Ohio State Ranked 6th in College WR Schools

Yesterday I posted about a story highlighting the top RB schools of all time.  Today Pete & Richard followed up that article with the top WR schools of all time which include 6 Big Ten schools out of 20 with 4 of those being in the top 10.  Michigan ranks #1 according to them with the Buckeyes coming in at #6.  Here’s the excerpt regarding the Buckeyes:

There was a time when Ohio State was a pure power running program with Woody Hayes more likely to wear maize and blue than to throw a forward pass. That was a long time ago. Ohio State has cranked out some of the best receivers in college football over the past 30 years with top pro prospects, All-Americans, and a Biletnikoff winner in Terry Glenn. It’s not like the Buckeyes have had a who’s who of all-star quarterbacks until recently; the receivers have simply been that good. How good is this group? Ted Ginn, Santonio Holmes, Michael Jenkins, and Chris Gamble aren’t in the top five.

Ohio State’s fab five …

1. Cris Carter – Carter showed off the hands that would make him an all-time NFL great making highlight reel grabs the norm. He caught 164 passes for 2,725 yards and 27 touchdowns and set a then-Rose Bowl record in 1985 with nine catches for 172 yards and was an All-American in 1986.
2. David Boston – Boston left school after rewriting most of the Buckeye record book catching 191 passes for 2,855 yards and 35 touchdowns highlighted by the game-winning touchdown catch in 1997 Rose Bowl over Arizona State. He was unstoppable even when he was the focus of everyone’s defensive scheme.
3. Terry Glenn – Glenn caught 15 passes for 266 yards and no touchdowns in his first two years in Columbus. And then he blew up with a Biletnikoff Award-winning 1995 season catching 64 passes for 1,411 yards and 17 touchdowns averaging 22.1 yards per grab.
4. Joey Galloway – An All-Big Ten performer on the field and in the classroom in 1993, Galloway used his otherworldly speed to be one of the premier deep threats in college football. He caught 64 career passes for 1,225 yards and 19 touchdowns.
5. Doug Donley – The team’s leading receiver from 1978 through 1980, Donley was a deep receiver averaging 21.2 yards per catch to finish his career on top of the OSU receiving charts with 2,252 yards on 106 catches with 16 touchdowns. Santonio Holmes could be here, but Donley did more in an offense that didn’t throw.

Check out their in-depth top 20 over at Scout.com

College Football ADD: Week 13

For those who don’t want to read full articles

Attention everyone, I have an important announcement to make. The M*ch*g*n at Ohio State game has been cancelled this year. It seems that M*ch*g*n can’t get around Toledo. (Thank you, Shawn Collier)

I love M*ch*g*n Week.  As far as weeks go, I think it narrowly edges out the week of Christmas, the week of Thanksgiving (every other year for the family vacation) and the first week of the NCAA basketball tourney for my favorite of the year.

This weekend just adds to the lore of making fun of that hated state up north.

- At noon on Saturday it will have been 1,826 days since M*ch*g*n’s last win over Ohio State. Here’s to 365 more!

- This season’s 20.5-point spread in favor of the Buckeyes is the largest in the history of the rivalry. It’s opened at 19; who knows what it’ll be by Saturday.

- Last week established the first time M*ch*g*n lost eight games in a season in their 129-year football history. I’m sure the Buckeyes would gladly enjoy making this the first time they’ve lost nine.

- A win on Saturday gives Ohio State their first-ever five game winning streak over the state up north.

So it’s time to gear up for another Beat M*ch*g*n week, full of jumps in freezing lakes, daily singings of “We Don’t Give a Damn” and hopefully yet another Buckeye victory. Go Bucks!

Thoughts on Last Weekend

- What, you want me to elaborate in some profound way that makes last weekend seem important or entertaining?  Not only were the games bad on paper, but they were bad on the field.

Only three Top 20 teams trailed at half (UC and BYU trailed, USC was tied) and only Georgia, LSU, UNC and Florida State were trailing in the fourth (obviously UGA and LSU won).

Mainly, it was a large dose of yawners; players’ mothers were bored watching; luckily we have this weekend to save us.

- Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, you coach at a smart school, so let me throw a big word for a small article out there for you: comeuppance.

Thanks to Coach Harbaugh’s end-of-game tactics (tactics in this article actually means stupidity), you’ll be able to use that word along with “2009” and “Stanford at USC game” in a sentence next season. Leave no doubt, the Trojans won’t forget how that game ended.

- We all are now aware that Steve Spurrier had never taken a beating like he did in the Swamp on Saturday.  More interesting to me is that Spurrier now has four games in four seasons with the Gamecocks in which his team didn’t score a touchdown. That only happened once while at Florida, a 30-6 loss to Mississippi State in Spurrier’s second season in Gainesville.

