Let’s talk about this: As near as I can tell, Ohio State’s choice to host the Thundering Herd in primetime on Thursday, September 2, 2010, was met with general praise. I think it totally sucks.
Let me first admit, my opinion is founded on almost completely selfish ideals. I do not want to rush out of work at 5:30pm, drive 30 minutes home, change my clothes, to ride my bike to the stadium, for what? Marshall? I am going to get home at 11:30 for no acceptable reason. I just don’t get it. I am not being a conservative curmudgeon, as some would suggest, but I find it hard to identify a major positive for this new date.
“A national television audience?” Doubtful, since the game is likely to be on BTN and I would be willing to bet that the ESPN noon slot gets more viewers. ”What about the awesome vibe for the game?” Contrary to often espoused statements, the night game will not create a great opening game atmosphere. In fact, I think the exact opposite is true. My guess is there will be less tailgating, a longer game (more commercials in prime time), and far worse traffic. And, unless you live within a few miles of campus you will not get home until after the local news. How many kids get to go that game?
I am sure you think I totally suck, but the new Marshall time seems like a needless waste of chest-thumping and pandering to a time-slot created for the have-nots.
Time heals all wounds? Not really: My diehard recruitnik friends seem to be getting rather restless these days. I have never dedicated an unceasing amount of energy to following recruiting and it boggles my mind the amount of time that gets devoted to it. When I say, “They consistently get mega-recruits and heroes of All American games. What more do you want?” invariably, with a minutely discernible, yet punctuating pause, they say: “They can’t close…”
Terrelle Pryor is the clear, immediate exception that should be flying through your temporal lope right now. But what if he is the only exception? Is the Buckeyes’ coaching staff losing out on game-changing players when the chips are down? I don’t know, but let’s look at some numbers.
| YEAR | COMMITMENTS AFTER DEC. 1 | NAT'L RANK OF CLASS* | AVG. STAR RATING* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 7 | 12 | 3.50 |
| 2006 | 12 | 12 | 3.60 |
| 2007 | 6 | 15 | 3.80 |
| 2008 | 6 | 4 | 3.85 |
| 2009 | 2 | 3 | 3.76 |
| 2010 | 4 | 25** | 3.35** |
So, while there may be the smallest of somethings to this armchair theory for the current season, there is no historical credibility. From the looks of the tremendously unscientific data table above, there does seem to be reason for the increased frustration experienced by some fans, and presumably, the coaches but why should we assume it is anything more than an isolated incident. I may find the number of commitments after December 1st to be the kinda troubling, as more recruiting seem to wait for the all-star games and signing to announce their choices. And, that stat does yell “closer!”, yet it seems so decidedly unfulfilling to make an argument based on such arbitrary vagaries of the calendar.
If coffee is for closers, I’d say the OSU coaching staff is plenty caffeinated.
Grasping at straws: A friend of mine recently pointed our some similarities between the upcomign season and Ohio State’s 2002 season:
- Ohio State played in the opening CFB game
- Played PSU and scUM in Columbus
- Played the Miami Hurricanes
- BCS Title Game is at the Fiesta Bowl
It is a long off-season. I need every distraction/good vibe I can get.
*Courtesy of Rivals.com [HT: Hinton]
**As of Jan. 20
I said in my last post that we were definitely going to beat Purdue and there was no chance of an upset. But that is just the game that college football is. The intangibles mean more to college football than any other sport: turnovers, momentum, home/away.
So now many of you are asking: now what? I read comments saying that its only a matter of time before we as Ohio State fans realize that Tressel is only a glorified version of John Cooper, that he’ll never win the big game (Cooper’s being Michigan, Tressel’s being Top 5 opponents obviously). Ohio State is no longer the highest rated team from the state of Ohio, and that is something that some of us never dreamed we’d see. Terrelle Pryor seems to be taking two steps forward and three steps back, week after week. So that leaves many of us scratching our heads, where does the Ohio State program go from here?
Forward. As a fanbase, as a team, as a coaching staff. I know we can still win the Big Ten this year and it could still realistically happen. And if we do, we’re going to the Rose Bowl where maybe, just maybe we’ll be able to beat a big name team for the first time in a long time. And if that happens, hallelujah, all is saved. But in all reality, if this team plays every week like they did last weekend at Purdue, they’re not going to come close to winning the Big Ten. But there’s still hope for this team. I know you’re saying that this team has a lot of potential, and a lot of talent, and that a lot of it is being wasted. But there’s still a lot of growing left to do on this team. Hell, Terrelle Pryor is younger than I am.
Some people have said that Pryor should be benched, or maybe he should be moved to wide receiver. Doing either of those, in my opinion would be a big, big mistake. Pryor is not the only guy on this team who has not stepped up this year. There’s the offensive line who hasn’t provided and adequate blocking game in what seems like my lifetime. There’s a young wide receiver corps from which no go-to guy has really emerged yet. But I think worst of all is the fact that the stigma that is haunting this team is really starting to get to the players. Tressel would never say it and neither would any of his players, but I think this Ohio State team is really feeling like they’re in a make-or-break situation in terms of national perception. So maybe the best thing for this team would be to finish third in the Big Ten. Try their luck in a bowl game in which they don’t have to play a Top 5 team, where there’s not a large national audience watching them and try to build some momentum for next year. I feel like this year is starting to become comparable to 2004, an 8-4 year ending with a trip to the Alamo Bowl, but one that culminated with an offensive explosion against both Michigan and Oklahoma State (even without Troy Smith). What happened the year after that? A Fiesta Bowl win over Notre Dame. And the year after that? A trip (albeit a forgettable one) to the National Championship Game.
