1. Pryor played very well. He is definitely progressing. I even saw him on a couple of the few passes he threw actually check down to second and third options. He was again strangled by the play calling.

2. Tresselball doesn't work when your kicker and punter suck. Thoma is the worst punter I can remember at Ohio State, and we know Barclay isn't any good either.

3. The defense played pretty poorly for much of the game. They did step up in OT though.

4. I won't even get into the playcalling, but that and the Iowa defense is why I felt Iowa had a good chance to win.

5. At least we won. I'll take anything we can get.

Cleveland Buck wrote: 1. Pryor played very well. He is definitely progressing. I even saw him on a couple of the few passes he threw actually check down to second and third options. He was again strangled by the play calling.

2. Tresselball doesn't work when your kicker and punter suck. Thoma is the worst punter I can remember at Ohio State, and we know Barclay isn't any good either.

3. The defense played pretty poorly for much of the game. They did step up in OT though.

4. I won't even get into the playcalling, but that and the Iowa defense is why I felt Iowa had a good chance to win.

5. At least we won. I'll take anything we can get.

1) I do not agree. It is taking Pryor way to long to read the D!
2)I agree
3)Agree again
4) You call that play calling?
5) Going to the rose bowl!
13 years later.

The game was lost when Ferentz went Tressel the final minute of the game. I didn't think I would see a Coach be more conservative than the Vest, but I was proven wrong.

So, which Pac-Ten team will it be to tack on the L to Buckeyes?

I have never been so pissed after winning the Big Ten and going to the Rose Bowl. . . Tressel's play calling is comparable to a pee wee team. And I think Pryor looks ten times more confident than he did earlier in the season! Give him a chance coach!

I agree with Quint, I've never been so pissed after winning the Big Ten. Ohio State won despite Jim Tressel IMO, Mark May was almost the smartest guy in the room.

1) I do not agree. It is taking Pryor way to long to read the D!

I didn't say he is a good QB yet, I just said he is progressing and played well today.

Agree, Pryor is progressing well. Tressel just needs to realize he isn't that great of a coach anymore. I never thought I'd say that, but how was he expecting to play Tressel ball with a bad punter and kicker?

Like it was said, OSU won despite JT.

Pryor looks like he is finally starting to "get it"

Tress' playcalling was gawd-awful. He desperately wanted that game to be as close as humanly possible. There were several times where I just shook my head and laughed.

The kicking and punting at Ohio State is as bad as it has ever been IMO

Quint wrote: I have never been so pissed after winning the Big Ten and going to the Rose Bowl. . . Tressel's play calling is comparable to a pee wee team. And I think Pryor looks ten times more confident than he did earlier in the season! Give him a chance coach!

I completely agree about being pissed. I was livid last week up 10-7 at PSU and the people I was with kept saying, "But their winning" and I just went off, haha.

Terry_Tate wrote:

Quint wrote: I have never been so pissed after winning the Big Ten and going to the Rose Bowl. . . Tressel's play calling is comparable to a pee wee team. And I think Pryor looks ten times more confident than he did earlier in the season! Give him a chance coach!

I completely agree about being pissed. I was livid last week up 10-7 at PSU and the people I was with kept saying, "But their winning" and I just went off, haha.

I know what you mean. When OSU was up 7-0 against PSU and driving, I wanted to kill Tressel. 3rd and 4 and they run a freakin option to the strongside of the formation on the short side of the field. Then they punt from there, netting only like 8 yards. They could have taken the crowd out at PSU long before they actually did.

Don't even let me get started on today's playcalling. Oh Jesus, pathetic.

My thoughts, Ohio State has the worst "fans" in the world. There are 100+ programs that would love to go to a BCS bowl game 8 out of the last 9 years.

If you want to kick Tressel out, I'll donate $10,000 to UVA to take him, and you guys can have Al Groh.

You guys are such losers you don't even know what its like to win. Ohio St. just won the Big 10 for God's sake...when you were sniffing your Mom's muff I remember the Cooper years when a Big 10 championship was a foregone conclusion because Michigan would always beat them.

Pathetic. You guys suck.

I can't really argue with a win, but up 24-10 we completely collapsed and were VERY lucky to be bailed out in OT by a vamped up defense.

Manhattan Buckeye wrote: My thoughts, Ohio State has the worst "fans" in the world. There are 100+ programs that would love to go to a BCS bowl game 8 out of the last 9 years.

If you want to kick Tressel out, I'll donate $10,000 to UVA to take him, and you guys can have Al Groh.