- Vanderbilt is bowl eligible, congrats.

- Rutgers is still alive! After drubbing South Florida in Tampa, Rutgers is back to an even record for the first time since being 0-0.  I know I’m grasping at straws here, but the opportunity for a 7-5 Big East team to make a BCS game doesn’t come along every day.

- Speaking of the Big East and BCS, bowl projections right now have either Maryland (7-3) or Miami (7-3) playing Cincinnati(8-2) in the Orange Bowl. I wanted to see UC in a top tier bowl this season, but man, what a terrible top-tier game this would be

And to recap, the Orange bowl has given us Kansas vs. Virginia Tech, Louisville vs. Wake Forest and Penn State vs. 8-4 Florida State. That was after the 55-19 National Championship embarrassment USC put on Oklahoma in 2005.

In other words, I haven’t really enjoyed an Orange Bowl in some time; I’m pretty sure most of the country hasn’t either.

- Seriously ACC, just flip a coin and stop playing the games. Adding to the madness this past weekend, former Coastal Division leader, and assumed front-runner North Carolina lost to Maryland to lose control of first place for the third time this season.

This was the same Maryland team who was shut out by 5-5 Virginia 31-0. Virginia then lost at Wake two weekends ago, but Wake followed that victory with a loss on the road to N.C. State.

However, N.C. State lost to Duke the same weekend Virginia was dumped by Wake, and Duke was just knocked off by Clemson this past weekend.

Clemson, amongst other losses, was beaten by Georgia Tech in their first game without Tommy Bowden back in mid-October, while GT lost to VaTech all the way back in September.

VaTech lost this past Thursday Night to Miami, but Miami had already been beaten by rival Florida State, who just lost to B.C. on Saturday.

And that, my friends, is how you link all 12 ACC teams together in one big circle. It didn’t take nearly as long as you’d think.

- Division III Mount Union finished their regular season last weekend a perfect 10-0 record, the 15th time in 17 seasons they’ve accomplished that feat.  Mount scored 40+ points in all but one game (a 33-3 nailbiter over No. 10 St. John Fisher), and didn’t win by fewer than four TDs all season. They enter the D-III playoffs as the unanimous No. 1 team.

In case you hadn’t heard about D-III Mount Union, that’s just a taste of how good they are, every season.

- I have absolutely no power to decree such a thing, but I’m asking that this happen regardless.  If you are attending a football game (or any sporting event actually) between Team A and Team B, and some d-bag fan shows up wearing clothing supporting Team C, fans of both teams A and B must unite to unmercifully berate and chastise said fan C until he either changes or leaves.

I saw a man wearing an Iowa sweatshirt on the coverage of the Ohio State/Illinois game. I saw a man wearing a Steelers coat on the Monday Night Football game between Cleveland and Buffalo. Through the years I’ve seen various forms of retarded fans doing this when I go to Ohio State games; it must stop now!

- We may witness a second-coming of the depressing grunge rock era if Washington’s football teams don’t turn around. A 3-28 record between Washington, Wazzu and the Seahawks makes me wonder what the Pacific Northwest did exactly to make the football gods mad.

All of that bad, and yet the Wazzu faithful continue to keep alive one of the coolest under-the-radar traditions in all of college football each Saturday morning at ESPN’s Gameday.

Football theme grunge band names for the new era: Hasselbeck in Chains, Tyrone-ic Youth, Stone Temple Dobas, and my favorite, Temple of the Husky.

- And in my weekly watch of the stupidity that is the college football polling landscape, two AP Poll voters now have Florida as their No. 1 team. One Coaches’ Poll voter and one Harris Poll voter has them there as well.

I get it; Florida looks really good right now. They’re playing great. But they have this one little thing called a loss at home to 6-4 Ole Miss. Until ‘Bama or Texas Tech lose, the Gators do not belong at No. 1. That’s final; end of discussion.

So, little happened last weekend except serve as an appetizer for our palate this Saturday. Well…I can deal with that.

Last Week’s Picks

Hits

VaTech(+4.5) over Miami – VT only lost by 2

Northwestern (+3.5) over M*ch*g*n

Oregon (-4) over Arizona

The Over on O/U 79.5 in the Tulsa/Houston game

Florida (-21) over South Carolina

Cincy (-6) over Louisville

Texas (-21) over Kansas

Misses

Florida State(-7) over B.C. – so I made that pick before the five WRs were suspended.

Georgia (-8) over Auburn – that’s two pathetic UGA games in a row. And they’re makin’ me look bad!

The Under on O/U 71.5 for Nebraska/K-State – the game hit 84 pts.

