JimsSweaterVest
Retired!
Some of you may have heard that tOSU football went through a bit of a "slump" between January 2007 and September 2008, marked by 3 "big-game meltdowns." Over the months, many of you on here, on other forums and blogs, in the media, and in Buckeye Nation at large have tried to give a well-founded diagnosis of what was going on. Here are some of the reasons that stuck in my mind. These are reasons we can see with hindsight, not excuses. None of them alone is responsible for what happened, but together they may explain a lot of it.
Sorry for not crediting the sources for each, as these were accumulated in my mind over the course of many months. I'm not saying I agree with all these, and there may well be others, but hopefully this can get a discussion started, without the doom-and-gloom naysayers bemoaning the death of Buckeye football and telling us how badly we "suck" and how Tress is the "worst D1 coach ever."
Possible reasons for the slump:
1. Sub-optimal recruiting following the 2002 national championship: Recruiting was not at its very best in 2003 and 2004. The class of 2003 mostly withered away (Kirk Barton being a shining exception). Recruiting was hurt by the specter of Maurice Clarett, and incidents like the infamous "$500 handshake" (so beloved of Vulvarine fans) helped other coaches convince potential recruits and their parents that shady happenings were going on in Columbus.
2. The coordinators: We lost Mark Dantonio, who was the last tOSU coordinator to get a head coaching position elsewhere. Jim Bollman became (titular?) OC, and Tress assumed play-calling duties. As far back as 2004, the media have Herbie calling on Tress to relinquish play-calling and hire a new OC. Unlike other elite programs, Tress' coordinators were not being snapped up to head coaching positions elsewhere, raising doubts about just how desirable they are to other schools.
3. Tresselball: defense, special teams, punt, play not to lose, conservative play-calling, "frozen 1950's coach," yadda yadda. In addition, the much-ballyhooed "spread" seemed on the rise (we can thank DickRod's rookie year at Meatchicken for taking some of the luster off this snake-oil gimmick), and Tresselball seemed unable to stop it, especially against Florida.
4. The Debacle in the Desert: an overconfident, uninspired team got beat pretty bad. Some players got fat off the awards circuit (and from eating too much in AZ), rested on their laurels, took the opponent lightly (and they have SEC speed, mind you!), were looking ahead to the NFL, etc. Hubris gave way to humiliation. The younger players on that team took a psychological hit.
5. The ESPN Hatefest: ESPN's business interests conflicted with the launch of the Big Ten Network, so they took out their anger on the Big Ten's major power, and plumbed hitherto-unreached depths in the deep seas of bad sports journalism. This may have hurt morale on the team.
6. The weak Big Ten: As much as we love our conference brothers, for the most part they have been going through some rough times. They did not offer the Buckeyes too many challenges on the field, and the Buckeyes had little opportunity to learn how to "deal with adversity" and "come back from behind" in conference play.
7. Replacing Troy Smith with a "one-dimensional" quarterback: We may not have had much choice at the time, and Todd certainly earned his starting position, but tOSU offense would have benefited from a dual-threat QB, especially considering #11 below.
8. The regression of Todd Boeckman: After winning at Penn State, Todd's performance seems to have regressed through the Illinois game, the LSU game, and the USC game. If you go back to read the threads from the USC game on here, many of you pointed out how shaken he was.
9. The BCS Mess: The 2007 Buckeyes were supposed to be having a "rebuilding" year. Many talking-heads predicted they wouldn't even win the Big Ten Championship. Yet they overachieved, won the conference, and finished their season ranked 7. Not too shabby for a rebuilding year! The BCS mess that followed cornered them into the National Championship game against a much better equipped LSU, and they were set up to lose again, to the mighty SEC. (Remember, people, the SEC have a lot of speed.) There may also have been a sense of "Here we go again." (See #4.)
10. Lessons not learned: The LSU loss was a loss to a better team, but it was also marred by many mistakes on our part. The lessons from that game were clearly not learned between January and September 2008.
11. The OSU offense struggled. The O-Line could not protect Todd in the pocket. Todd was getting sacked too often. It sometimes felt as if Beanie Wells WAS the Ohio State offense. Not having him in the USC game hurt us (as did not having Teddy against Florida). (BTW did I mention SEC speed? Remember folks that the SEC got speed!) While not scoring an offensive touchdown against USC can be attributed to the great USC defense, not scoring one against Purdue is an indicator of a struggling offense.
These are all the reasons I can think of so far. Feel free to correct any mistakes, voice your opinions, or add some more to the list.
Now on to reasons why I think the slump is over:
1. Jim Tressel: You can't say enough good things about him, as a coach, as an educator, as a father-figure to his players.Tressel is building up this program for the long-term. He runs a good program, has a solid focus on academics (His players even had MATH camp this year!), and with a more open and imaginative playbook, he may re-invigorate the battered image of Tresselball.
2. Our players (for the most part) are good kids, on and off the field. They are not a bunch of thugs, or sanctimonious hypocritical preachers. It doesn't hurt that they're also very good football players!
3. Recruiting is going very well. Our incoming recruiting classes are ranked high.
4. That new quarterback guy. Enough said!
5. All (or almost all) the guys who were at the Debacle in the Desert (which started this whole thing) are gone. Any psychological left-overs from that game are no longer on the team. The team is new and fresh.
6. The Fiesta, while still a loss, was the most exciting bowl game of the season, down to the last minute! It proved we can compete with anyone and restored a lot of respect to the program.
