tOSU vs USC game thread

[Chris]

No I dont because one Pryor will not flounder under this system. Dorsey, Smith, and Bockeman didnt flounder under Tressel and they all are not as talented as Pryor. Did it take him some time to develop those quarterbacks and make them good quarterbacks? Yes, it did. Two because RIGHT now, our quarterback is not mentally capable of making this team a winner against the elite. Is that because of Tressel? No, its because he is still maturing.

Dont get me wrong. I want to see this team win. I will do anything to watch one of my teams lift up a damn trophy. I am real though, and I dont think Tressel's job should be at fault for the lack of winning big games. It will come, it will sometime. We just to need to mature and keep playing OSU football.

When do you draw the line?

 

[Gimme Some Mo]

My thoughts on Tressel:

Put simply, he's a pussy. He never goes for it. He always makes the conservative decision. USC went for it on 4th and short how many times? And they got it every time I believe. We have the biggest fastest QB in the nation and we never go for it. On the goal line we run twice with our RB instead of just letting Pryor sneak it. And then we kick a FG. Those 3 decisions cost us the game. If he runs a Pryor sneak 3 times, he is going to get in one of those times.


You may think this is a knee jerk reaction, but it isn't...... Tressel has been overrated ever since he got here. He has been considered one of the best coaches in the nation, and I truly believe that is a joke. Carrol proved it tonight. We have never really had that great of an offense since he has been here because he plays so conservative. Even the year we won the National title, the offense should have been much better with all of the talent they had. Every game that season was still very close because of Tressel's style of play.

The famous saying is true when it comes to Tressel: He plays not to lose, instead of playing to win.

My thoughts on Pryor:

He should have gone somewhere else that would play to his strengths. I don't know if it is him or the coaching though. Tonight he could have run a lot of times for positive yards and he decided not to and instead threw an incompletion. I think he could have easily ran in a TD on one play but he threw an incompletion instead.

Tressel just isn't using him right, IMO. He should be running the ball more, more options, etc.

But even with that said, Pryor missed a ton of wide open receivers tonight. I have never been impressed with his arm though. I don't see Pryor turning into a good pro QB unless he makes some drastic improvements over the next 2 or 3 seasons.


Lastly, this is why I have never been a big college football fan. The rest of the season is over now. I honestly don't care if we make a Bowl and win. If your not winning the National Championship, it doesn't matter. Now it is just over. The rest of the games have NO meaning at all to me. The only way it has meaning is if you are someone who will be like oh woohoo we won the Big Ten!! YAY!!

Give me an 8 team playoffs, and I will actually care about college football.

Props to OSU defense and the rest of the team tonight though... Tressel and Pryor blew it for you guys.

 

[3 Da Hard Way]

i have faith in Pryor being able to throw the ball....idk if it hasn't been coached to him enough yet or it just hasn't sunk in

Troy needs to come to town and show him something

 

[blank964]

My thoughts on Tressel:

Put simply, he's a pussy. He never goes for it. He always makes the conservative decision. USC went for it on 4th and short how many times? And they got it every time I believe. We have the biggest fastest QB in the nation and we never go for it. On the goal line we run twice with our RB instead of just letting Pryor sneak it. And then we kick a FG. Those 3 decisions cost us the game. If he runs a Pryor sneak 3 times, he is going to get in one of those times.


You may think this is a knee jerk reaction, but it isn't...... Tressel has been overrated ever since he got here. He has been considered one of the best coaches in the nation, and I truly believe that is a joke. Carrol proved it tonight. We have never really had that great of an offense since he has been here because he plays so conservative. Even the year we won the National title, the offense should have been much better with all of the talent they had. Every game that season was still very close because of Tressel's style of play.

The famous saying is true when it comes to Tressel: He plays not to lose, instead of playing to win.

My thoughts on Pryor:

He should have gone somewhere else that would play to his strengths. I don't know if it is him or the coaching though. Tonight he could have run a lot of times for positive yards and he decided not to and instead threw an incompletion. I think he could have easily ran in a TD on one play but he threw an incompletion instead.

Tressel just isn't using him right, IMO. He should be running the ball more, more options, etc.