So maybe it takes a step back year to provide real progress for the future. Hell, it worked for the 2004-2006 teams. And knowing Tressel, he’s not going to let guys quit this year or any year in the near future when things look bleak. Eventually, he will find a way for this offense to truly click on all cylinders with the guys he has now, the guys he will get in the following years, and without those who are leaving. He’s done it before, but college football is a team game that can take a year or two to perfect with personnel. Even I’ll admit that a loss to Purdue last weekend was unacceptable. But if it helps take this team to a more positive place with a more determined work effort, then it was a good loss.
Every Tuesday at lunch, Chef Tress sits down with the media and holds his weekly press conference. There are a lot of questions and answers, and a lot gets said. Here is our weekly look at what was “unsaid” by both reporters and Tressel. We try to read Tressel’s mind … er, between the lines.
Tressel [referring to the defensive effort and the pressure on Opelt]: I’ve probably not seen more throwaways in a game than I saw in that game and obviously the young man was well coached. If there’s nothing there, don’t just throw it up for grabs, and he didn’t. He threw it out of bounds a number of times[.]
Reading between the lines: God, I hope Terrelle was watching that because the next time he gets pressured, get shuffle feet, and throws a jump pass for an interception I am going to body slam the nearest headphone holder. I mean, jesus, what is that move? It is not all that often that he receives enough pressure that he needs to throw the ball away so it should be easy for him to recognize that moment. Obviously, we need to practice that and whatnot.
T: We didn’t have a Jack Tatum hit candidate this particular week and we had some guys do a good job on the scout team.
BTL: They barely had enough plays down field downfield for our guys to make plays. Seriously, I think their longest play was about 28 yards. You can imagine how hard it is to get a big hit when the other team averages 1 yard per carry. Our defensive line was gobbling those muthas up so fast that Jermales, Kurt, and B-Rolle barely had a chance to warm up those shoulder pads. I am not complaining, though. It is nice to get a gimme every now and ago.
T: And then Chris Fields, wide receiver from Painesville Harvey, I think Chris is going to be a good player. I told Darrell Hazelland those guys more than once that Chris reminds me of the way that Santonio looked as a freshman. I think Chris Fields is going to be a good football player and we’ll see if he gets to the Santonio Holmes level. Santonio obviously climbed, but at this moment, I’ve got a lot of good feel about what he’s going to become.
BTL: This kid is going to be sick. Remember, when I almost played Santonio against Miami in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl? Well, I did. And, then by the end of the next season against Kansas State he was clearly our best player. Man, those were the good old days. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, as long as Chris can manage to not get arrested until after he is drafted, we will be cool.
Let’s take some questions…
T [regarding the offensive line play and false starts]: Well, we’ve got to go off on the count, but I thought J.B. did some good things. He’s a young guy playing a tough position. These ends, as we head into Big Ten play, are going to be good ones, but he’s got to progress, as does Mike, as does Andrew. We’ve probably still, in our minds, are thinking that Corey Linsley and Marcus Hall may redshirt, but we’ll just have to keep playing along, because we think that we can be contributors as we go, but they’ve got to keep getting better.
BTL: If they are getting anxious against the Shprockets, they are going to be eaten alive in Happy Valley, I don’t care how many injuries they have. Do you remember Tamba Hali in 2005? I guarantee you that Troy does. Ouch! Man, he blew right past Kirk Barton on that play. Whew, bad times.
REPORTER: Did Jordan Hall impress you in his late game running there and how much will that earn him more playing time?
T: You know, Jordan’s been impressive since he’s been here. He’s a hard-nosed kid, studies the game, has done well running the football every chance he’s gotten, so now that we’ve seen him in a game, obviously it makes it easier to put him into a game, but, no, he’s going to be a good player. He’s a tough oh he’s a tough kid.
BTL: Seriously, I just want one guy to step up and play well at tailback. I don’t care who it is or what year he graduates. We thought Boom was that guy this season but I think he is barely averaging 2 yards a carry. It just seems like he runs to contact, like he is looking to engage the defender. It is weird. I will not even mention all the short yardage runs he has failed on. Ick. Obviously, that is upsetting. So, yes, Jordan Hall; step right up and take as many snaps as you can handle. We’re dying over here.
REPORTER: As honorary captain, will Coach Bruce give the pregame speech?
T: Yes. Our honorary captain always addresses the squad at the pregame meal because it’s too late once we get to the locker room.
BTL: Yes, he will address the team and, yes, he will likely scare them and reinforce all stereotypes of the elderly in society. Have you heard him speak recently. Whoa! This is going to be hilarious…I mean, inspirational.
