Except of course worthington's sack in OT.

That was just my thoughts from watching the game at the time. I don't have the tape now to go back through it unfortunately. My impression at the time was that we weren't blitzing much for the first three quarters, but in the second half they were starting to run more effectively and their QB was having all day to throw. When we started blitzing we gave up the score, but he also started missing a lot more. We also had two INTs that were botched or called back and kept their drives alive. Again, this is just from recollection.

I honestly believe that the KR turned the tide, and Iowa started to get that magic back that they lost to Northwestern. There were quite a few plays where I just chalked it up to fortune.

I have to disagree with the criticism of the coaching staff on offense for the first three quarters. They were aggressive in my eyes. The team ran more, but that was because our OL was having success. For instance, towards the end of the first half, OSU got the ball back on their 30 with a little over a minute to go. On first down, Coach Tressel and staff took a deep shot. Iowa's defense was disciplined by not falling for the deep pass. Running the next couple of plays and going into the half with the lead was understandable given how the game was transpiring. I love that we are using the wildcat more frequently as another look. Boom did a great job running it.

Where I began to have a problem is in the 4th quarter. Back-to-back downs the coaches call the exact same running play and settle for a field goal. Why would you not mix in a throw or at least a different formation? Terrelle Pryor had made all the right decisions. The OL was blocking well. The offense deserved a chance. The field goal was at less than an automatic distance as evidenced by Barclay's miss. This decision changed field position and gave Iowa momentum. This is not conservative play calling, but a failure to compete.

The unforgivable series for me was the last series when OSU got the ball back. Almost three minutes remaining and instead of trying to win the game, we deliberately run the ball. We don't even run out the clock. With the way Iowa was moving the ball on OSU's defense, OSU got lucky that Ferentz was just as gutless in his play calling. Would anyone say these were "great" calls if Iowa would have scored. No one could have blamed the players if Iowa won. These decisions took the ball out of the player's hand. I don't understand what the benefit was in this sort of play calling. It was especially negligent since it did not run out the clock, gave Iowa a chance for a big punt return, and allowed Iowa the final drive. Let me reiterate, the OL, RBs, QB, and WRs had all had success all day and had not turned the ball over. With the Big Ten hanging in the balance for better or worse you have to give your guys a chance to win it with almost 3 minutes left, an eternity in college football.

Duane - I don't think your seeing the whole field or situation. An offense that was effectively running the ball and sustaining long drives behind a banged up quarterback who was making sound decisions. Iowa is a sound defensive and offensive unit. 24-10 in the fourth before Iowa took advantage of some miscues and lucky breaks. The game plan was just fine and dandy up to this point. Execution flaws and penalties dampened the plays we did make from this point on.

We rushed for 229 yards and held them to 67 yards on the ground. Our offense held the time of possession advantage and defense made the plays in the end when it counted. We didn't need to win the Rose Bowl today - but secure another November victory.

It was neither pathetic or pretty but we are in a position to play on !

...
written by Miko, November 16, 2009
Duane - I don't think your seeing the whole field or situation. An offense that was effectively running the ball and sustaining long drives behind a banged up quarterback who was making sound decisions. Iowa is a sound defensive and offensive unit. 24-10 in the fourth before Iowa took advantage of some miscues and lucky breaks. The game plan was just fine and dandy up to this point. Execution flaws and penalties dampened the plays we did make from this point on.

We rushed for 229 yards and held them to 67 yards on the ground. Our offense held the time of possession advantage and defense made the plays in the end when it counted. We didn't need to win the Rose Bowl today - but secure another November victory.

It was neither pathetic or pretty but we are in a position to play on !

Now why you want to come in here and break up a perfectly good argument by reminding me WE ARE GOING TO THE ROSE BOWL!!!!!!!!!!!

...
written by John Colosimo, November 16, 2009
Duane. my assumption would be that the coaches assumed that our deep dline would eventually wear them down and get the pressure going.

When that didn't happen they went back to the blitz, which was just as ineffective as it was in the 1st quarter.

In the end they just couldn't find a way to pressure Vandenburg whether they rushed 4 or 7.

Except of course worthington's sack in OT.

Something just occurred to me. How do you know we were ineffective? What was the results of the plays where we blitzed?

