As Predicted...
Congratulations to the Buckeyes against Oregon, they played a great game. I've intentionally stayed away from all/any comments on this site since the game prior to writing this post. One of the main reasons is that I know plenty of Tress apologists are going to come out of the wood work to slam this site with ridiculous comments. However, most of them will never read any of the previous posts or comments, so I'd like to revisit some of the posts prior to this game.
Let me start by saying this, the previous posts (before the bowl season even began) stated that the Buckeyes would most likely win this game. Not because of any major changes from Tress or advancements in the offense, but because the Buckeye's defense was that good. The other assessment I made was that I believed the Pac-10 was completely over rated going into the bowl season even though many of the top analysts were saying that the Pac-10 was probably the 2nd or 3rd best conference in the nation this year. One of my main points of evidence was that the top 4 teams in the Pac-10 combined, only managed to beat Notre Dame and Utah as notable out of conference wins. The point was, the top four teams in the Pac-10 hadn't beaten anyone of note outside of their conference. I took some heat for that position, but now that the Pac-10 finished 2-5 in bowl games, the both of my predictions were dead on.
Now, back to the game...anyone that thinks this game was about Pryor developing or Tress opening up the offense, I think you're only maybe 10%-20% correct. First, this game was never going to be mostly about Pryor and Tress opening up the offense, it was always about whether or not the Buck's defense was good enough to slow down the Duck's offense, which we predicted they would do. The Duck's had given up considerable points this year to several teams, 38 to Purdue and 51 to Standford as a couple of examples (so don't think the OSU offense are world beaters now!). After watching the game, Oregon's defense was much worse than anticipated. If you look closely at the play of the DB's, they were HORRIBLE. Pryor did make a couple of great throws that were right on the money, where even the best corner backs wouldn't have been able to break them up, and tremendous props to him for that! But, Pryor looked terrible through much of the first half and threw SEVERAL of those damn lob passes throughout the game for completions that only works only in high school, and against Oregon's defensive backfield apparently.
Ultimately, the Ducks were a great match-up for the Bucks, and the Bucks came out and executed a decent game plan. Once again, if you really look at this thing closely, the Buckeyes DOMINATED (if there's a word better than dominate, insert here) time of possession, and every major stat possible (offensive and defensive). But, we were only up 19-17 after three quarters of play. I'm not trying to find the negative here, but am just pointing out the facts before everyone watches the highlights and says that Tress opened up this offense, Pryor came of age, and they completely changed their normal game plan. We scored 26 total points against a team that has routinely given up 30+ points this season. To me, winning by 9 points against a team that only had 18:23 of ball possession and 12 first downs is not phenomenal.
The Bucks played an excellent game, which was predicted on this site. In the end, the Buckeyes defense is awesome, the Ducks defense is average at best, the Ducks were over rated, and Tressleball will always reign supreme in this type of equation. Tress' coached teams are like a rigid math equation, if you change the variables, it doesn't work out because they do not adapt or change. If anything, this game showed nothing of change except that Prior is able to periodically make some difficult throws, which is a great sign. Other than that, this was Tressleball at it's finest, don't kid yourself.
"Food For Thought" - the Ducks also gave up:
38 to Purdue (who didn't even get eligible for one of the 34 bowl games)
33 to Oregon State (who were blown out by BYU in the Vegas Bowl, 44-20)
41 to Arizona (who were routed by Nebraska 33-0 in the Holiday Bowl)
51 to Stanford (who lost to a down Oklahoma team 31-27 in the Sun Bowl)
Let me start by saying this, the previous posts (before the bowl season even began) stated that the Buckeyes would most likely win this game. Not because of any major changes from Tress or advancements in the offense, but because the Buckeye's defense was that good. The other assessment I made was that I believed the Pac-10 was completely over rated going into the bowl season even though many of the top analysts were saying that the Pac-10 was probably the 2nd or 3rd best conference in the nation this year. One of my main points of evidence was that the top 4 teams in the Pac-10 combined, only managed to beat Notre Dame and Utah as notable out of conference wins. The point was, the top four teams in the Pac-10 hadn't beaten anyone of note outside of their conference. I took some heat for that position, but now that the Pac-10 finished 2-5 in bowl games, the both of my predictions were dead on.