Oklahoma State (-17) over Colorado – Ok State won by 16

7-4, same record as last week.

Thoughts on this Weekend’s Events

- So ESPN has the rights to all the BCS games starting in 2011.  You tell me that, but all I hear is the possibility of Dave Pasch and Andre Ware doing a major bowl game and I instinctively move to the fetal position.

- I’m not a huge conspiracy theorist, but this is something I’ll be watching for ESPN over the next few seasons. I don’t know if a college football playoff system will be implemented before 2011, or what sort of financial impact that could have on ESPN’s deal. But if it does affect it, I bet you see less and less coverage and talk about a playoff on the Worldwide Leader.

If that annual “ESPN Playoff” they do every December before the start of the bowls disappears, it would be my first indication.

- If he was standing on the other sideline, what would the records be? That’s the question I’ve decided is the most intriguing for the Ohio State/M*ch*g*n game. If Pryor would have signed with the state to the north, how much impact would there have been?

What would’ve happened in a Boeckman season? Could Pryor have worked the same magic as a freshman for M*ch*g*n as he’s done for OSU? It’s interesting to ponder in my opinion.

- You call it a Holy War huh?  I’m listening…not watching because I have other games, and better games to watch that don’t involve the state of Utah duking it out, but I’ll read about it on Sunday.

- Will the ride continue for the Beavers in Tucson? Arizona and Willie Tuitama put up 45 on Oregon State’s Civil War partner Oregon last weekend…but their defense subsequently allowed 55 points.

- Tennessee is a three-point underdog at Vandy this weekend.

- Ball State had its closest MAC contest of the season last week at Miami (OH), only winning by 15. They’ll be playing top two other MAC teams over the next two weekends in 8-2 Central Michigan and 9-2 Western Michigan. And they’ll continue to drop down the BCS.

- If Crabtree doesn’t score that touchdown against Texas and thus Texas Tech enters this weekend’s game with one loss, what’s their line at Oklahoma?  Right now, the Sooners sit seven-point favorites. I think that line would be near 20 if Tech had lost. And here’s to hoping the Red Raiders keep on proving “them” wrong.

- The Miami Hurricanes spent 107 consecutive weeks ranked in the AP poll from 1999 until the Sept 17, 2006, poll. This week marks the first time they’ve been ranked since, as they come in at No. 23. They still aren’t ranked in the Coaches’ or Harris Polls.

This Week’s Big Ones

The Game

M*ch*g*n at No. 10 Ohio State

My column, my bias. Sorry.

Outside of these two states, this game means as much as the Harvard/Yale game this season. But to me, it’s still that a**-hole Desmond Howard striking a pose, it’s David Boston and Charles Woodson coming to blows, it’s Will Allen making the leaping interception that sent Ohio State to the 2002 National Championship.

It’s cursing the name of Tshimanga Biakabutuka, it’s refusing to wear any clothing that combines yellow and blue, it’s reliving Woody and Bo, it’s forgetting John Cooper and Shawn Springs’ “slip.”

For all who were a part of a college experience that included a major rivalry like this, you all know what this weekend is like in Columbus. At 9-2, we aren’t going to the big dance this year (I know, about half of you just said “thank God”), so this is our BCS Championship Game. F-M*ch*g*n and bring on the 2008 Big Ten Champion Ohio State Buckeyes!

No. 2 Texas Tech at No. 5 Oklahoma

This is “the game” which happens to fall on the same weekend as “The Game”. My apologies to Big XII fans everywhere.

I’m not going to say too much different than what you’ll hear all week from talking-head nation. Oklahoma can’t outshoot the Red Raiders; they have to find a defense somewhere. Tech held Texas to its second-lowest score of the season then turned around to hold Okie State to its lowest.

I want to believe the Red Raiders win this game, but in Norman, under the bright lights for the third time in four weeks…I have to go against Crabtree and Evelyn (Evelyn doesn’t really play for TT). Sooners by 10.

No. 15 Michigan State at No. 8 Penn State

It’s been a long, long time since Penn State lost itself a game at home to Michigan State. So long in fact that the last time it did happen, 1965, JoePa wasn’t presiding over the sidelines at the foot of Mt. Nittany.  Paterno’s first season was 1966.

Ohio State fans, what I’m sayin’ is, don’t hold your breath. I take the Spread HD and their -14.5 line all the way to Pasadena.

Other Conference Games I’m Watching

ACC – Florida State at No. 25 Maryland

How much of a revolving door have the poll rankings from No. 20 to No. 25 been this season? Nine of the 12 ACC teams have been ranked at some point this season, with Miami and Maryland now joining the crowd.

Maryland has beaten four ranked teams this season, which would mean something except only one of those teams is currently ranked.

