- When will the nightmare end for Buckeye Nation? The nightmare season continued on Saturday, as the Buckeyes lost at home to the Spartans, 10-7, for the first time since 1999.
Ugly. Disgusting. Pathetic. Heartbreak. Hurtful. The list of words used to describe Saturday night’s debacle in Columbus, would stretch from here to East Lansing – and then some. Last week was a tease. Sure, it was just Colorado, but to be fair, tonight’s performance probably wouldn’t have beaten Colorado last week.
Last week, Coach Fickell was being applauded for finally making the right decision and starting the true freshman, Braxton Miller, at QB. Tonight, we’re left again with an apparent QB controversy.
As I watched the heartbreak unfold before my very eyes, one question came to mind – Why wait until the end of the season to look for a head coach? As soon as the NCAA hands down their punishment, potential coaching candidates will know what they’re up against. Baring a post season ban or any other significant sanctions, the Ohio State head coaching job will once again be a desirable job.
With Ohio State set to square off against three consecutive ranked opponents in a row, the future doesn’t look good for this anemic Buckeyes offense. It’s sad to say, but we’re looking at a possible 3-5 start after the next three weeks.
It’s not so much that Fickell looks overwhelmed anymore, and fans have become accustomed to his questionable decision making. We’ve moved on from the fact that he has absolutely nothing to do with the offense (though he can’t be much worse than Bollman), and it’s becoming clear that the college football world finally got what they wanted – a struggling and tormented Ohio State football program.
No, none of those things tend to bother me anymore. What bothers me now, is Fickell’s demeanor on the sidelines during games. Where’s the fire? the leadership? What does it take for a coach to finally have a fire lit under his ass and demand perfection from his football team?
Each week, millions of Ohio State alumni, future Buckeye hopefuls and Buckeye Nation turn on their television sets to watch what is expected to be a hard fought, fundamentally sound football game. Win, lose or draw, the opponent is going to get smacked in the mouth for 4 Qtrs. and they’re going to know that they just played against one of the premiere college football teams in the land.
But that’s not what happens. Instead, we’re forced to watch an unmotivated head coach, lead a group of unmotivated young men against the best competition in all of college football in the Big Ten. What happened to the whole “us against the world” mentality? So far, nothing has been proven, in fact, the team has confirmed what the media has tried to tell us all along – Ohio State is going to have a down year.
Jim Bollman’s play-calling skills, probably wouldn’t even cut it at the high school level. Even though there’s a clear drop-off in talent between last year, and this year’s team, this is still Ohio State. The name alone brings in some of the best football talent in the entire nation. With proper coaching, talent can win you some ball games. Right now, the players deserve better from their coaching staff.
Once again, Braxton Miller had his confidence shot. Unless there was some kind of injury to Miller (which wasn’t reported), the benching of Miller in favor of Joe Bauserman is not only questionable, but stupid. In my opinion, the way Fickell has handled the QB situation so far, is the equivalent to playing with fire – he’s going to get burnt. Here’s why…
It’s not even that Fickell is going to get burnt, though one could say that the way he’s handled the QB situation so far is more than enough to cost him his job. In the end, Fickell’s decision to play with Miller’s mind, is going to cost both the next head coach – who’s sure to be a big name – and the football program as a whole.
There’s no denying that, with a little coaching, Miller can be a pretty solid QB at the college level. He was one of the nation’s top recruits, and didn’t have to choose to play at Ohio State – but he did. It’s bad enough that the football program faces an uncertain future, but now Fickell has wasted a good year of growth and development for Miller. A year that, under Coach Tressel and without Pryor, could’ve been an okay year, at least, for Miller. I can’t imagine that this is the start Miller had envisioned to his college football career. If Coach Fickell keeps this whole, “you’re turn, his turn” rotation at QB, and I could easily see Miller becoming frustrated, unmotivated, unconfident and in a different uniform. Just sayin’…
I’ve likened this current Ohio State football situation, to that of a previous Ohio sports heartbreak. One that, in all reality, is still fresh in the minds of Ohio sports fans everywhere – the LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers Situation – to an extent anyway.
When James left the Cavs, the team went from a threat to play in the NBA Finals, to the top pick in the NBA draft. Say what you will about James, but he single handedly made the Cavaliers relevant on one of the nation’s biggest sports stages. The Cavs were relevant not only in America, but all across the world. Without James, Cleveland was left with a season where booing James was more entertaining than what was on the floor.
However, when James broke the City of Cleveland’s heart, team owner Dan Gilbert at least tried to ease the pain, and had the backs of Cavalier fans everywhere. He was just as angry as the fans, because he was just as passionate about the team. A season full of “could’ve beens” and “should’ve beens” played out before the eyes of Cavs fans everywhere. In place of success, fans were left with millions of “what ifs” to dream about as an alternative to watching their once proud basketball team.
Following one of the biggest scandals to rock a college football team since the “Pony Express”, Buckeye Nation was left without their beloved head coach, and five of the best talents in all of college football. Unlike the Cleveland situation, however, the drop off in talent wasn’t expected to be as noticeable. Even without Coach Tressel and the “Tat-5”, Ohio State still had top-notch talent at every position. Like it or not, Ohio State was still going to be a force in, at a minimum, the Big Ten.
That hasn’t been the case so far in Columbus and, in fact, it doesn’t appear that it’s going to get any better any time soon. When Coach Tressel left the Buckeye football program, so did the team’s heart, soul and undoubted leader. More a father figure than a coach, the players are now forced to look to a man who, 1) has never been a college head coach, 2) doesn’t look much older than most freshman, 3) has seemed to buckle under pressure, and, after today, 4) doesn’t appear to be anymore motivated to coach the team, as the players appear to want to play for him. Simply put, there’s no leader for the Ohio State football team, who, by the way, is extremely young, to look-up to.
Many of us have never, and will never, have the talent to play at a proud program like Ohio State, but by God we dream about it. Every Saturday in the fall, the dreams of Buckeye fans both young and old, are lived through the 18, 19 and 20 year olds that are fortunate enough to wear the Scarlet & Grey.
When the scandal hit Columbus around nine months ago, we were just as shocked as the players, media and the rest of the college football world. When the severity of what had happened began to sink in, we struggled with the reality of the situation, but we remained true to our team. We knew that this season wasn’t going to be easy, but we didn’t expect it to be this hard.
We are Buckeye Nation, and many of us will be Buckeyes until the day we take our last breath. Even though it has become extremely difficult to defend our team, most of us will. The Buckeyes have struggled before, but have never stayed down for very long. We (Buckeye Nation) know that sooner, rather than later, Ohio State is going to be great again, no matter what the NCAA throws at us.
Just, please, Coach Fickell, show some fight. Some determination. Some want to, and desire to be in the position you’re end. If the pressure has become too much, step aside, and let someone who can handle the job have a shot. (Just take Jim Bollman with you).
And to the Buckeye Defense, thank you for playing your hearts out.
Go Bucks!