But even with that said, Pryor missed a ton of wide open receivers tonight. I have never been impressed with his arm though. I don't see Pryor turning into a good pro QB unless he makes some drastic improvements over the next 2 or 3 seasons.


Lastly, this is why I have never been a big college football fan. The rest of the season is over now. I honestly don't care if we make a Bowl and win. If your not winning the National Championship, it doesn't matter. Now it is just over. The rest of the games have NO meaning at all to me. The only way it has meaning is if you are someone who will be like oh woohoo we won the Big Ten!! YAY!!

Give me an 8 team playoffs, and I will actually care about college football.

Props to OSU defense and the rest of the team tonight though... Tressel and Pryor blew it for you guys.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I don't care for OSU but it's stupid that if you lose one game more than likely you aren't going to win the National Championship (even though the last couple of years teams with one or two loses have won the championship).

 

[MDLT]

My immediate reaction: LeBron James - please come back, cannot wait.

 

[di0p]

Ok Ok I may be drunk but these are my thoughts.

I went to OSU the last 4 years so I have witnessed in person a good deal of the the Tressel era. I think he is a great head coach, that being said...

PLEASE HIRE A DAMN OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR.

Ugh.

 

[QuadrupleDouble]

My thoughts on Tressel:

Put simply, he's a pussy. He never goes for it. He always makes the conservative decision. USC went for it on 4th and short how many times? And they got it every time I believe. We have the biggest fastest QB in the nation and we never go for it. On the goal line we run twice with our RB instead of just letting Pryor sneak it. And then we kick a FG. Those 3 decisions cost us the game. If he runs a Pryor sneak 3 times, he is going to get in one of those times.


You may think this is a knee jerk reaction, but it isn't...... Tressel has been overrated ever since he got here. He has been considered one of the best coaches in the nation, and I truly believe that is a joke. Carrol proved it tonight. We have never really had that great of an offense since he has been here because he plays so conservative. Even the year we won the National title, the offense should have been much better with all of the talent they had. Every game that season was still very close because of Tressel's style of play.

The famous saying is true when it comes to Tressel: He plays not to lose, instead of playing to win.

My thoughts on Pryor:

He should have gone somewhere else that would play to his strengths. I don't know if it is him or the coaching though. Tonight he could have run a lot of times for positive yards and he decided not to and instead threw an incompletion. I think he could have easily ran in a TD on one play but he threw an incompletion instead.

Tressel just isn't using him right, IMO. He should be running the ball more, more options, etc.

But even with that said, Pryor missed a ton of wide open receivers tonight. I have never been impressed with his arm though. I don't see Pryor turning into a good pro QB unless he makes some drastic improvements over the next 2 or 3 seasons.


Lastly, this is why I have never been a big college football fan. The rest of the season is over now. I honestly don't care if we make a Bowl and win. If your not winning the National Championship, it doesn't matter. Now it is just over. The rest of the games have NO meaning at all to me. The only way it has meaning is if you are someone who will be like oh woohoo we won the Big Ten!! YAY!!

Give me an 8 team playoffs, and I will actually care about college football.

Props to OSU defense and the rest of the team tonight though... Tressel and Pryor blew it for you guys.

This is exactly why we need to get rid of the BCS. The BCS makes everything irrelevent now. It used to be you were the king if you won your conference and played well in a bowl game. The Rose Bowl was the highest goal to attain for and you didn't feel like a loser if you won a Big 10 championship.

In the old system, you didn't always feel like the season was over because you weren't in the national title hunt.

Tressel does play to not lose as you say. Defense, special teams, and limit your offensive mistakes and you will make your opponent lose. It's kind of ridiculous for us to think we'll be contenders every year, when we've only won one in the last 30 or so. It really is good to have a program that's at least in the mix every year, and that is a testament to Tress.

Where's Michigan right now? They were once a national program.

What about Miami, Florida State?

Florida blew until Meyer went there.

You can't win every game and I think we were only favored once in the last losses against the top 5.

I'm impressed with how good the defense was because I didn't know what to expect after the Navy game. Our offense is obviously crap and I don't think we'll be good until next year or if Pryor stays for his senior year.