Seriously, I could go all day with the random oddities about the ACC. There’s millions.

Big XII – Iowa State at Kansas State

This is the only Big 12 game this weekend besides the TT/Oklahoma tilt.

Yeah.

Big East – No. 20 Pittsburgh at No. 18 Cincinnati

It’s the biggest game of the year for both teams. If UC wins, it would all but clinch the Big East title (UC only has one conference game left, vs. Syracuse), while a Pitt win gives them control of their own destiny with two conference games left.

And yet Cincy fans will be torn between going to this night game at Nippert Stadium or driving up I-75 forty-five minutes north to see Cincinnati Elder battle Pickerington Central in the Division I State Semis.

You think I’m joking? UC football isn’t exactly the traditional powerhouse and we all know the Bengals are terrible. High school football is the only hope for a winning team in town.

I’d take Pitt +5 to cover, but not to win.

Big Ten – Illinois at Northwestern

If the Purple Kitties win, they could be playing in a New Year’s Day bowl, and subsequently keep Illinois from playing in a bowl, period.  After the non-ferocious fight they put up against the Buckeyes two weekends ago, and subsequent punting contest vs. M*ch*g*n last weekend, I’m gonna think that probably won’t happen.

Take Illinois -3.

Pac-10 – Washington at Washington State

The Apple Cup has never seen a match-up like this before. Although 1969’s battle of 1-9 teams comes close, this game is just going to be horrendous on the eyes.

SEC – Ole Miss at No. 18 LSU

You want the definition of the Cialis Special again? It’s not getting up for a game after a major letdown from the week before or before a big game the following week. LSU just suffered the biggest Cialis Special of the season, nearly losing to Troy.

Ole Miss has lost their four games by a combined 19 points, and just handled a Sun Belt school the way an SEC school should – by beating them 59-love.

I’m taking Ole Miss and Jevan Snead +4.5 over “Pick-6-R-Us” Jarrett Lee.

My Top Ten

1.)    Alabama (11-0)

2.)    Texas Tech (10-0)

3.)    Texas (10-1)

4.)    Florida (9-1)

5.)    Oklahoma (10-1)

6.)    USC (9-1)

7.)    Penn State (10-1)

8.)    Utah (11-0)

9.)    Ohio State (9-2)

10.)   Boise State (10-0)

Quick Picks (HOME TEAM IN CAPS)

Ball State (-7) over CENTRAL MICHIGAN

Washington (-7.5) over WASHINGTON STATE

Air Force (+18.5) over TCU

Boise State (-6) over NEVADA

RUTGERS (-17.5) over Army

Lines I’m Staying Away From

All ACC, Notre Dame or Georgia games.

Tulane (+28.5) at Tulsa– you want a team that just lost by 40 to turn around and win by 4+ TDs?

Stanford (+9) at Cal – Rivalry game theory.

Iowa (-5) at Minnesota – Seems almost too easy to take Iowa with how Minnesota is playing these days…I don’t like that feeling.

Thus concludes my M*ch*g*n Week A.D.D. Happy Mirror Lake jumping and Go Bucks!

As always, please tip your wait staff, they don’t make that much, seriously. I am spent.

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Two-Man Roundtable: What If Edition

1. If you could script the remainder of Ohio State’s season, what would it look like?

Poe McNoe: Beat Michigan and win a bowl game. Northwestern isn’t in Ohio State’s league and this isn’t 2004. Illinois is a toss up for me because bad Juice Williams torched us last year and good Juice Williams has been shining this year. Sure, Illinois isn’t a complete team, but they are athletic and dangerous and could very well beat Ohio State (see 2006 and 2007).

Michigan blows. Their fans know it, our fans know it, and even Toledo fans know it. They should have a singular win, over the MAC’s Miami. Let’s face it. Michigan should be able to line up and gain 3.5 yards every down and beat Toledo.

If Ohio State were to lose to Michigan this year, it would be gloom and doom for Ohio State’s 2008 season. Mass casualties all around. Grey skies and we wouldn’t even be able to remember the seniors’ names. I’m not kidding.

Unfortunately, it could happen unless OSU shows offensive life and learns how to stop the spread-lite. Michigan doesn’t have a bad defensive line (thus greater than Ohio State’s offensive line). Our defense played lights out against Penn State, but everyone forgets how to tackle in big games.

Win the bowl. I don’t care which bowl it is. It doesn’t matter. If you win a bowl game, things are already looking up for next year. You could win the Meinike Car Care Bowl and that earns you respect in this day in age.

Not only does it help the team, but it helps the Big Ten. Michigan’s Capital One Bowl victory over a 4 loss Florida team helped. But then again, hope Penn State doesn’t get blown out in the championship.

