Column: OSU fans don't always see how good they have it
http://www.limaohio.com/sports/see_29302___article.html/column_don.html#slComments
October 10, 2008 - 4:37PM
Jim Naveau
COLUMBUS - Did it ever occur to Ohio State football fans that they are spoiled?
They get seven home football games a year and with the exception of the occasional Youngstown State game, those Saturdays are special. They're sort of like getting five or six additional cool holidays, like Thanksgiving, every fall.
OSU fans' favorite team has won 79 percent of the time in the last 15 seasons. One team, LSU, has won more Bowl Championship Series national titles, but no one has appeared in the title game more than their Buckeyes.
It's not this way everywhere. You have to look no further than today's opponent, Purdue, to see that.
Maybe the biggest story line for the Boilermakers this season is that it is coach Joe Tiller's farewell tour. The 65-year-old Toledo native is retiring after 12 seasons at Purdue and 44 years in coaching.
Tiller's Purdue teams have won 85 games and lost 57. They've gone to 10 bowl games in the previous 11 seasons. He ranks No. 1 among Boilermakers coaches in victories.
Like any fan base, Purdue's has its share of Tiller critics. But his 12-year tenure is longer than any other Big Ten coach except Joe Paterno.
By most college football programs' standards, it has been a good run.
But to be brutally honest, an Ohio State coach who won only 60 percent of his games and got his team into only one New Year's Day bowl, like Tiller did, wouldn't have lasted 12 years.
It's good enough at Purdue. It wouldn't be at Ohio State.
Cont..