Based on what I saw this past Saturday against Iowa it seems that Tressel is more intent on just winning than on growing his young talented players. What I mean by this and what frustrates me is that his general conservatism in game planning seems to be designed more around limiting the mistakes of youngsters than allowing them to learn from such mistakes, and thus molding a potentially great football team. Against Penn St it appeared that finally he was opening things up a bit, letting Pryor throw downfield and over the middle, there was play action and we involved fullbacks and tight-ends. It appeared to be a step forward for everyone. Then against Iowa it looked like a couple steps back, and unfortunately, not as a result of young players making mistakes, but from Tressel stifling any potential progress in the name of winning (which can be defined by playing to let Iowa lose, rather than by OSU playing to win). Wouldn't it be better to lose aggressively - and learn - than to win backwardly - and stagnate?!

My question: Do you think any of this is true? And if someone were to ask him about such strategies, would he recognize the question and answer it?

I also have issues with how he utilizes his assistants. At times this season it seems like Darrell Hazell has been getting more involved, then other times it's clear that this is not the case, for example 4th quarter/overtime vs Iowa. The head coaches of every other big-time college program delegate power and more fully utilize their assistants. How else do you explain USC's face-plant this season? Carroll lost Sarkisian and Holt, and they're suffering. Florida is struggling mightily without Mullen. Assistants play a greater role than ever.

My question: What do you think of this? Do you think Tressel has learned his lessons in defeats to USC and Purdue? Especially in the USC defeat, because in that one he was simply beat at his own game (and who knows, if Ferentz had played more aggressively, ala Carroll, Iowa would've probably won as well).

In closing I recall Bobby Knight once saying (as a commentator on ESPN): if you want to know how well your team is playing, the last statistic you should look at is the score. Everyone is looking at what Tressel has done: 90+ wins, countless BCS bowls, Big Ten titles, etc. Basically, they're doing what Bobby Knight says not to do, looking at the score, and glazing over more telling statistics and realities.

It's great we're going back to the Rose Bowl, thank God last time we had a coach that grasped the two minute offense (and had a much better QB running it, to be sure).

I will be shocked if we win the Rose Bowl. Tress is locked into his beloved almost pathological play not to lose mode, that is likely to get him past Michigan but won't cut it against Oregon, Oregon State, or Stanford, seeing as how those teams use all their weapons, display this new fangled thing called creativity, don't get all misty eyed about punting, and play to win.

I could only stomach a few statements from you. It's easy to sit back on your couch, eating pizza and drinking beer, second guessing every call the coaching staff made.

Really, what credentials do you have to rip apart the coaching staff? Have you coached at a Top 10 college program? Have you won several National Championships? Are you a former player or an athlete? Do you just tivo the game and nit-pick every single thing they do?

I don't know, maybe you're just trying to stir the pot and make a name for yourself, but we won. We won the Big Ten Championship against a very good Iowa team that was in the top 10 (maybe top 5) before losing to Northwestern. How about "just win baby"....

What the hell??
written by medina mike, November 17, 2009
I could only stomach a few statements from you. It's easy to sit back on your couch, eating pizza and drinking beer, second guessing every call the coaching staff made.

Really, what credentials do you have to rip apart the coaching staff? Have you coached at a Top 10 college program? Have you won several National Championships? Are you a former player or an athlete? Do you just tivo the game and nit-pick every single thing they do?

I don't know, maybe you're just trying to stir the pot and make a name for yourself, but we won. We won the Big Ten Championship against a very good Iowa team that was in the top 10 (maybe top 5) before losing to Northwestern. How about "just win baby"....

Enjoy your life of mediocrity. That is what a mind like yours settles for. Pizza? I understand. It is your life. Who do you deliver for?

sry but im tired of people giving tressel crap about the way he is coaching.. he is coaching a bunch of sophmores.. and tressel didnt call pryor to run a bunch bc he has turf toe in both feet.. and a twisted ankle.. he is playing conservative bc its the smart thing to do right now.. when pryor is a junior he will be able to make the plays and be able to run the palys that will finially please the crowd.

tressel
written by nathantosu, November 17, 2009
sry but im tired of people giving tressel crap about the way he is coaching.. he is coaching a bunch of sophmores.. and tressel didnt call pryor to run a bunch bc he has turf toe in both feet.. and a twisted ankle.. he is playing conservative bc its the smart thing to do right now.. when pryor is a junior he will be able to make the plays and be able to run the palys that will finially please the crowd.