Massey: Finish 10-2 and beat an SEC team in a bowl game. The traditional part of me wants to see the Buckeyes travel to Pasadena and win the Rose Bowl, but I also have a strong desire to excise the SEC demons. In some ways, my script would be written for this season, but designe for the future.

I would also script the extra practices during bowl preparations to include convincing Beanie to return for his senior season, searching for new coordinators, and learning to run the read-option offense. There is so much for the OSU offense to work on that they need to run two-a-days for all of December.

Finally, I would leave the recruiting exactly as it stands, which is to say no one de-commits.

2. If you could change one thing about the entire OSU program, what would it be?

M: Coordinators is very close to the top of my list, but what I really want is the swagger to return. My favorite player in the last 20 years is David Boston. Why? Because he talked a good game and played a better one.

Sure, he received taunting penalties and was probably using steroids the entire time, but he made Ohio State mean. With the exception of 2006, I cannot think of one Tressel offense the struck fear in an above-average defense.

I really think Pryor can bring that swagger back. Beanie could not do it, partly because he is always getting injured or sick. Even the wide receivers have lacked it with the exception of Holmes.

The defense held onto the swagger for a longer period but it disappeared after 2005. Do you remember the Texas game in 2005? The defense was totally badass. Take away Young’s big first quarter run and he had about 40 yards rushing! The Ohio State defense hit him so hard that the Longhorns called timeout in the fourth quarter to let Young get his wits together. Now, that was a defense.

The Buckeyes looked great against Penn State last week, but Vince was not in blue and white.

PM: Offensive and Defensive Coordinators. There, I said it. I still hate Jim Heacock even though he’s obviously kicked some ass, made some changes, and woke up the defense.

Call it his swan song and maybe it can continue until after the bowl game, but Heacock is still partially responsible for Michigan’s 39 points, Florida’s 41, Illinois’ 28, LSU’s 38, and USC’s 35.

How do you fire a guy that’s had one of the top statistical defenses over the past several years? Very carefully. You go hire someone better.

Offensively, Jim Bollman needs to go. How do you fire a guy that doesn’t even call the plays? Well, Jim Tressel calls the plays and no one would dare touch him with a 40 foot pole. That leaves Bollman. It’s not that you’ve been bad, it’s just that we’re not sure what it is that you do.

The offense is forgettable, the offensive line is amongst the worst in the country, and you only offer up plays that Tressel might call. If you get the sense you are expendable, it’s because you are. Ohio State needs an offensive coordinator that doesn’t necessarily need to have the final say in playcalling, but can make Tressel better.

Jim Tressel loves calling plays. It’s what he does. But someone needs to come in and kick the offense’s ass. Fans (and especially fans with money called boosters) don’t like not scoring offensive touchdowns in big games. Tressel is best in close games. He should have a ‘close game’ clause that allows him to assume play calling duties in 10-9 games.

3. If you were Beanie’s personal advisor, what would you tell him?

PM: Take the money and run. Beanie, I wish I could tell you to stay, and maybe you should if a new coordinator comes in. But as it stands with the offense (and the offensive line) and the lucrative rookie contracts that could go away after this year,

Beanie has to cash in and hope he’s ready. It’s all about the money. Sure he’d love to leave Ohio State equal to Archie Griffin, but injuries and poor offensive play have changed that.

Beanie may or may not be ready for the NFL. Adrian Peterson was NFL ready when he left college after an injury. I won’t debate who is better at doing what. Beanie might rumble into the NFL and put up 2000 yards, but he’s going to have to learn to fight harder at the line of scrimmage.

There are a lot of 3.0 YPC backs in the NFL that can’t get through a defensive line or linebackers. When Beanie has holes, he is golden, but he will need to run stronger and harder in the NFL every play, all the time.

But what if Beanie comes back? Beanie was out a few games this year. Then his backup, Boom Herron, was out a few games while Maurice Wells and Brandon Saine cause fans’ hopes to fall through the floor.

If Beanie comes back, it will be those mentioned (minus Mo Wells), Jamaal Berry, Carlos Hyde, and Jordan Hall. I know the term ‘Thunder and Lightning’ will be used for Berry and Hyde, but a backfield with Berry, Terrelle Pryor, and Beanie Wells is a Class 5 Hurricane.

Even Jim Tressel couldn’t stop them. Beanie’s touches might go down, but he production might go up. It’s an interesting proposal.

M: Go pro, young man. This is Pryor’s team and as talented as Wells is he is not built for the shotgun/pony/option offense. It’s the I-formation or bust.

