Tress’ 2nd Guessers
I was standing at the Iowa 35 yard line Saturday during the 4th quarter when I realized it. I was one of them. I was a hater.
More on that in a moment…
I was reading some of the national press following the OSU WIN over Iowa and as expected it was a big pile of angry. The Gregg Doyle CBS Sportsline column spewed pure hate of Ohio State. I thought Pat Forde’s piece on ESPN.com was more fair and clever, but still reeked of “OSU wins despite it’s coach.“
Between the Mark May’s of the world and these columnist guys, you wonder if OSU respect exists among media outside of Columbus. I’m not sure-hey even Herbie’s taking OSU shots these days!
What I’ve come so slowly and painfully to learn is that style counts. It’s like a 4th grade essay question where the teacher writes in “neatness counts”. Sometimes how the answer looks is as important as its meaning… Or more important. Jim Tressel’s won 91 games in 9 Ohio State seasons (I’m not great at math, but that’s like 10 wins per season on average) and in major college football that is a rare find. Yet take the Iowa win and numerous other wins in the Tressel era and you’ll see few wins that didn’t leave some fans grumbling. You can never please all the people all the time, but people… Please!! What do you expect from the man, perfection?
Yup. But “our” definition of perfect.
That brings me back to the Iowa 35 yard line last Saturday. On 3rd and about 7 OSU hands the ball off between the guards and loses yards, to be followed by a missed field goal, to be followed by Iowa driving the field and tying the game. When the coach called for Pryor to hand to Herron for the 3rd straight play, I actually said out loud to no one “dude come on!“ I became, for a moment, a hater. And I was joined by about 100-thousand other angry, booing fans-frustrated by OSU’s seemingly skittish approach.
It arose again when the Bucks took the ball with more than 2 minutes to play at their own 20. 50 yards would secure a field goal try. Instead OSU tossed a short pass on 3rd down, seemingly to avoid even the threat of Pryor throwing to the wrong team. They also managed to run merely a minute off the clock, giving Iowa a last chance which the Hawkeyes also elected to squander. Fans grumbled even louder, bordering on outrage. Yet…
Tress was once again right. At the end he had made enough correct decisions to win the game. A point’s as good as 100 points-the win is what’s most important, right?
WRONG. If you believe national columnists and local pessimists, Tressel’s players constantly have to overcome their mayonaise-on-white bread coach. The Bucks should pass every other down, blitz every play, go for every 4th down (right, Belichick?), step on every opponent’s throat!!! No mercy, baby… Whoooo hoooooo!!
It’s true-we Ohioans recently voted to allow casinos in our state. It may raise millions of dollars but may also attract some seedy elements of society. Flashy, but tarnished. And this is why Jim Tressel doesn’t impress outsiders or even some insiders-nothing flashy, and willing to play conservatively to win any way possible-no gambling. Some people look at conservatism like a prevent defense-that it ‘prevents’ you from winning. Jim Tressel serves as proof that theory holds no water. IMO-results matter, and Tress produces them even if the process of getting those results proves a little… Painful.