We couldn't get anyone better if we fired Tressel and it would be stupid to fire him.

 

[Chris]

Having your title hopes dashed in the first three games is not "being in it" but true, we made it there a couple times (and got ass raped and embarrassed) and we've won our conference, too.

I just wish Tressel would pull his head out of his ass and realize we won't win shit against these teams until he adapts rather than sticks to his conservative battle for field position.

 

[QuadrupleDouble]

Having your title hopes dashed in the first three games is not "being in it" but true, we made it there a couple times (and got ass raped and embarrassed) and we've won our conference, too.

I just wish Tressel would pull his head out of his ass and realize we won't win shit against these teams until he adapts rather than sticks to his conservative battle for field position.

I know a lot of people on here are younger, but we did win it this decade. I'm 30 and we've only won it once that I know of in my lifetime, but we've had more success under Jim Tressell than we have had under any other coach in my life.

Unless you guys want to hire Cooper or Bruce back?

 

[redscoon]

Where were all those new wrinkles that were going to get tossed in? I mean, we were intentionally playing vanilla against Navy, right? Didn't want USC to get any film on our baddass offense you know.

Is anybody still buying that line of bullshit? There is nothing more. We saw it again tonight. If the running game doesn't work, we have nothing. You just pray for a blown coverage or a spectacular individual effort because we sure as hell aren't going to out scheme any solid defense.

You can't get stop after stop after stop against an elite team and do absolutely nothing with your good field position. You are going to get burned when you basically ask for perfection from you defense. If they have one poor series, the game is lost. That is the point we have reached with Tressel stubbornly dialing up ineffective plays left and right.

He should be forced to give up the reins to the offense immediately and somebody with an innovative mind that can maximize our top notch recruits should be brought in. Enough is enough. When you lose every single game you play against comparable talent, there is clearly a problem. And this problem is so goddam glaringly obvious, it's almost unfathomable that it has not been corrected.

 

[Zog]

Pryor is waaay overrated. How many times have I heard "the great QB, Terelle Pryor"? He is not a great QB, he's a great open-field runner. Pryor should move to WR, he'd make the opposing secondary cringe in fear. Randy Moss-like.

Tressel sucks. The one time he is aggressive is right before half, with a lead, and he decides to air it out and Pryor throws a couple of bad passes, and USC gets the ball back. Also, the use of TO's in the second half was terrible.

 

[PIP]

Pryor is like Vince Young.. the one that plays for the Titans..

 

[QuadrupleDouble]

I can't even defend his play calling this game, or most of the last losses, but his job would have been easier if we could run the ball a little.

Tressel didn't do us any favors today, but I would have like to see our offense execute a little. This game would have been totally different if we could just run the ball a little bit. Our O line wasn't making holes for the backs or Pryor and that's a key to Tressel's offense. Grinding it out and only passing when you have to. The problem is, we always had to pass and Pryor isn't going to be successful doing that against one of the top teams in the country at this point in his career.

 

[DougHeil]

I feel a tad bit better after sleeping. I've read many articles from Plain Dealer writers and other bloggers, etc. It seems MOST of them are die-hard excuse mongers. I've never read so many excuses for a team who just cannot win the big one. I guess this loss last night is a "moral" victory? I guess this is suppose to "help" our reputation around the country? Are you kidding me? If anything, I would think this gives the critics MORE reasons to laugh at Ohio. The game sucked. Period.

I did find ONE writer from Canton who seemed to nail things from my point of view. He wrote it as he saw it. I totally agree with this article:

http://www.cantonrep.com/sports/x2028879802/Todd-Porter-Tressel-never-went-for-the-knockout-vs-USC

Todd Porter: Tressel never went for the knockout vs. USC
By Todd Porter
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Sep 13, 2009 @ 12:55 AM
COLUMBUS —

When Ohio State players arrived at their lockers before Saturday night’s defining moment against No. 3 USC, each player found a sheet of paper in his locker. On it was that player’s number and a list of former great Buckeyes who wore it.

That wasn’t what got their attention. It was the question at the end.

“Can you contribute to the legacy of this number?”

