An Open Letter to Jim Tressel

The game's in Ann Arbor this year. And why is everyone jumping back on the Wolverine bandwagon after TWO games?! Jesus people. It's a long season. A lot can happen between now and then. Either way, I still like our chances. If it's one thing The Vest knows how to do, it's beat the Maize and Blue!!!

Relax, read what he said... 'Michigan might win easily'. Which also means 'Ohio State might win easily' as well. Not much of a prediction there... ;) :rolleyes:


Sandra
 
The announcers kept talking about how Carroll has never lost to a Big 10 team. Made me wonder for bit, has Tressel ever beaten an SEC team?
 
3. Just a brutal job by Tressel giving away three points at the end of the first half. Up 10-7, it would have meant so much to go in with a lead at halftime. 1:20 left, USC has no timeouts, and Tressel has Pryor throw two high risk passes into double coverages, which wind up with incompletions, giving USC a chance to tie the game at halftime...and they did. I'm not saying they shouldn't have thrown the ball, but do it in a controlled way which still eats time off the clock if it doesn't turn into a big play for OSU.

Think those three points weren't important? That end of half drive also gave Barkley the confidence do to it at the end of the game too. Other than those two drives, the kid didn't do much.

Also important were the 4 points he 'likely' gave away by playing Tressel-ball and kicking the field goal on 4th and goal at the one. Especially after USC had already converted a 4th and goal for a score.
 
I think this guy nailed it.....

[Tressel] is not good enough of a tactician to win against the national elite who, unlike practically everyone he schemes against in his conference, have the talent to match Ohio State’s, and those are the only games where coaching really matters. With his facilities, talent, and resources, winning the Big Ten is not the test. … Yet the saddest part about the Buckeyes’ 18-15 loss to the Trojans is that, for the first time in the last few tries against similar opponents, the Buckeyes were not outplayed. That’s what made Saturday night’s performance almost disgusting: OSU’s players played a hard, fast and determined game; the crowd in Columbus seemed nothing short of unreal; and the pomp and majesty of playing there more than drowned out USC’s exotic traveling road show, known to transform opposing stadiums into home venues. No, this loss falls squarely on the coaching staff.

Deconstructing: The grisly demise of 'Tressel Ball' - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports
 
Some thoughts from a USC fan

  1. Let me start by saying that I think both USC and OSU are overrated. Neither deserved their pre-season ranking and neither deserves their ranking today. I would rate both somewhere around #15. I think both teams are capable of being a lot better than they are, but they are both green. By next year, if they can hold on to their talent and avoid injuries, they will be forces to reckon with.
  2. A few of you have said (or implied) that OSU dominated USC until the last drive. I don't think so. In the game I watched, two fairly evenly matched teams were fighting to a near draw, and either team had a good chance to win. The largest margin in the score was seven points, and that only held up for a minute or two.
  3. What tipped the balance in USC's favor? Several things. First, coaching. Tressel played conservatively when he should have taken risks, and at other times took foolish risks. Meanwhile, Carroll took a lot of calculated risks and many of them paid off. Second, I notice that USC's two best drives each happened at the end of a half---conditioning? Third, like SalsaDancer said, the OSU offense is outdated and predictable. So the USC defense didn't have to work as hard as they should have, keeping them fresh. Fourth, Pryor didn't handle pressure well. He hurried his passes and failed to spot open receivers numerous times. Fifth, USC had some good luck going for them, like the punt in the fourth quarter that somehow didn't get blocked even though a Buckeye rusher was all over the ball. Also, McKnight, who is just a fumble waiting to happen, miraculously hung onto the ball throughout the last drive. Sixth, and here I am just speculating, this year's USC team seems to have more emotional maturity than previous teams. After only two games I can't be sure of that. But in both games so far there has been a noticeable lack of childish behavior leading to stupid penalties and careless turnovers. If they are more mature, that had to help them not wilt in the face of the Ohio crowd.
  4. OSU fans shouldn't get too excited about the fact that this game was close. It doesn't necessarily mean OSU has gotten a lot better. It could just be that USC has gotten a lot worse. Also, the home versus road thing does make some difference. I know OSU lost a lot of good players to graduation. But USC's losses were huge! This year's USC team is a lot worse than last year's, athletically speaking. Both last year's Trojans and the team from two years ago were vastly more talented than this year's team. Both of those teams had a lot of experienced seniors (and in some cases juniors) who went on to the NFL as high draft picks. But those two teams were immature. They had the mentality of overconfident schoolyard bullies and their foolishness caused them to let down against inferior opponents. I am hoping that this year's Trojans are different. The first two games have given me hope, but there is a long way to go. Next week USC plays the weakest team in the Pac-10. They ought to win by 60. We will see.
 