Plus, he is injured far too often to insure that his stock will actually rise during his senior season. He was the top rated running back coming into the season, but I am not sure he still holds that distinction with NFL scouts. He will be one of the top-rated rushers in either the ’09 or ’10 draft so his wisest financial decision is to bolt for the League while the money is still big.

From Ohio State’s perspective, it is hard to argue that they would improve with the loss of Beanie but it may allow the new offensive coordinator to open up the playbook. After all, when you have a player as talented as Wells, you tend to play to his strengths.

Unfortunately, Beanie’s strengths are not completely commensurate with Ohio State’s offensive focus. The 2009 offense now needs to be build around Pryor’s abilities—QB draws, rollout passes, and spread rushing plays—and that will not benefit Beanie’s stats or draft stock.

Herron, Saine, Berry, and Hyde can fill the stat sheet (assuming there is an offensive line) and replicate Beanie’s limited production this season.

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The Roots of Ohio State’s Problems, Part Seven: "Tresselball"

A few days ago, I turned into the Incredible Hulk via print and blasted Ohio State’s offensive performance against the Nittany Lions this past Saturday. Today we’ll continue our multi-series look at problems facing Ohio State, turning our attention to what has been so warmly coined “Tresselball.”

I apologize if some of the thoughts correlate with that previous article, but I’m going to try to dive a little deeper into solutions today rather than angry criticism.

I don’t know about you, Buckeye fan, but I’m almost tired of turning on Ohio State football now. Maybe I’m alone in this—maybe I’m not “a true fan” for saying this out loud—but watching Buckeye football these days is almost a chore.

Of course I watch, because this is the team I grew up watching as a little kid, and deep…DEEP down, I love this team. But by god, if I don’t hate the way this team plays football.

And save it, everyone who wants to hate on this article, because I’ve already heard it a million times…”This is the golden age of Ohio State football”; “Ohio State’s record is blah blah blah and five in the past blah blah years”; “Stop complaining! We’re winning”…and so on, and so on…

I’m not going to stop complaining, because the recruiting prior to 2008 was mediocre, the defensive schemes have been softer than your favorite ice cream, and this “offense” has been, other than 2006, absolutely, positively unwatchable.

This is THE Ohio State University, home of six Heisman Trophy winners, rich tradition, second to none facilities, and some of the best, most passionate, and knowledgeable fans around—and we deserve better than the product that is being put on the field.

The offense we’ve seen ever since Jim Tressel has taken hold of this program is an offense that isn’t built to win football games—it’s built NOT TO LOSE THEM. “Tresselball” is built on running the football, managing, and dominating the clock…minimizing risk.

Well, I’ve got a newsflash for the Ohio State coaching staff. Risk leads to reward, and sometimes you have to risk things to make things happen, because right now, it isn’t happening for this offense. The Buckeyes have been shut out of the end zone offensively in three games this year!

Someone needs to alert this staff that they are coaching at Ohio State and not Omaha State. Ohio State routinely recruits better athletes even in an AVERAGE recruiting class than probably 90 percent of the rest of the country. The athletes are there to make some plays for you as an offense…but to look at these numbers, you’d never know it.

Total Offense and Scoring Offense from 2003 to this year…

Total Offense                 Scoring Offense

2003 93rd (332 ypg)                 74th (25 ppg)

2004 98th (320 ypg)                 71st (24 ppg)

2005 32nd (422 ypg)                 26th (33 ppg)

2006 26th (384 ypg)                  8th (35 ppg)

2007 62nd (393 ypg)                 31st (31 ppg)

This season 85th (372 ypg)                 67th (25 ppg)

My questions to Jim Tressel would be, when are you going to trust your athletes to go out and make plays for you? When are you going to start mixing up your play calls? Maybe the best question of all would be, when are the people who sit at home NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO CALL PLAYS FROM THEIR COUCHES?

Guess what, Mr. Tressel: If Joe Schmo the plumber can figure out what offensive plays you’re going to call, I’m pretty sure Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, and Bob Stoops are gonna have a hint too.

Do you honestly think other top college programs and head coaches aren’t aware of those numbers above as well? Do you honestly think they don’t use these numbers and the philosophy against the Buckeyes in trying to pull in the best of the best in offensive talent?

I know for a fact that it cost us Fred Davis and Dwayne Jarrett right off the top of my head. Cordale Scott was the most recent that I could think of that chose Illinois over the home state Buckeyes because the Illini offense was viewed as more “dynamic.”

Look no further than the lack of talent in the upperclassmen at the wide receiver position to see that “Tresselball” has hurt recruiting. To put it in perspective, this is the alma mater of David Boston, Terry Glenn, Joey Galloway, Cris Carter, Demetrius Stanley, Dee Miller, Michael Jenkins…great wide receivers.

