Tressel talks Meyer, regrets – Ohio State (Rivals)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An announced crowd of 105,899 was on hand to witness Ohio State’s 26-21 win over Michigan on Nov. 24. Among those who watched the final game of the Buckeyes’ 12-0 season from inside of Ohio Stadium was the last coach to bring a perfect record to Columbus.

As fans rushed the field following the OSU victory, Jim Tressel was surely reminded of the scene that he helped create a decade earlier, when the Buckeyes beat the Wolverines to seal a 13-0 regular season record en route to the 2002 national title. In attendance to celebrate the 10th anniversary of that team, Tressel was carried off the field on the shoulders of former players in-between the first and second quarter of the 2012 team’s season finale.

But unlike Tressel’s second team at Ohio State, head coach Urban Meyer’s first wasn’t able to translate a perfect regular season into a national title shot. And for that, Tressel is at least partly to blame.

That’s because in a scandal that led to his resignation in the spring of 2011, the 10-year OSU head coach allegedly withheld information that he was aware of in regards to a tattoos-and-cash-for-memorabilia scandal involving members of the Buckeyes’ 2010 team. As a result, the OSU program was hit with sanctions from the NCAA that included a postseason ban for the 2012 season and scholarship reductions.

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