  1. Let me start by saying that I think both USC and OSU are overrated. Neither deserved their pre-season ranking and neither deserves their ranking today. I would rate both somewhere around #15. I think both teams are capable of being a lot better than they are, but they are both green. By next year, if they can hold on to their talent and avoid injuries, they will be forces to reckon with.
  2. A few of you have said (or implied) that OSU dominated USC until the last drive. I don't think so. In the game I watched, two fairly evenly matched teams were fighting to a near draw, and either team had a good chance to win. The largest margin in the score was seven points, and that only held up for a minute or two.
  3. What tipped the balance in USC's favor? Several things. First, coaching. Tressel played conservatively when he should have taken risks, and at other times took foolish risks. Meanwhile, Carroll took a lot of calculated risks and many of them paid off. Second, I notice that USC's two best drives each happened at the end of a half---conditioning? Third, like SalsaDancer said, the OSU offense is outdated and predictable. So the USC defense didn't have to work as hard as they should have, keeping them fresh. Fourth, Pryor didn't handle pressure well. He hurried his passes and failed to spot open receivers numerous times. Fifth, USC had some good luck going for them, like the punt in the fourth quarter that somehow didn't get blocked even though a Buckeye rusher was all over the ball. Also, McKnight, who is just a fumble waiting to happen, miraculously hung onto the ball throughout the last drive. Sixth, and here I am just speculating, this year's USC team seems to have more emotional maturity than previous teams. After only two games I can't be sure of that. But in both games so far there has been a noticeable lack of childish behavior leading to stupid penalties and careless turnovers. If they are more mature, that had to help them not wilt in the face of the Ohio crowd.
  4. OSU fans shouldn't get too excited about the fact that this game was close. It doesn't necessarily mean OSU has gotten a lot better. It could just be that USC has gotten a lot worse. Also, the home versus road thing does make some difference. I know OSU lost a lot of good players to graduation. But USC's losses were huge! This year's USC team is a lot worse than last year's, athletically speaking. Both last year's Trojans and the team from two years ago were vastly more talented than this year's team. Both of those teams had a lot of experienced seniors (and in some cases juniors) who went on to the NFL as high draft picks. But those two teams were immature. They had the mentality of overconfident schoolyard bullies and their foolishness caused them to let down against inferior opponents. I am hoping that this year's Trojans are different. The first two games have given me hope, but there is a long way to go. Next week USC plays the weakest team in the Pac-10. They ought to win by 60. We will see.

Thanks, we'll make sure we don't get too excited. Thanks for setting us straight on how bad we really are. :rolleyes:


Sandra
 
You think USC and OSU could possibly suffer the hangover effect in their next games?

It happened to Oklahoma State.
I don't think OSU will. They just lost, and will be very anxious to get back to winning ways. USC might have some hangover effect, but it would have to be really huge to cause them to lose to Washington.
 
You think USC and OSU could possibly suffer the hangover effect in their next games?

It happened to Oklahoma State.

Well, to be honest with you, OSU's opponent is a lot tougher than USC's, so the probabilty is better that the Bucks suffer a letdown, although I don't think either will lose.

OSU is playing Toledo next week. Now before someone spouts off, this is a heckuva team this Toledo. They scored 31 against Purdue and 54 in a win over Colorado last Friday. Their QB is the Drew Brees of college football (Aaron Opelt). He threw for 493 yards and 3 TD's against Purdue. 319 yards and 4 TD's against Colorado.

Couple the Rockets high scoring offense with Mr. Conservative (Tressel) and it should be a good game.
 
USC might have some hangover effect, but it would have to be really huge to cause them to lose to Washington.

The last time they went to Seattle, they barely won 27-24 and needed to recover an onside kick to survive.

Also, remember Stanford in 2007, which was actually a week after they edged the Huskies.

Also, after the noise of Ohio Stadium, playing at Husky Stadium will be no cakewalk- just ask LSU.
 
The young players WILL get better, but the thing I do not see changing is the tired 1950 offense with ALL the talent that team has. Some of that offense might work for MOST of the Big Ten, but not against a team that runs almost a pro offense and defense. If USC would have had Sanchez stay and not throwing TDs in the NFL, he would have picked that defense apart and they would have blown out the Buckeyes. They don't give TRUE freshmen complete reins of an offense. Tressell is gonna have to be ALOT more creative and release the those wild horse a little bit and use ALL of their athletic ability....not just some of it.

Ya and if the Buckeye hadn't graduated their entire LB'ing corp and the secondary it would have been a different game too, but they aern't here anymore.

Bucks only have 4 returning starters on O and I think 6 on the D,thats a lot of talent that left.
All they wanted to point out was how much USC had lost, hell thier whole O line was back if I'm not mistaken.

I agree with the antiquated Offense though.
 

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