ESPN (A bunch of Death-Spiraling maroons)

[scott91575]

I don't mean it as "feel good".
I mean coaching THAT team to 7 wins is an impressive coaching job.

nobody thought that roster was good enough to win that many games.

OSU roster on the other hand IS good enough to win at least 10 games.
so winning 11 or 12 is probably better than expected, it is within range of what Urban was SUPPOSED to do.

I don't hand out awards for doing your job at or around the level you should be at.

You do realize Penn State was not bad coming into this year and would have been considered one of the favorites in the division prior to players leaving. I would bet most would have penciled them in for 10 wins. They lost their kicker, starting RB, and a starting WR (the rest were backups, Freshman, or role players at best). You really think those players were worth 4 or more wins? I thought Penn State would probably win 6 or 7 games. That is what they have done.

What changed everything is when they got beat by Ohio and Virginia. Then all of sudden people thought Penn State would be a 2 win team. Yet last time I checked they had the same coach for those games. I guess dropping a couple of turds to start the season in order to completely lower expectations is the key to coach of the year.

 

[tsteele316]

You do realize Penn State was not bad coming into this year and would have been considered one of the favorites in the division prior to players leaving. I would bet most would have penciled them in for 10 wins. They lost their kicker, starting RB, and a starting WR (the rest were backups, Freshman, or role players at best). You really think those players were worth 4 or more wins? I thought Penn State would probably win 6 or 7 games. That is what they have done.

What changed everything is when they got beat by Ohio and Virginia. Then all of sudden people thought Penn State would be a 2 win team. Yet last time I checked they had the same coach for those games. I guess dropping a couple of turds to start the season in order to completely lower expectations is the key to coach of the year.

it's called the kirk ferentz plan.

 

[ScriptOhio]

I feel validated in my decision to eliminate SportsCenter and all that other BS from my viewing schedule. I am flabbergasted that people watch anything that involves Skip Bayless or Stephen A. Smith.

There is some programming on ESPN that I actually like (besides live games), i.e. PTI, Mike & Mike, Outside The Lines, NFL Pregame, College Gameday, The Sports Reporters, etc.: however, the Bayless & Smith show is NOT one of them.

 

[ScriptOhio]

it's called the kirk ferentz plan.

I do think Ferentz is a decent coach; however, he has a real recruiting disadvantage at Iowa. There aren't a lot of top D1 level talent coming out the the Iowa high schools and he is competing with Iowa State for what good players they do have. Basically he has to go into states like Ohio and offer scholarships to players that Ohio State doesn't want or doesn't have room for (i.e. the leftovers).

 

[Buckeye86]

I do think Ferentz is a decent coach; however, he has a real recruiting disadvantage at Iowa. There aren't a lot of top D1 level talent coming out the the Iowa high schools and he is competing with Iowa State for what good players they do have. Basically he has to go into states like Ohio and offer scholarships to players that Ohio State doesn't want or doesn't have room for (i.e. the leftovers).

That doesn't explain 2009.

Big Ten Conference First Team (Coaches and Media)

Iowa: G Dace Richardson, T Bryan Bulaga, TE Tony Moeaki, DL Adrian Clayborn, LB Pat Angerer, DB Tyler Sash, DB Amari Spievey

Ohio State: G Justin Boren, S Kurt Coleman

Big Ten Conference Second Team (Coaches and Media)

Iowa: DB Brett Greenwood, T Kyle Calloway, LB A.J. Edds, WR Derrell Johnson-Koulianos

Ohio State: RB Brandon Saine, DL Thadeus Gibson, DL Cameron Heyward, LB Ross Homan

So that's 11 first and second team all-conference players for Iowa to 6 for Ohio State. Almost twice as many.

Results that year.

Ohio State: 11-2 (7-1), Big Ten champs, losses to Southern Cal and Purdue, beat Iowa head-to-head. Defeated Oregon in the Rose Bowl, finishing the season ranked 5th in the country.

Iowa: 11-2 (6-2), losses to Northwestern and Ohio State, defeated Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl finishing the season ranked 7th in the country.

Iowa had better players in 2009 as unanimously agreed upon by league coaches and media. Ohio State had better results, including head to head.

Kirk Ferentz, 2009 BTCOY.

 

[BB73]

I don't mean it as "feel good".
I mean coaching THAT team to 7 wins is an impressive coaching job.

nobody thought that roster was good enough to win that many games.

OSU roster on the other hand IS good enough to win at least 10 games.
so winning 11 or 12 is probably better than expected, it is within range of what Urban was SUPPOSED to do.

I don't hand out awards for doing your job at or around the level you should be at.