No offense to Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline, but can you think of a weaker WR tandem than this combination at Ohio State in recent memory? Ohio State or not, wide receivers are cocky playmakers, and they want to go where they know they are gonna touch the football and get into the end zone.

Ohio State’s offense is known as a safe ground attack across the country.

“Tresselball” works when you are playing marginal, inferior competition and talent. You can throw your talent out on the field and win with better players.

But when you step up to play the best, you’d better have the offensive athletes to stretch the field, you’d better be prepared to trust the athletes you have to make plays, you’d better be prepared to open the coaching vault up and play call for the opposing coach’s jugular, and you had better be prepared to take chances and risks to GO OUT AND WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME…TAKE THE GAME!

“Tresselball” hasn’t done any of those things, and it’s gotten hammered every time it counts since the 2002 National Championship.

What can Ohio State do to remedy this? Easy…like it or not, Jim Tressel needs to find a young, bright offensive mind from OUTSIDE the program. A young coordinator that will bring in new ideas and philosophies to this coaching staff. A coordinator who will use the Ohio State offensive coordinator position to ADVANCE to a head coaching position somewhere else!

That’s right—coaching turnover within a coaching regime means that you have the best young minds in college coaching on your staff, your program is winning, and other programs want these young coaches for their program.

Florida has that, USC does too, and Texas as well. All of these schools not only have head coaches, but assistants who are young, hungry, and learning everything they can to advance in their profession.

Jim Tressel needs to find this individual that he meshes with and feels can grow that working relationship with—a coordinator that he can learn to trust to focus entirely upon the offense, focus on game planning and game calling, and who is also a good recruiter.

Hopefully taking this step will open this offense back up and improve the recruiting at the wide receiver and quarterback positions on a more consistent basis, though I do give the Buckeyes kudos for the haul of wide receivers they’ve gotten the last two years now—and of course, Terrelle Pryor is Terrelle Pryor.

But this momentum in recruiting needs to continue. Remember that it’s not always the talent that you bring in, but how you use the talent.

I hope that a new coordinator with a new scheme will open up aspects that have been lost on “Tresselball” for seemingly years now. Maybe use the tight end in the passing game, instead of strictly as a glorified offensive tackle? How about a quick slant to the wide receivers? Or even pass routes that cross the middle of the field?

I’ve even been told before that you can put offensive personnel in motion prior to the snap to try to create confusion for a defense and even personnel mismatches in coverage!

All this said, there must be changes THIS offseason. I know Jim Tressel is a proud man, I know he is a good coach, and he is a good man. But the philosophy isn’t working, and the stats I gave you above show as much. This philosophy has affected recruiting certain talent to Ohio State.

This team and these fans deserve to risk for victory, rather than to safely go down in defeat. As the cliché goes, “If you’re going to go down, go down swinging.” You’ve recruited better the last two years, there is more talent forming around this offense…open the playbook, trust your talent, and go down swinging.

As always, thanks for reading…please pass the word on this series and feel free to discuss and leave comments.

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4 Buckeye Nation: Top Game Changing Moment

Buckeye Nation, what do you think is the top 4 game changing moments by a Buckeye Football player?

- Troy Smith’s spinning, touchdown pass to Brian Robiskie against Penn State in 2006 Click Here To Watch It
- Andy Katzenmoyer’s bone-crucnhing hit on Missouri’s Corby Ward in 1997 Click Here To Watch It
- David Boston’s touchdown against Marcus Ray and Michigan in 1998 Click Here To Watch It
- Anthony Gonzalez THE CATCH vs Michigan in 2005 Click Here To Watch It

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Ohio State’s Monster.com Posting: "Will Pay Top Euro for Offensive Coordinator!"

I’m sick…physically ill. If I have to watch the 2008 edition of the Ohio State offense again, I might just vomit all over the computer screen and then hit send, and that will be my article for next week.

WHEW! That felt good to get off my chest. Almost like a good ol’ verbal teaspoon of Pepto-Bismol for the tummy. As a matter of fact, it felt so good, I think I’m gonna drink myself a whole verbal bottle full…

Explain to me, the “common man,” who doesn’t know the true intellect of football, how you can go count ‘em…one…two…three college football games during a singular season without scoring an offensive touchdown?!?!

Better yet, explain to me, the “ignorant fan,” the following numbers out of 120 Division I college football teams…

- 95th in the NCAA in passing offense

- 24th in the NCAA in rushing offense (mind you, this is what Ohio State does AT LEAST 75 percent of the time)

- 67th in the NCAA in scoring offense

- 95th in the NCAA in total offense

- 41st in the NCAA in third down efficiency

- 99th in the country in sacks allowed

Now for the greatest riddle of all: If an offense can’t throw the football, can’t convert third downs, and can’t protect the quarterback…how does it score???