Now, back to the game...anyone that thinks this game was about Pryor developing or Tress opening up the offense, I think you're only maybe 10%-20% correct. First, this game was never going to be mostly about Pryor and Tress opening up the offense, it was always about whether or not the Buck's defense was good enough to slow down the Duck's offense, which we predicted they would do. The Duck's had given up considerable points this year to several teams, 38 to Purdue and 51 to Standford as a couple of examples (so don't think the OSU offense are world beaters now!). After watching the game, Oregon's defense was much worse than anticipated. If you look closely at the play of the DB's, they were HORRIBLE. Pryor did make a couple of great throws that were right on the money, where even the best corner backs wouldn't have been able to break them up, and tremendous props to him for that! But, Pryor looked terrible through much of the first half and threw SEVERAL of those damn lob passes throughout the game for completions that only works only in high school, and against Oregon's defensive backfield apparently.
Ultimately, the Ducks were a great match-up for the Bucks, and the Bucks came out and executed a decent game plan. Once again, if you really look at this thing closely, the Buckeyes DOMINATED (if there's a word better than dominate, insert here) time of possession, and every major stat possible (offensive and defensive). But, we were only up 19-17 after three quarters of play. I'm not trying to find the negative here, but am just pointing out the facts before everyone watches the highlights and says that Tress opened up this offense, Pryor came of age, and they completely changed their normal game plan. We scored 26 total points against a team that has routinely given up 30+ points this season. To me, winning by 9 points against a team that only had 18:23 of ball possession and 12 first downs is not phenomenal.
The Bucks played an excellent game, which was predicted on this site. In the end, the Buckeyes defense is awesome, the Ducks defense is average at best, the Ducks were over rated, and Tressleball will always reign supreme in this type of equation. Tress' coached teams are like a rigid math equation, if you change the variables, it doesn't work out because they do not adapt or change. If anything, this game showed nothing of change except that Prior is able to periodically make some difficult throws, which is a great sign. Other than that, this was Tressleball at it's finest, don't kid yourself.
"Food For Thought" - the Ducks also gave up:
38 to Purdue (who didn't even get eligible for one of the 34 bowl games)
33 to Oregon State (who were blown out by BYU in the Vegas Bowl, 44-20)
41 to Arizona (who were routed by Nebraska 33-0 in the Holiday Bowl)
51 to Stanford (who lost to a down Oklahoma team 31-27 in the Sun Bowl)
YSUBuckeye wrote:
Very quiet here tonight. I am sure you guys will make some excuse as to why OSU was able to dominate. I mean your article on the Pac-10 not being very good was already a way to cover your asses to say we beat an average team. Pryor progressed, the game plan was awesome and the bucks win. BigM eat some crow and shut up please.
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YSUBuckeye - thanks again for contributing to the blog, all opinions are welcomed especially when a well supported point can be made. Which begs the question, what is your point?
I think Damien but it very succinctly, FINALLY The Vest did the things we've been advocating, begging and cajoling for. He opened up the offense (a little) and decided to trust his greatest assets to make plays on the field.
Nonetheless, one game does not a change of heart make. When he shows that he can do the same thing time and time again, I will GLADLY turn my attention to other things well worth my time and effort.
With that said, my heartfelt congrats to the Buckeyes and to Jim Tressel for a well fought and well earned victory. The team did what they needed to do and pulled off what we all know they're capable of doing. I have never, ever rooted against my beloved Buckeyes and wish them all the success possible next season.
For what it's worth, I was at tonite's game cheering hard for the Bucks and I'm wiped and can barely talk! My seats sucked ... last time I trust someone else with buying the tix ... but hey, I was there in person to see TP grow-up a little and Tressel win his first Rose Bowl. However, I can't resist asking the rhetorical question as to why we haven't seen more of this. Maybe The Vest has turned over a new leaf. Let's hope.
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You are so right YSUbuckeye...we scored 26 on a team that gave up 38 to Purdue, 41 to Arizona, and 51 to Stanford.