The over/under for PSU's wins at the start of the season was between 5.5 and 6 games. They started out badly in September, and it looked for a while like 3-9 was very possible. But if he ends up 7-5, they really only won 1 game more than expected, and I estimated that they had a 1-in-3 chance of winning at least 7 games before the season started. PSU.vBet

tOSU's over/under for wins at the start of the season was around 9, and I estimated that they had a 3% chance at going 12-0. tOSU.vBet

And it's a helluva lot harder to get a team from a 9-win season to a 12-0 season than it is to take a team from a 5-or-6-six win season to a 7-win season. If tOSU and Wisconsin win this weekend, those will be the numbers.

Finally, if Urban Meyer doesn't win COY this year at tOSU, he'll never win it unless they finish the year #1, because from now on the preseason expectations most years will be 10 or 11 wins prior to the postseason.

 

[ScriptOhio]

I do think Ferentz is a decent coach; however, he has a real recruiting disadvantage at Iowa. There aren't a lot of top D1 level talent coming out the the Iowa high schools and he is competing with Iowa State for what good players they do have. Basically he has to go into states like Ohio and offer scholarships to players that Ohio State doesn't want or doesn't have room for (i.e. the leftovers).

That doesn't explain 2009.

Big Ten Conference First Team (Coaches and Media)

Iowa: G Dace Richardson, T Bryan Bulaga, TE Tony Moeaki, DL Adrian Clayborn, LB Pat Angerer, DB Tyler Sash, DB Amari Spievey

Ohio State: G Justin Boren, S Kurt Coleman

Big Ten Conference Second Team (Coaches and Media)

Iowa: DB Brett Greenwood, T Kyle Calloway, LB A.J. Edds, WR Derrell Johnson-Koulianos

Ohio State: RB Brandon Saine, DL Thadeus Gibson, DL Cameron Heyward, LB Ross Homan

So that's 11 first and second team all-conference players for Iowa to 6 for Ohio State. Almost twice as many.

Results that year.

Ohio State: 11-2 (7-1), Big Ten champs, losses to Southern Cal and Purdue, beat Iowa head-to-head. Defeated Oregon in the Rose Bowl, finishing the season ranked 5th in the country.

Iowa: 11-2 (6-2), losses to Northwestern and Ohio State, defeated Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl finishing the season ranked 7th in the country.

Iowa had better players in 2009 as unanimously agreed upon by league coaches and media. Ohio State had better results, including head to head.

Kirk Ferentz, 2009 BTCOY.

If you look at Iowa's recruitment classes over the past several years, they never seem to have a top 10 class. Iowa has at lot of 2 and 3 star guys. My point is that Ferentez does a good job of developing a decent/competitive B1G team with many of these guys.

 

[Poe McKnoe]

I think there's a reason we don't see "Coach of Year" language included in coaches' contractors. It's nice to have it on the resume, but in the end, it really doesn't mean anything.

 

[Buckeye86]

My point was; if you look at Iowa's recruitment classes over the past several years, they never seem to have a top 10 class. Iowa has at lot of 2 and 3 star guys. My point is that Ferentez does a good job of developing a decent/competitive B1G team with many of these guys.

I thought the award was Big Ten coach of the year, not Big Ten coach over the span of each player's career so that we can judge them on how well they develop their talent.

In 2009 Iowa had better players and worse results than Ohio State, and yet Ferentz still won COY.

The system is an absolute joke as has been pointed out a million times. I'm not sure why I felt compelled to rehash just a few of the reasons why it is a joke right here right now.

Fuck M*ch*gan.

 

[MaxBuck]

Completely agreed. When Ron Zook, Ron Turner and John L. Smith each individually have as many Coach of the Year awards than Jim Tressel, John Cooper and Earle Bruce COMBINED...there's something wrong with your process.

Not really. COTY is awarded only to coaches who exceed expectations. When your expectations are to win all the games you play, how is it possible to meet the criterion?

One of the great things about having coaches who never win "Coach of the Year" awards, while winning the conference title each year -- you know you have the actual coach of the year.

 

[Wingate1217]

Even better, they (Cornheiser and Wilbon) were debating whether or not it would be "ok" for him to bolt for the NFL after just one year at Ped State.

How sweet would that be????

And they also talked about OSU and would they vote them (OSU) #1 after the smoke clears and assuming we take care of business. The resulting conversation was "no, because they cheated."
First of all I don't consider selling your own stuff for tats cheating and second what does that have to do with this year's team? They can't go to a bowl and league championship game, but this year's team didn't cheat and is winning fair and square on the field.
I don't get the difference in distinction (coming from the media) where it is okay to "piss on" the Buckeyes and their players, but give Penn St. and their players a free pass. Ok, not free but less scrutiny and scorn. Maybe if Penn State was undefeated... I see there coaching staff doing something far worse than JT yet it is kind of swept under the rug....
okay rant over.....I am back on my meds....