Ah…but it’s a trick question, because if you are THE Ohio State University, you don’t know what the end zone is unless you are the defense and special teams! Because it’s become perfectly clear that this offense can’t find it.

Jim Bollman should be fired IMMEDIATELY…IMMEDIATELY. And they should scour the country to find an assistant coach to try to teach this offensive line how to friggin’ block!

Chris Wells, your preseason All-American tailback, your workhorse…22 carries, 55 yards for a grand whopping total of 2.5 yards per carry! The offensive line got no push, there were no holes, no cutback lanes, nothing…

Alex Boone (6′8″, 316), Bryant Browning (6′4″, 312), Ben Person (6′4″, 323), Steve Rehring (6′7″, 335), Jim Cordle (6′4″, 300), Michael Brewster (6′5″, 295)…Not one player under 295, and you’re gonna try and tell me that you can’t make a hole?

This isn’t just about Penn State: it’s about Ohio, Troy, and USC too. The only thing consistent about this unit all year has been its inconsistencies. When Michael Brewster, a true freshman, is your best offensive lineman among four-year starters and multi-year starting seniors…there is a big problem.

And don’t tell me that the reason OSU can’t run the football is because the Buckeyes aren’t a threat to throw the ball deep. It’s garbage.

Navy leads the nation in rushing annually, and everyone from the opposing head coach to Lil’ Tommy the 10-year-old popcorn vendor in section 146 ZZZ knows it’s coming. But the Naval Academy offensive line, (which by the way, probably AVERAGES about 275 pounds per lineman), are tough, hard-nosed, and disciplined. They know their assignments and they execute them, and they carry out their game plan.

Oh…game plan? Almost forgot! Leads me to my next dose of Pepto…

An offensive coordinator for Ohio State…I think the time has come for the alumni association, the board of trustees, and the fanbase to rise up together and DEMAND one. And NO…I don’t mean a “co-offensive coordinator” like Jim Bollman claims to be. And NO…I don’t mean bringing in some coordinator who is a puppeteer for Jim Tressel.

I’m talking a full-blown, independent, young, energetic, filled with new ideas, offensive coordinator that Jim Tressel can have a good working relationship with.

Because I, along with the rest of BuckeyeNation, am sick to death of an offense that used to have explosive weapons all over the field (Terry Glenn, Eddie George, David Boston, Joey Galloway, Teddy Ginn, Rickey Dudley, Maurice Clarett etc….etc….etc….) and has potential now with DeVier Posey, Lamaar Thomas, Terrelle Pryor, Chris Wells, Brian Robiskie etc….being wasted in the philosophy of “Tresselball.”

This is an offense where our offensive coordinator thinks the most important play in football is the punt! Wrong, Mr. Tressel: The most important play in football is the play that gets you first downs, moves the damn chains, and gets you into the end zone! That’s the most important play in football!

I know I’m angry right now. I also know that this isn’t a nonsensical rant. These are well thought-out sentiments that are being expressed with the hint of “Tresselballitis” that is rumbling from the pit of my stomach.

It may not seem like it from this article, but I’m an Ohio State fan and a Jim Tressel fan. I think he is an excellent leader of young men. I think he is centered as an individual, wise, and offers a great father figure to the players. But I think we are coming to some dead ends as a program.

I’ve been told on many occasions by people “in the know” that Jim Tressel won’t give up play calling duties. Well, I think it’s time for the people above him to make him do just that. If Jim Tressel can’t understand that, is he really still right for this program any more?

A coach has to be willing to adapt. A coach has to be willing to change. If you can’t do that, you risk your program becoming stale. Yes, Ohio State is Jim Tressel’s football program, but he still answers to alumni, to board members, and to you, the fan—and it’s about time we start demanding some change.

There is absolutely no reason this team should be as inept as they are offensively. None…N-O! N-E!…zero, zilch, nada…This team has talent across the board to get inventive, creative, and become explosive.

Ohio State has the talent offensively to be just as prolific as the Texas Techs, Missouris, Oklahoma States, Oregons and Illinois of the world. None of them have “recruited” to the level of Ohio State, so why are they outperforming us?!?!?

Bottom line, stop wasting this team’s offensive talent. Fire Bollman, who can’t motivate this offensive line to block, and open up the world’s largest athletic department budget to hire an offensive coordinator that can help find an offense that, excluding ‘06-’07, has been absent for the past 10 years.

Hell, at least get us into the Top 50 in most offensive categories (I know we’re not like Ohio State or anything). Let’s see what we can do…if that isn’t asking too much.

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