Deconstructing: The grisly demise of 'Tressel Ball' Deconstructing: The grisly demise of 'Tressel Ball' - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports Read more at the link, pretty good read. There's no sugar-coating this: Jim Tressel and his staff were outcoached against Southern Cal and Pete Carroll, . Again. Particularly on offense, Ohio State's gameplan against the Trojans was utter rubbish, and it failed to meet the number one requirement of every gameplan: put your players in position to succeed. When I watched the game live, I was struck by what I considered poor playcalling and mediocre execution. But after watching the game again in detail, going over replays and studying all the players, I'm convinced the situation in Columbus is nearly hopeless. For all the talk of Tressel's buttoned-down, conservative approach, and how his teams don't make mistakes, the most basic and fundamental errors permeated throughout Ohio State's offensive plan like cancer in its late stages, and the only conclusion I could draw from this game is that Tressel -- whatever he may be as a motivator, a recruiter, a teacher of technique or as a disciplinarian -- is not up to the challenge of leading his team past others that equal his in talent. He 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.
In all seriousness, I've often wondered if Ohio State only really CARES about winning the Big 10. They build their team to do what it takes to win the Big 10, but that style of play won't work against the elites. Are they happy being the big fish in their little pond? :geaux:
I blame the loss to USCw last Sat. solely on Tressel. He is ultra conservative and his unwillingness to roll the dice from time to time on minimal risk down and distance situations cost his team the game. There was the 4th down inside the 1 when he elected to kick the FG instead of going for it and a couple of other similar plays like that. Playing not to lose almost always results in a loss.
You just look over on that sideline in big games, even when they are winning and know somehow they will lose. They had the talent to beat USC but not the coaching.
Gottfried on espn radio discussed the long-term effects of this yesterday. Said that Pryor does not fit Tressell-ball, and you can bet that when he's back home, Pryor will be throwing Tressell under the bus for not using him right. In Gottfried's opinion, Pryor will never reach his potential under Tressell, and this will hurt OSU in recruiting in the long haul. Anyone think he's right? I think he's overstating it with the recruiting comments, and probably on Pryor bad mouthing Tressell as well.
Tressel's history in big games of late is well documented... he's lost... and he's lost with unimpressive game plans and conservative calls. He is what he is... and deserves the scrutiny. tOSU certainly doesn't lack for talent. Then, for the purpose of conversation, there's Pryor. As a starting quarterback, he's lost three games (his first start was against Troy in 2008)... @ #3 PSU 13-6, a bowl game loss to # 3 Texas, 24-21, and to #3 ranked USC, at home, 18-15. There's one hellava lot of quarterbacks who would have also lost these three games. I seriously doubt if Pryor had gone to West Virginia, VT, or any other option team other than Florida... that he would have had any better success. This is on Tressel, not Pryor, imo.