 

[Nutriaitch]

Except that Meyer took over a 6-7 team and has them at 11-0 with minimal contributions from true freshman. These are the same players as last year, but have improved that much. He didn't walk into a situation with a team coming off of a 10-win season.

last year's 6-7 season wasn't a typical 6-7 type season.
last year y'all had a coach who wasn't supposed to be the coach, using players that wasn't quite ready yet, an was still supposed to waiting their turn behind veterans.

now this year, y'all have a coach who is actually a head coach.
and those players who weren't quite ready last year are now maturing into what they should be, one of the better rosters in the B1G (nation?).

You do realize Penn State was not bad coming into this year and would have been considered one of the favorites in the division prior to players leaving. I would bet most would have penciled them in for 10 wins. They lost their kicker, starting RB, and a starting WR (the rest were backups, Freshman, or role players at best). You really think those players were worth 4 or more wins? I thought Penn State would probably win 6 or 7 games. That is what they have done.

at those positions? yes I did think they were worth several games.

the lack of a dependable big WR is hard to overcome.
no one knew going in that sophomore with a whopping 3 career receptions would step in and exceed what Brown did last year.

and then lose your best RB who had close 1000 more yards than anyone else on your team is HUGE.

this wasn't LSU's rb situation where we constantly rotate 5-6 guys giving them all quality touches all year long, so losing 1 isn't a backbreaker. This PSU where they fed one guy and gave a few other people spot carries to relieve him, and losing that 1 guy is HUGE.


and that kicker? having a good kicker is usually worth at least 1 game a year by himself. everyone has at least 1 close game (usually several) every year.
and at the end of the game, you're either thankful your kicker came through, or wishing you had a kicker.
the Virginia loss this year was the game that with a competent kicker, they win.


FACTS! EVIDENTS!

 

[Zurp]

Give me Tressel over Ferentz any time. I'd imagine that no one would trade single conference champion trophy for a bucket of CotY badges.

 

[scott91575]

last year's 6-7 season wasn't a typical 6-7 type season.
last year y'all had a coach who wasn't supposed to be the coach, using players that wasn't quite ready yet, an was still supposed to waiting their turn behind veterans.

now this year, y'all have a coach who is actually a head coach.
and those players who weren't quite ready last year are now maturing into what they should be, one of the better rosters in the B1G (nation?).




at those positions? yes I did think they were worth several games.

the lack of a dependable big WR is hard to overcome.
no one knew going in that sophomore with a whopping 3 career receptions would step in and exceed what Brown did last year.

and then lose your best RB who had close 1000 more yards than anyone else on your team is HUGE.

this wasn't LSU's rb situation where we constantly rotate 5-6 guys giving them all quality touches all year long, so losing 1 isn't a backbreaker. This PSU where they fed one guy and gave a few other people spot carries to relieve him, and losing that 1 guy is HUGE.


and that kicker? having a good kicker is usually worth at least 1 game a year by himself. everyone has at least 1 close game (usually several) every year.
and at the end of the game, you're either thankful your kicker came through, or wishing you had a kicker.
the Virginia loss this year was the game that with a competent kicker, they win.


FACTS! EVIDENTS!

First of all, no effing way those players are worth 4 games. Anyway, I will make it simple. They have won only 2 games where they were the dog going in, @ Iowa (1 point dog) and @ Illinois (3 point dog). They lost one game where they were favored (obviously Ohio). That means PSU 1 game not expected from the odds, and they were not much of an underdog in 2 games where they got the upset.

 

[BuckFan38]

now this year, y'all have a coach who is actually a head coach.
and those players who weren't quite ready last year are now maturing into what they should be, one of the better rosters in the B1G (nation?).

You dont see any resemblance there?
As you say, we have a good coach this year and suddenly the players mature and are one of the best teams.
You dont think them maturing had anything to do with Urban Meyer?
If Fickell were still Head Coach you think we would be 11-0?

I understand, high ranked recruits should make really good teams...which they do...which is why JT didnt get COY every year.

This year is different....
Yes we have high ranked players, however last year was a disaster. Thats the kind of season which can 'regress' even highly ranked players.
Teams do not come from...one of the worst seasons in history...to one of the best in history...simply because the team matured by itself.
You had better believe Urban Meyer had to mold the maturity and mentality of this team every step of the way. Why do you think he got to know the seniors?
They were foundation, which this historic team were built on.

Urban Meyer = Coach of the Year!
As someone else said, If he doesnt win it this year...he never will.