Sure, I made the predictions on the Pac-10 and Oregon to cover my a_s since I have nothing else better to do than to try and make me look good. Where were your predictions before the game? I made predictions in writing that were spot on and you're still trashing them?
You're an idiot, the defense was the star of the show anyway, but everyone gets too fixated on Offenses.
Pryor made some great throws, but if you think that all is well in Tressland because we scored 26 against a crap defense...nothing I say is going to make a difference anyway.
Go Bucks!
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mmm ... such tasty, tasty crow. with hot sauce. gimmie some more!!!!!
The point is, Jimmy boy FINALLY did those things we've been wanting him to do ALL ALONG. Tonight, he DID. We called for his firing because we assumed, based on many YEARS worth of track record, that he wouldn't ever do the Things that he did tonight.
But Tress goin' for it on 4th down? I knew we were gonna win that moment.
Not to mention him actually showing a pulse on offense, and heacock FINALLY bringing to pressure instead of that prevent zone bullshit.
Better late than never. Now we still gotta see if this is a one game aberration, but if every game from now on is coached in this way, coached TO WIN, then hopefully this site won't have to exist anymore.
We've never been ANTI-buckeyes, we just wanted certain changes made that Tressel was unwilling to make, UNTIL tonight. And I myself was always pro-pryor, even in the depths of purdue, the problem was always with Tressel's (playcalling, lack of killer instinct, etc). Everyone on this board was educated enough to not be one of those "get rid of TP" folks. I always knew the kid had this game in him. In fact, if anything most of our criticism was aimed at JT for NOT letting pryor break out, the way he finally let him tonight.
So shut your trolling mouth and stop flaming us like were wolverine fans or something.
Goes to show how pathetic you are that on this happiest of buckeye nights (the first and only bowl win for these seniors!) you decide to log on here and attack fellow buckeyes. Must be miserable up in youngstown.
O-H-I-FU_ _ING-O!!!!
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I hope you aren't married BigM because I don't know how your wife could ever satisfy you.
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WOW - This website personifies LOSERS to the max.
Thank God we have the OSU football team being run by Jim Tressel. When you look at the ignorant people of this site, you can't help but wonder
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Dennis - Perhaps you've not read further into this site than this particular post. My guess is you haven't.
By definition that makes you ignorant and not the folks who take the time to make a point rather than toss insults.
When you can come up with something better than an insult, feel free to share, until then may I suggest you do a little more reading?
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Good post. I do think that Tressel is a better bowl game coach than you guys give him credit for. The only egg was against Florida. That LSU team was much better than OSU and if Robo catches that perfectly thrown TD pass or dumb ass Spitler doesn't run into the kicker, we may be talking about a victory. The game plan against Texas was solid, with the likely 2nd best team in the country having to win in the last second. The Oregon game, as you said, was pretty much a dominant performance. Pre-Florida, Tress obviously had great success in bowls.
I don't think he's great at all and will probably be disappointed by his coaching in the future, but he's better than most college football coaches and in my opinion, coaches bowls significantly better than other games and deserves a good deal of credit for the Rose Bowl.
Finally, a big game victory. Go bucks.
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fire tressel? hire who ? chip kelly or the other kelly from cincy?you want razzle dazzle ? leach is available. with him we'll have 400 yards passing every game and finish 8-4 every year.6 big ten titles 4-3 in bcs games 8-1 vs ttun and anational championship.fire him now and there will be 118 1a schools who would take him except alabama and florida.you win with execution, defense.its not play calling, its execution of the play called that wins games.i hope tressel is the coach for osu for as long as he wants.
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David - Thanks for visiting and sharing your views. The site is called "firejtressel" but it's really much more than that. Consider it a forum to discuss all things Buckeyes and college football, a sport I love dearly. Feel free to share in the future.
Regarding your question. We've long advocated here that if Tressel cannot evolve and join the modern football game than he either must hire an offensive coordinator who can manage the modern game or he must go.
Frankly, Jim Tressel's bowl record is very average, especially his record in BCS games. If you want to look solely at his BCS results, he's an average coach who has been outcoached more than a few times.