How many years has he been here? He has always coached sophmores? He was always going to do it this way. Seniors or sophmores this is the way. It will never bring another championship to the WHAC. We are not talking about pleasing the crowd. We are talking about being an effective offense.

Enjoy your life of mediocrity. That is what a mind like yours settles for. Pizza? I understand. It is your life. Who do you deliver for?


My life doesn't revolve around critiquing 18-22 year olds playing an amateur sport. Am I a fan? Absolutely! But....there is much more to life than your obsession to winning a National Championship. My life is far from mediocre and since you assume I deliver pizzas, so be it, it just shows your ignorance. You completely avoided answering my question on your credentials, so I can make my own assumptions. Really, what have you coached in your life? Do you sit in on coaches meetings? I understand you are entitled to your opinion, but sometimes I think you forget who you are criticizing. Remember, they are 18-22 year olds. If you think you can do better, get out there, show 'em how it's done. You cover McNutt, you blitz, you block, you run, you throw, you read the defense, you tackle. And if you're such a football guru, why aren't you coaching instead of hiding behind a computer??????

My life doesn't revolve around critiquing 18-22 year olds playing an amateur sport. Am I a fan? Absolutely! But....there is much more to life than your obsession to winning a National Championship. My life is far from mediocre and since you assume I deliver pizzas, so be it, it just shows your ignorance. You completely avoided answering my question on your credentials, so I can make my own assumptions. Really, what have you coached in your life? Do you sit in on coaches meetings? I understand you are entitled to your opinion, but sometimes I think you forget who you are criticizing. Remember, they are 18-22 year olds. If you think you can do better, get out there, show 'em how it's done. You cover McNutt, you blitz, you block, you run, you throw, you read the defense, you tackle. And if you're such a football guru, why aren't you coaching instead of hiding behind a computer??????

You talk out of both sides of your mouth. You say your life doesn't revolve around the lives of 18-22 year olds but here you are bothering to come here, and not only read what I am saying but you bother to respond. I don't feel the need to qualify myself to anyone but especially to someone like you. It is not going to make any difference to someone like you. You have already picked a side, the wrong side, in this discussion. Those of us on my side of the aisle have picked the side of The Ohio State University. You, and your ever shrinking group, have put a man above the program. You want no criticism of the coach. Have you noticed the rest of the college football world has come down on the side of Jim Tressel being a really bad offensive coordinator? They are all wrong? I am done talking to you.

Duane, I say the blitzes were ineffective because the results were relatively the same. I don't have time right now but I will go back give some results later if I have time.

Of the 2 TD passes, both were from relatively the same distance, one was a heavy blitz and one was not. And I will take that non-blitz coerage everytime right there, not in every situation, but the way we covered was perfect, he just made an NFL throw and squeezed it in THE tightest of spaces, no way he makes that thow again...I'd give him 9 more tries against the exact same coverage and I'd bet he can't make that throw.

On the blitz it was a throw he could make 8 or 9/10 times to McNutt.

There were 2 really big plays that probably totalled more than half of the passing yardage....neither was a blitz, but both were on 1st down and just excellant calls, I believe one was PA..

For the record, I can't really tell how many blitzes we truly had, because there were a ton of plays I didn't count because I couldn't distingiush whether it was a blitz or extremely fast reactions to running plays...I essentially did not include ANY running plays as blitzes no matter what.

I think what I used most in thinking that the blitzes were ineffective was the fact that we never got there....on any of them. Venturing a guess I would feel pretty safe in saying we only got 2 blitzes in that could be considered "hurries" and zero sacks.

When you don't sack the QB and cause QB hurries on 18% of your blitzes I would say that is a clear case of your blitzes being in effective. If you do not effect the QB then you only remove a defender from the secondary, IOW, help the opposing QB make decisions.

You talk out of both sides of your mouth. You say your life doesn't revolve around the lives of 18-22 year olds but here you are bothering to come here, and not only read what I am saying but you bother to respond. I don't feel the need to qualify myself to anyone but especially to someone like you. It is not going to make any difference to someone like you. You have already picked a side, the wrong side, in this discussion. Those of us on my side of the aisle have picked the side of The Ohio State University. You, and your ever shrinking group, have put a man above the program. You want no criticism of the coach. Have you noticed the rest of the college football world has come down on the side of Jim Tressel being a really bad offensive coordinator? They are all wrong? I am done talking to you.

