Tressel blames Boeckman for blind-side hit
September 17, 2008
Share your thoughts in the comments section.
COLUMBUS (AP) — What’s brewing today with the 2008 Ohio State Buckeyes …
BUCKEYES BUZZ: It’s an unwritten rule, but one that has been followed for years at Ohio State: Coaches take the blame, they never lay it on their players.
Yet many are criticizing coach Jim Tressel for pointing the finger at QB Todd Boeckman for what appeared to be a blown assignment by a blocker that led to Boeckman getting creamed on a blind-side hit late in the first half of Saturday’s 35-3 beating at the hands of USC.
A reporter asked Tressel on Tuesday: “On the play where Todd was blindsided before half and fumbled, what is the responsibility there?”
Even though Boeckman didn’t even see LB Clay Matthews roll up untouched from the right side of the defense and level him with a massive hit, Tressel made the case that the sack and Boeckman’s subsequent fumble were exclusively the quarterback’s fault.
Tressel explained that Boeckman had assumed that USC was running a defense similar to the one that it had on the previous play.
“He (Boeckman) thought, ‘Oh, he (Matthews) is going to peel off on the back again and he thought, ’OK, I’m safe back here,”’ Tressel said. “(He) took his eyes off of it, and he erred. Now, he knew he erred. When he came off, after he peeled himself up off the turf because he got whacked, he knew exactly the mistake he made.”
TAKING BLAME: Defensive co-coordinator Jim Heacock, by contrast, repeatedly said the coaches were also to blame for a lack of defensive pressure in Saturday night’s rout.
“Probably you can attribute a little bit (of the blame) to everybody. Whenever you’re blitzing, the front has to get there, the back end has to lock them down, and everybody has to do their job. It’s not different than when you play base defense — everybody’s got a job to do,” Heacock said. “All in all, it wasn’t good enough. … We didn’t win enough battles. There’s no question about it. I certainly wouldn’t say the scheme was all that great, either. We can all share in the downside. The guys and coaches realize we have to improve drastically and swiftly.”
COMING HOME: When Tressel came to Ohio State in 2001, he beat out former OSU player and assistant coach and then-Minnesota head coach Glen Mason for the job.
When Minnesota comes to town to play the Buckeyes in the Big Ten opener a week from Saturday, Mason will be a game analyst for the Big Ten Network.
In addition, he’s also been invited to be Ohio State’s honorary captain that week, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He and Tressel were assistant coaches together under Earle Bruce in the 1980s.
Mason did not feel that working the game as a supposed neutral observer while also being asked to participate in one team’s pregame functions put him in an awkward position.
“I don’t think so,” Mason told the newspaper. “Even when I do games like this weekend — I’ve got Penn State against Temple — I still have to be impartial, even though I’m a Big Ten guy.”
MISSING STARTERS: The next time anyone talks about how a team suffers when it loses a lot of talent, consider this: heading into the season, USC replaced its starting QB, leading rusher, leading receiver and four-fifths of the OL, plus three first-round draft picks from the defensive front seven, not to mention a total of 26 lettermen.
Related Stories
Comments
Got something to say?