Let me give my Stupid Opinion.
What can i say, I may not sound incredibly positive and say "hey great effort though guys! we will still beat michigan!" because that isn't me. This was a serious disappointment, and as much as i absolutely love Tressel and the way he runs that program, I disagree with and I am disappointed in some of the decisions he makes.
First off, allow me to stress how important this game was, not just in terms of National Title hopes, but for the reputation of the University and the Big 10. After the 2 SEC blowouts in our last 2 big tests, It was huge for this team to come out and redeem the program against SC. However, it seemed to me that JT was more concerned about not hurting Todd Boeckman's feelings than he was winning. This situation is too much like the texas game when zwick was our starter. Too many fans probably would have made a better call starting Troy Smith, but Tressel's Tendancy to stay old fashioned had him start Justin Zwick before Troy took over and went on to win the Heisman. College QB is a tough business, and its unfortunate for a lot of talented kids that never get the chance since only 1 man gets the job, but you need to put the guy out there who gives the team the best chance to win, regardless of loyalty or those types of things.
Terelle Pryor got some snaps, and guess what, he looked great. Wow hes fast, faster than he looks with those long strides. In fact, from the start of the game, Terelle was much more effective than Todd. First drive, Boeckman 3 and out, Next drive, Terelle gets in, and we march down the field, until we get to first and 15, then todd takes over and we go 3 and out. Pretty much every drive that didnt involve TP was 3 and out. And pretty much any drive where we moved the ball, TP was involved. TP had more overall yardage than Todd on about half the snaps, not to mention the 3 turnovers. Yet somehow, letting Terelle take a drive himself was out of the question until the game was completely out of reach. The bottom line is, When we were down 21-3 at halftime, thats when its time for coach to say , o.k. Todd boeckman did not get it done for Ohio State, lets see if TP can go win this game. At least show us that you care about winning this game. Instead, we will just throw todd out there for some more of the same as the game slowly gets out of reach. Never was there a sense of urgency, we just let the game pass us by as if it was not even a concern. Give boom 2 runs up the middle and let todd try throwing 1 play and there is your 3 and out. Which brings me to my next point.
Another thing that frustrates me sometimes about JT is that he far too often seems to just throw drives away. Too often we go 3 and out with 3 dull plays. This was the case today. Not to mention the way he plays for the Field Goal when we get into the redzone too often. When we are in the redzone, its almost like we are setting up for a field goal. Not a bit of urgency to get the touchdown EVER it seems, regardless of who we are playing.
It wasn't simply losing, it was the way we lost. The way we have had such a poor showing our past 3 big games, Not only losing, but flat out putting forth a poor representation of how well this team is capable of playing. This team is becoming one that really cannot come from behind. Because once we get behind, we don't make any adjustments, we don't try something different, we stick to our initial gameplan. Like i said before, i love Jim Tressel and the way he runs that program. But after the first half, i think a coach like Urban Meyer or Pete Caroll would know the only chance of winning is sticking with TP for that second half. Instead we go through the motions with the exact same offense from the first half, minus any confidence. What hurts is that in that game, USC never showed us they could stop pryor. I heard that Jim Tressel was stressing the F.U.N. (Fierce urgency of Now) Well, tonight, it sure didn't seem that way.
It hurts because we really do have the ability to compete with these guys, but we just seem to have no gameplan past the first quarter, and once we are down, there is NO urgency what so ever, and then it becomes 2 scores, then 3, as it slowly settles in that this game is over, but with no struggle, no digging into the playbook to see what terelle could do.
Basically, the overall talent level of these seniors, particularly on offense, isn't near the talent/potential of the freshman we have offensively. If the wideouts aren't getting any seperation, lets see what posey can do? If the O-line aren't blocking, [censored] bring in some of the young guys. I think that if they keep working these freshman together as a second unit, they could potentially be better overall than our starting offense by the end of the year (excluding Beanie)
I hate to say it, but now we know how Michigan felt last year to an extent, bringing everyone back for what should be a monster season, and having your title hopes erased oh so early.
And by the way, people who make sarcastic comments like "wow im sure you know better than the coach why don't you coach!" you need to realize that as a passionate informed fan, for me, part of that includes discussing the games/ giving my opinion on the team, so get over it.
