As I read the articles aiming "told you so's" at me and my Buckeyes and skim the comments from college football fans around the country, I see some things that need to be cleared up. So anyone who loves to hate the Buckeyes and their fans let me clue you in on a couple of things.
First, we KNOW our team is overrated. We watched that game too. As a matter of fact, we already knew before the game started. The amount of phone calls into local AM sports talk radio here in Columbus were overwhelmingly siding on the side of "We are going to lose. We are not as good as our ranking." OVERWHELMINGLY! Can I say it any louder. So when people like Mark Kriegel write that "...everyone but the fans who root for Ohio State" were giving Tressel and the Buckeyes alto of heat, he is wrong. (Mark Kriegel MSN.com linked right here) Tressel has been getting heat from Buckeye fans for at least this past week if not the whole off season after the second weak showing at the BCS Title game where our presence was questionably deserved in the first place. No Mr. Kriegel, Buckeye fans understand the over hyped misranking as well.
Secondly, we also know the Big Ten is not very good. We understand that our schedule has been weak. But guess what? Your team does it too. Yes LSU fan for instance. Your team's schedule is poor. At least we played USC and will again next year. Things go in cycles. Take a look at Florida St. See Nebraska. Think about Miami. Don't forget the beloved Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. In fact Miami has come and gone and come again and is now gone again just in my lifetime. They'll be back too. The Big Ten is weak right now. This conference will be back soon enough. In the meantime, OSU will have to hear about it, but don't think as a fan base we are ignorant to the obvious. We are not. Oh yeah, and let's not forget USC was not exactly killing people back in the 90s. They were down for awhile as well. Of course OSU was in the mix back then as they have been for the past several years overrated or not. So while you bask in the limelight of Mark May, ESPN and Hollywood in your backyard, don't forget that OSU consistently finds itself in the top 20 even during down years. Nebraska, Florida St., Miami can't say that. Shoot, I'm not sure Oklahoma and USC can. My facts may need to be checked, but outside of Michigan, not too many teams have more overall wins that OSU.
But I'm getting off my point. Right now, we are not that good. I, and many other Buckeye fans get that. The true fans don't wear blinders and scarlet and gray sunglasses. We see and understand the reality of college football.
Next, not everyone of us digs that overexposed OH-IO thing. We didn't realize it was going to go this far. It is fun for the kids and the fringe fans. But seriously. Those of you getting absolutely sickened by it, same here. We all have our unique college chants, catch phrases, fight songs, mascots and traditions but this one is getting blown out of proportion. I agree it needs to be put to rest for about a decade. Or kept within the confines of Ohio Stadium or whatever bowl game we play in....maybe a tailgate or two.
Finally, your little nicknames for us like "suckeyes" or "luckeyes" are not that clever. Just because you can switch one letter to make a different, derogatory name doesn't make you smart. Much like the OH-IO thing, it is getting old. Whatever positive coolness you got out of it has worn out. It is just sad now. But I guarantee it is going to be thrown about a whole lot over the next couple months so go ahead and get your use out of it but know when something has run its course please. Move on. You can come up with something better. I know you can. Go get 'em haters!
I know you all love to put down other programs. I know how much the common college football fan loves to talk smack and kick a team when they're down. I know it is getting boring to kick Nebraska, Notre Dame, Florida St. and Miami around so you have switched your focus on us, we are fresh and much more "new" and trendy, but understand this: We aren't blind or foolish enough over here not to realize the same things you do. So don't act like we are stupid.
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For the local readers, Bruce Hooley of WBNS 1460 The Fan is a good journalist and see,s like a perfectly nice, intelligent guy. But I rarely see eye to eye with this guy and this morning was no different. After reading an article that stated Mark Sanchez felt as though the Buckeye defense was predictable because they played the same looks they saw in practice and it made things easier on them to score against us, I get in my car and listen to Hooley complain that Tressel didn't stick with the game plan he has used the past 8 seasons or so. What the?!
Granted he was speaking more of the offense but.... For real, what did he think was going to happen if we just ran over tackle all day! Didn't he himself say that last week's vanilla, predictable offense was the reason we struggled with OU? He was really ticked off about constantly switching QBs and blamed that for Boeckman's unending turnovers.
NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is my take:
1)Heacock needs to be fired yesterday. The defense's game plan sucks! Ask Sanchez.
2)When Tressel was switching QBs, the offense moved. In fact it managed to score. With that scheme, the offense marched down for a field goal. Scored a TD taken back by a penalty. And marched down for a missed FG by no fault of the offense.
3)Where I have a problem with Tressel's decision was when HE WENT CONSERVATIVE like Hooley wanted. The second he left Boeckman out there and did that off tackle crap we went nowhere. What was that Hooley?!
4) I have to bring up that 2nd and 22 play call when he ran Boeckman on an option for the third time in the game. I get the decoy, change it up thing but not the thrid time. Not in that situation. What did he really think we were going to get out of that? Either do it with Pryor or don't do it at all. Go with a mid range pass that was usually open at that point in the game. Give yourself a manageable 3rd down play.
5) I don't blame the QB switching for Boeckman's problems at all. He did the same things before when he wasn't switched out. This is just par for the course.
6) I do put some of the blame on the offensive line. T.B. had no time in the pocket. He deserves alot of blame but the additional reasons were not the switching is and out as much as the lack of protection from an overrated line in front of him.
7) I really like Pryor and can't wait to see him as he learns the offense more and begins to mix in more passes. He showed some arm strength that lit up my eyes.
2 comments:
Wow. There's a lot to comment on here (and I'm tired of politics).
I personally think OSU could play with USC. USC is better, but not by as much as the final score would suggest. Beanie Wells would have made a difference, much the same way losing Ginn two years ago in the NC had terrible effects.
With Wells, some of those 2-3 yard gains would have gone for 4-6. He would have beat on the Trojan D, wearing them out after all the clock they would have eaten in the process. This would have kept USC's offense off the field and would have opened up a big play from Wells, Pryor, or the passing game.
The defense played well under the circumstances. USC is a great offense and probably would have scored 2-3 TD's no matter how well they played. There are just too many weapons. The fact that the D did keep OSU in the game with the interception in the end zone, the stop on 4th down, and a scoreless 4th quarter. I bet no other team holds that offense to less than 4 TD's the rest of the season.
As far as the scheme, I have no problem with the scheme. The defense kept USC within striking distance for most of the game. Tressel's scheme involves all three phases of the game in combination. When one phase (like the offense) makes a lot of mistakes, they lose the game. As long as all three parts of the team play mistake-free, they will win the game. I can think of quite a few games in the Tressel era where one of the phases was not extraordinary, but made no mistakes, resulting in a Buckeye win.
The offense made all the critical mistakes. The score should have been 14-14 at half. The O was flagged twiceeach time they entered the red zone. You can't do that and beat Ohio, much less USC.
I don't think this team is overrated. The problem with this season and last is that they have terrible QB play. No team, not even USC, Florida, LSU, whoever could win a NC with Todd Boeckman at the helm. More than any other position, QB determines how good your team is in college football.
Look at Missouri. They are crushing teams and have a legit shot at a NC just because they have Chase Daniel. USC has more 5-star recruits on their roster right now than Mizzou has had in their history. The difference is at QB.
That said, I'm not worried about the defense. Troy will not score 65 next week in the 'Shoe. I am concerned that Beanie might not play for a while, if ever. And I am more than concerned that Todd Boeckman will receive the majority of the snaps for the rest of the year. Either way, OSU should win the Big Ten easily and possibly meet USC in the Rose Bowl again.
Perhaps my comment is more philosophical than sports-related, or maybe it's just a mental health thing, but I think that cycles are a normal part of life.
In fact, I wonder if the powerhouse football teams are going against nature...just as the perennial losers are :)
So - for the sake of our inner peace and enjoyment of life, perhaps it would be good to shake off some of these awful games (my goodness, this year is full of them) and figure that next year will come. Remember when the Patriots were total losers? I still can't believe that people talk about them this way. I need to loosen up my impression and make room for the Patriots as winners.
All that said, I'm celebrating 50 years of watching and cheering for Cleveland sports teams, so I think I know a little bit about what I'm saying.
Insulation. Emotional insulation is a good thing.
Meanwhile, we need to do everything we possibly can to pull off a much more important victory this November, for Ally's sake, and the sake of every child we know. What do you think?
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