Terrelle Pryor, wearing No. 2 the same as three-time All American Mike Doss and Cris Carter, almost did his part. Brian Rolle, wearing No. 36 just as Chris Spielman did, almost did his part.

One by one all the way down Ohio State’s roster, the Buckeyes almost did their parts to add to the legacy of their individual numbers. In one of the biggest games in Ohio Stadium history — a game to regain respect or lose what little the Buckeyes had left — Ohio State had a chance to slay the beast.

Instead, Jim Tressel opted to poke it and run, doing just enough to annoy USC, but not put it down. In the end, he left the door open — and the Trojans marched through for an 18-15 win.

Ohio State didn’t get blown out, but moral victories don’t make anyone feel better. Not Saturday night, when the Buckeyes were so close to being perched where it once stood.

Tressel challenged his players to add to the Ohio State legacy and then seemed to coach scared with a lead. The Buckeyes weren’t outplayed on the biggest stage as much as they were outsmarted and outcoached.

Pete Carroll coached like he believed all along the Trojans would win.

“We just didn’t come up with enough of the things you need to do to win a ballgame like that,” Tressel said. “You need to score more than five points in the second half, and they came up with plays on that last drive when they needed to, and so they go home with the spoils.”

Tressel coached like he was playing with house money.

“They have an arsenal of everything,” defensive tackle and co-captain Doug Worthington said. “They have offensive linemen that come in and play right away. They have quarterbacks who are freshmen. Pete Carroll reloads all the time.”

Then Worthington uttered the phrase that would stick with the Buckeyes all week. He remembered the movie “Gladiator.”

“Whatever they bring at us, we have to stick together,” Worthington said. “Like the gladiator said, whatever comes at us out of those gates we stick together.”

The actual line from the movie came when Maximus said, “Whatever comes out of these gates, we have a better chance of survival if we work together. Do you understand? We stay together, we survive.”

Tressel coached like he was the hunted rather than the hunter. Tressel nursed a five-point lead like a newborn infant.

He’ll be haunted by a decision he made in the fourth quarter. Tressel never went for the knockout.

In the middle of that quarter, he turned his nose at a 53-yard field goal that would have given the Buckeyes an 8-point lead and placed another chip on Carroll’s shoulder.

Kicker Aaron Pettrey has drilled five field goals in his career of 50 yards or more and the 53-yarder was a yard shy of his career best.

Tressel punted. He coached safe. Carroll gambled. His offense converted 3-of-4 fourth-down plays.

“I suppose in hindsight ... we could have taken a shot at the long field goal there at the end to put it to eight,” Tressel said, the look on his face saying he, too, second-guessed the decision. “The thinking there was if we didn’t make it, we didn’t want to put our defense in that situation, and we thought we’d be better served to punt it way down there, which (Jon) Thoma did a great job all night down there. We didn’t finish the job.”

Carroll practically dared Tressel to kick the field. Ohio State took a delay of game penalty on purpose to give Thoma more room. Carroll declined it.

Tressel had a brief conversation with Pettrey. He still declined to kick the field goal. Carroll declined the penalty because he knew Tressel is Fox News and USC coaches like MSNBC.

In the end, Tressel wanted to save his defense from being a tough spot — like 21 yards of field position would have made a difference — when that’s the unit he could afford most to be put in a tough spot. Ohio State’s defense nearly won that game.

The offense looked confused with 61 ticks left and about 35 yards needs for a game-tying field goal.

“We have a long way to go,” running back Dan “Boom” Herron said.

USC had the ball 86 yards away from the end zone and needed a touchdown with 7:15 left in the game.

Carroll never flinched. He knew all along how it would end.

Painfully, predictably, so did Ohio State.

That's exactly right.

 

[Fursdon]

Honestly, Pryor the choke artist is more of the problem. Too many meatheaded moves, and apparently after 2 off seasons, he still doesn't know how to throw. Wonderful. Whoever said earlier he needs to be a receiver has a good idea, because he ain't a QB.

Maybe Tressel is conservative (yes, time for some apologistnest here) because Pryor cannot execute what he wants him to do? Why do people not cite where he does go for it on 4th down and his team whiffs, like last week against Navy? (Who then scores on a 70 some yard touchdown pass the next play...)