1 national championship and 2 consecutive title game appearances doesn't get him a pass?
I've given him a pass for quite a while now, actually. I absorbed the Florida and LSU demolitions as part of competing at this level. Sometimes good teams will beat you. Sometimes badly. I started questioning him after the USC game. That was ugly.
And now this.
You can make the argument that 10-2 is an underachieving year, since so many publications and prognosticators had us in number 1 or in the NCS game again. But I'm not going there...I'm mostly questioning Tressel's in-game decision making.
Keep in mind, I'm STILL not necessarily questioning the losses themselves. Again, that will happen. It's the way we're losing, the penalties, the lack of discipline on the field, the absurd timeouts, the fact that he keeps doing the same thing over and over and over again.
Eventually the pass runs out. Maybe not in Ohio, but here it does.
As I recall, Ohio State hired Tressel because they couldn't beat Michigan. Tressel turned that series completely around and everyone is turning on him because he (finally) is having a less than stellar year (7-2 with losses to USC and Penn State) because he is breaking in the QB of the future.
You people are tough. 10-2 would not be good enough for you?
It's not a question of 10-2 or not 10-2. That's way too simplistic, and sounds like it comes from a person not realy familiar with Ohio State...or a person way too familiar and in 'hero-worship' mode. If we had two losses that were not games thrown away by the coach, I would live with that.
Quarterbacks will fumble. Passes will be dropped. Tackles will be blown. Mistakes will be made, mistakes a coach has only so much control over. But if you actually read my post, I'm concerned with in-game mistakes made by the coaching staff, I suppose mostly by Tressel. This is what bothers me, and makes me feel he's not up to the level the top coaches in the sport.
As for "Tim Tebow was an 'inexperienced QB at the helm' of a team whose coach figured out how to use him properly to lethal effect...as a FRESHMAN. I know, I still have the mental scars to prove it after watching that game."
Being a Florida grad, I do not have the mental scars. But, the MVP of that game was Chris Leak. Florida would not have been there with Tebow, who was largely a short yardage QB two years ago. And, Florida had a great defense and special teams that year (in the OSU game, they had a lot of short yardage drives).
Sorry, but you folks are wrong. If you follow the Tebow analogy, Tebow won the Heisman his second year. Tressel is bringing along a young, inexperienced terrfic talent so he will be ready to make a run next year. If I were an Ohio State fan, I would counsel patience.
OK, so you can also question the fact that Tressel took a team that up until around 11PM Saturday night was still in the national title race, and turned it into a rebuilding season by giving the keys to a freshman quarterback (did he attend any classes yet?...I know the academic year at OSU is unusual) and letting a senior, who already took us to a national title game, watch from the bench.
Isn't there a way Tressel could have used both quarterbacks, like Meyer did with Tebow and Leak? Actually, I thought that was the plan all along...I suppose that changed in one game. Or in one quarter.
Didn't Leak have a bad game (or quarter) along the way two years ago? Why didn't Meyer change everything and put Tebow in for good, to rebuild? Leak didn't even have a national title game on his resume like Todd Boeckman does.
For the record, I don't have a problem with Pryor playing over Boeckman. I didn't say that before the game (although I did question if we'd ever see Boeckman again), so I won't say it now. But I do have a problem with everyone labeling this as a rebuilding or transition year all of a sudden. Nobody said that before the season started, so don't say it now.
Ask James Laurinitis if he thought this was a rebuilding or transition year on Labor Day.
As a Florida fan, I wish Pryor had not fumbled and Ohio State has won. But, when you blow a game to Ole Miss at home, you just keep your mouth shut.
I guess the Ohio State fans yearn for those pre-Tressel days.
Personally I yearn for the days when Tressel played to win, and didn't play 'not to lose'. And when our teams always seemed more prepared than the other teams. And key penalties were called on the other team way more than on our team.
I think Urban Meyer is a jerk, but you can't help but wonder what he could do with this team...
Sandra
He really reminds me a lot of Troy Smith in his first year playing.
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