Yes, we've talked ad nauseum about his Michigan wins, B10 titles and regular season records. Sure, those things are wonderful but I'm sure you'd agree that college football is more than just winning your conference and beating your arch rival. It's also about national respect and in the end, national titles.
When The Vest proves he can win another national title, maybe I'll back off my assessment, until then ... things still gotta change.
The Rose Bowl win was terrific and will go a long way to removing the "monkey" but, as I said before, there were still too many disturbingly conservative tendencies to make me comfortable that Tresselball has evolved. Clearly it hasn't.
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BigM - nice assessment and I'll be the first to admit I was wrong. I was one of those who felt the PAC10 was a better conference top to bottom than it turned out. I'm guessing the media (and Mark May) will now turn those high powered "intellects" to lambasting the PAC10 and give the BIG10 a little break. That remains to be seen.
After reading your comments, I'm forced to agree that perhaps not as much changed as I'd liked to see. At first blush it certainly seemed the offense opened up a little bit, certainly when compared to the last four reg season games. You'd have to agree that at least that much is true. Nonetheless, I think a more accurate assessment from my point of view is we saw Pryor grow up a little and more to the point, Tressel's trust in TP's ability to execute the playbook took a big step in the right direction.
Yes, absolutely more evolution is required and as I mentioned in an earlier post, there was a pronounced tendency to return to the bad habits of Tresselball as soon as things got more comfortable. BUT, the Buckeye offense did it's part to win that game, notably they held onto the ball. Yes, the Buck's D is terrific, better than last year's squad if you can believe that and they absolutely kept Masoli in check. However, the best way to beat a high powered offense is to keep 'em on the sidelines and TP and the rest of the O did precisely that.
The game plan worked but I agree completely it won't be enough to beat the likes of an Alabama, Texas, LSU or Florida squad. (With that said, next year is shaping up to be a wide open run for the title. More on that later ...)
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You guys are nuts! I am a lifelong Buckeye fan trapped and surrounded by the enemy in Northern Michigan. I believe Tressel has done a remarkable job and has won far more big games than almost all of our previous coaches. This is an incredible era for Ohio State football and we should all just soak it in. Well over 100 other universities would love to have even a year or two of what Ohio State has experienced this decade. Long live the sweater vest and long live Tressel Ball. Just as a side note, I would love to see Ohio State schedule Boise State for the last open date in 2011-12, October 15th. What an interesting game that would be with a national audience.
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Thanks for contributing. But, as of the last FEW years, he's won 1 single big game (against an over rated team). I do like Tress and the Bucks...but I think it's funny how everyone thinks he's a "Big Game Coach" since they beat the Ducks.
Hopefully, he proves me wrong...but if history is any indicator, he probably won't.
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...one more note about your request to schedule Boise State on their open date, I think they'd schedule St. Ignatius from Cleveland (nationally ranked high school team) before they plugged in Boise St. They like one tough out of conference game at the beginning of the year and then cupcakes from there on out...I agree it would be nice, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
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Once more I see that you have taken a good win and made it an exception rather than the norm. I find it amusing that having a good defense as part of the total package not a solid part of the program. i have read many of that what has been bitten on this site and the analysis is flawed but you are entitled to do so. Amazingly those who dis agree with any thought are not quite worthy of the great OZ here.
How does Nick Saben win Defense, Tress el wants to control the ball and the line of scrimmage he does that for most games. Are there times we all hope he will take the chance yes, but he will do so when he feels it is to his advantage not to his demise. Pryor still makes mistakes but we tend to forget he was not brought up to be a QB in fact he was a RB until his coach figured he was the biggest man on the filed. Read his comments from his press conf. Then you may have a better understanding of the person. He is developing into a QB as he did not come to OSU as a QB but as a runner.
Tressel ball is about defense and dominating the line. That may be old school but it wins games. He opens it up when he has too, and from reading any coaches defense of OSU it is always the same make Pryor pass as he can not do so, Well now maybe he can. A coach and a player may have connect on the same page as to one understanding his ability and the other on how to us it.
Fire Tressell, hope he stays here would be more like it.
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