C'mon man....tell Buckeye Nation your qualifications. So where have you been an OC??? Coaches usually get criticized after a loss. We put up 27 points on a very good defense, what the hell is wrong with that? Suppose we won 27-0, would you still be complaining? Give some credit to Iowa. Their QB played a fantastic game. All that matters is we got a "W", but I guess you need something to complain about.

C'mon man....tell Buckeye Nation your qualifications. So where have you been an OC??? Coaches usually get criticized after a loss. We put up 27 points on a very good defense, what the hell is wrong with that? Suppose we won 27-0, would you still be complaining? Give some credit to Iowa. Their QB played a fantastic game. All that matters is we got a "W", but I guess you need something to complain about.

We got 3 interceptions and had a kickoff that gave us the ball on their 45. We were playing against a team that was putting a freshman on the field for the first time, and no running attack to help him. We should have put this team away. What did we do with the ball when we got possession on their 45? Ran what looked to be the same play three times and missed a long field goal. That is all we intended to do. A friend called me right before the first snap of the series. He said, "we will run it into the line 3 times and kick the ball. Watch." He then hung up.

My problem with this goes beyond this game. It is the overall far too conservative way that we play offense. We play two good teams this year, USC and Iowa. We lose to one and go into overtime with the other because JT will not go out and try to win football games. He waits on them to lose the game to us. That is why we keep losing games to quality teams. USC gave up 27 to Notre Dame, 36 to Oregon State, 47 to Oregon and 55 to Stanford. We scored 15 points on our home field against them. It was early in the year when their defense was still recovering from losing some awfully good football players to the NFL on defense. 15 points. Take zero chances. You get zero points. That Jim Tressel cannot see that this is not working frustrates me to no end.

I have never been an offensive coordinator. What about the criticism coming from others who have been involved with the game at the coaching or administrative level? You wouldn't listen to them either. You have put the coach above the program. All that matters is the program being as successful as it can be. The talent is there. The recruiting class rankings are top drawer and the proof is in the NFL. No school is putting more players in the NFL. There is no reason we should not be right there with Florida and USC and LSU and Texas every year. We don't make plays on offense. We don't try to make plays on offense. That is where the problem lies.

"The recruiting class rankings are top drawer and the proof is in the NFL. No school is putting more players in the NFL. There is no reason we should not be right there with Florida and USC and LSU and Texas every year. We don't make plays on offense. We don't try to make plays on offense. That is where the problem lies. "


Duane, let's get real here....the Juniors and Seniors on this team are from the 05-07 Classes....classes that were not top shelf, and did not measure up in any way to the UF, USC, and LSU's of the world.

In that time we had 9 top 100 recruits, only 3 of which were of the 5 star variety.

In 2008, we got 8 top 100 kids, 4 of which were 5 stars. In 2009, it was 6 Top 100 kids with 2 Fives, and a decent look ahead ffor this year says we will get 6 and 3, with a possible shot of 7 and 4 (I say we wont get hicks, he is not included.

So in one three year span, the one that is the upper-class backbone of this team, we recieved commitments from 9 top 100 recuits with 3 five star recruits.

In the next three year span, our Freshmen, Sophomores and Highschool seniors, we have 20 top 100 recuits and 9 five stars.

I think you should read that twice just to let it sink in. We have only in the last 3 years (including this season, kids who are not even here yet) held our own with those schools you mentioned.

-That only goes as far as our True Sophomores.

So you are a few years early in your assessment right there, and you should consider that and rethink what you said right there.

One last parting shot with regards to that, check out the list of those 05-07 kids:

Boone, Oneal, Worthington, Wells, Rose, Conner Smith, Ray Small, Brandon Saine, and Eugene Clifford.

4 aren't with the team anymore. That's half of the best players we recruited from 05-07. Conner Smith and Rose have gone unnoticed and Ray Small has only finally shown something in this final year, and EVEN THEN only as a punt and kick return specialist.

That makes two upper classmen contributers on this team that were ranked as being in the top 100 of thier respective years coming out of high school.

Now tell me what you think that # is on UF, LSU and USC?