Now is the time for the new TP-led team to heal, learn the lessons of this season, especially the USC game, and prepare to face the Trojans in Columbus in September. A win will be huge, but if the Trojans are still superior, then a loss with honor will do.
I am very optimistic that the slump is over now, and that bright days are ahead for Buckeye football.
Sorry for the very long post.
Sorry for not crediting the sources for each, as these were accumulated in my mind over the course of many months. I'm not saying I agree with all these, and there may well be others, but hopefully this can get a discussion started, without the doom-and-gloom naysayers bemoaning the death of Buckeye football and telling us how badly we "suck" and how Tress is the "worst D1 coach ever."
Possible reasons for the slump:
1. Sub-optimal recruiting following the 2002 national championship: Recruiting was not at its very best in 2003 and 2004. The class of 2003 mostly withered away (Kirk Barton being a shining exception). Recruiting was hurt by the specter of Maurice Clarett, and incidents like the infamous "$500 handshake" (so beloved of Vulvarine fans) helped other coaches convince potential recruits and their parents that shady happenings were going on in Columbus.
2. The coordinators: We lost Mark Dantonio, who was the last tOSU coordinator to get a head coaching position elsewhere. Jim Bollman became (titular?) OC, and Tress assumed play-calling duties. As far back as 2004, the media have Herbie calling on Tress to relinquish play-calling and hire a new OC. Unlike other elite programs, Tress' coordinators were not being snapped up to head coaching positions elsewhere, raising doubts about just how desirable they are to other schools.
3. Tresselball: defense, special teams, punt, play not to lose, conservative play-calling, "frozen 1950's coach," yadda yadda. In addition, the much-ballyhooed "spread" seemed on the rise (we can thank DickRod's rookie year at Meatchicken for taking some of the luster off this snake-oil gimmick), and Tresselball seemed unable to stop it, especially against Florida.
4. The Debacle in the Desert: an overconfident, uninspired team got beat pretty bad. Some players got fat off the awards circuit (and from eating too much in AZ), rested on their laurels, took the opponent lightly (and they have SEC speed, mind you!), were looking ahead to the NFL, etc. Hubris gave way to humiliation. The younger players on that team took a psychological hit.
5. The ESPN Hatefest: ESPN's business interests conflicted with the launch of the Big Ten Network, so they took out their anger on the Big Ten's major power, and plumbed hitherto-unreached depths in the deep seas of bad sports journalism. This may have hurt morale on the team.
6. The weak Big Ten: As much as we love our conference brothers, for the most part they have been going through some rough times. They did not offer the Buckeyes too many challenges on the field, and the Buckeyes had little opportunity to learn how to "deal with adversity" and "come back from behind" in conference play.
7. Replacing Troy Smith with a "one-dimensional" quarterback: We may not have had much choice at the time, and Todd certainly earned his starting position, but tOSU offense would have benefited from a dual-threat QB, especially considering #11 below.
8. The regression of Todd Boeckman: After winning at Penn State, Todd's performance seems to have regressed through the Illinois game, the LSU game, and the USC game. If you go back to read the threads from the USC game on here, many of you pointed out how shaken he was.
9. The BCS Mess: The 2007 Buckeyes were supposed to be having a "rebuilding" year. Many talking-heads predicted they wouldn't even win the Big Ten Championship. Yet they overachieved, won the conference, and finished their season ranked 7. Not too shabby for a rebuilding year! The BCS mess that followed cornered them into the National Championship game against a much better equipped LSU, and they were set up to lose again, to the mighty SEC. (Remember, people, the SEC have a lot of speed.) There may also have been a sense of "Here we go again." (See #4.)
10. Lessons not learned: The LSU loss was a loss to a better team, but it was also marred by many mistakes on our part. The lessons from that game were clearly not learned between January and September 2008.
11. The OSU offense struggled. The O-Line could not protect Todd in the pocket. Todd was getting sacked too often. It sometimes felt as if Beanie Wells WAS the Ohio State offense. Not having him in the USC game hurt us (as did not having Teddy against Florida). (BTW did I mention SEC speed? Remember folks that the SEC got speed!) While not scoring an offensive touchdown against USC can be attributed to the great USC defense, not scoring one against Purdue is an indicator of a struggling offense.
These are all the reasons I can think of so far. Feel free to correct any mistakes, voice your opinions, or add some more to the list.
Now on to reasons why I think the slump is over:
1. Jim Tressel: You can't say enough good things about him, as a coach, as an educator, as a father-figure to his players.Tressel is building up this program for the long-term. He runs a good program, has a solid focus on academics (His players even had MATH camp this year!), and with a more open and imaginative playbook, he may re-invigorate the battered image of Tresselball.
2. Our players (for the most part) are good kids, on and off the field. They are not a bunch of thugs, or sanctimonious hypocritical preachers. It doesn't hurt that they're also very good football players!
3. Recruiting is going very well. Our incoming recruiting classes are ranked high.
4. That new quarterback guy. Enough said!
5. All (or almost all) the guys who were at the Debacle in the Desert (which started this whole thing) are gone. Any psychological left-overs from that game are no longer on the team. The team is new and fresh.
6. The Fiesta, while still a loss, was the most exciting bowl game of the season, down to the last minute! It proved we can compete with anyone and restored a lot of respect to the program.
Now is the time for the new TP-led team to heal, learn the lessons of this season, especially the USC game, and prepare to face the Trojans in Columbus in September. A win will be huge, but if the Trojans are still superior, then a loss with honor will do.
I am very optimistic that the slump is over now, and that bright days are ahead for Buckeye football.
Sorry for the very long post.
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