You guys are such losers you don't even know what its like to win. Ohio St. just won the Big 10 for God's sake...when you were sniffing your Mom's muff I remember the Cooper years when a Big 10 championship was a foregone conclusion because Michigan would always beat them.

Pathetic. You guys suck.

Go ahead and donate that 10k. With Tressel, our 10k goes to hospitals because of the heart attacks he gives us. lol

The Rose Bowl berth just seems so anti-climactic to me. If anything it is a statement of where this team SHOULD be. They lost to a terrible Purdue team and Tress snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against USC. This team should be in the thick of the National Title hunt.

But they did bounce back and are once again playing in a BCS bowl and that isn't anything you should frown on

Cleveland Buck wrote:

1) I do not agree. It is taking Pryor way to long to read the D!

I didn't say he is a good QB yet, I just said he is progressing and played well today.

OK. But is he who we should have as a QB at OSU? In my opinion, he looked real weak. I have to admit that obviously I am more into wrestlng than footbal but I did play for 11 years and my High School QB looked better (Kent Grahm ) I will conceed that he looks better than the early games.

"But they did bounce back and are once again playing in a BCS bowl and that isn't anything you should frown on "

Really?? no shit. Again I remember the 90's when OSU was a staple in the Capital One Bowl.

What a bunch of freaking spoiled brats.

I hate being an Ohio State fan sometimes, today would have been my best day in 1995 or 1996, because we have a bunch of loser fans its a downer.

You guys are losers, seriously.

Here's my take:

The Buckeyes beat a decent but not great Iowa team in yet another pathetic Big Televen season giving OSU I believe their 5th straight Big Televen title and a trip to another BCS game.

Most schools dream to have that kind of success, but die-hard Buckeye fans - right or wrong - expect nothing less than perfection.

That being said there are times when I look at Tress and think, "what the hell?" Chekwa looked clueless. Pryor is looking better but still acts like a deer caught in the headlights in inopportune moments.. The defense played reasonably well (minus Chekwa) but could not pressure Vandenberg.

The Buckeyes should clobber Michigan in Ann Arbor, but it would make the Wolverine's season to send the Buckeyes to Pasadena with a loss in the Big House...not to mention Michigan must win to be bowl eligible at 6-6.

At any rate I'll take the win and the championship but this team is far from being a complete unit.

Manhattan Buckeye wrote: My thoughts, Ohio State has the worst "fans" in the world. There are 100+ programs that would love to go to a BCS bowl game 8 out of the last 9 years.

It seems like an overwhelming number of OSU fans overreact to losses. I do understand though that a lot of the complaints are about "how" they lost, not the fact they lost by itself. Firing Tressel is an extreme, but wanting a little variety in the offense or expecting a killer instinct aren't really asking too much.

The thing about your statement is that do you wish to compare yourself to 100+ schools who are mediocre or do you wish to compare yourself to the handful of schools who are elite? Once you reach a certain level, you can't really use crappy teams as a point-of-reference to your success - it has to be based on what YOUR capabilities.

Still, sometimes you just have to enjoy the good times. I mean, how many straight conference titles is this?

Manhattan Buckeye wrote: "But they did bounce back and are once again playing in a BCS bowl and that isn't anything you should frown on "

Really?? no shit. Again I remember the 90's when OSU was a staple in the Capital One Bowl.

What a bunch of freaking spoiled brats.

I hate being an Ohio State fan sometimes, today would have been my best day in 1995 or 1996, because we have a bunch of loser fans its a downer.

You guys are losers, seriously.

You are missing the point! We are trying to bring out the issues. not bring down OSU!
Are we to just sit here and say yeah! because they beat a team they should have CRUSHED! OSU Is and always will be my favorite team! I just think that in every game there is room for improvement. Again these are opinions.....

I suppose all those of you who were trumpeting the obvious superiority of Pete Carroll and wishing he could replace Coach Tressel should perhaps take a look at todays' college scoreboard. The score, for the record, was Stanford 55 USC 20. USC ended up 7-3 and will not be in the Rose Bowl, since they didn't win their league. His play calling must have been a complete disaster. His defense must have been even worse. We could probably get him really cheap right now. The score in Columbus of course was 27-24 and while the game went to OT, which should not have happened, and there were moments where it was probably appropriate to second guess the Buckeye's coaching staff (which I did rather loudly at my local sports bar), the Buckeyes WON THE GAME. Go Bucks! Beat Michigan.(and please play better than you did today. Also give a lot of credit to that young kid who almost beat the Buckeyes singlehanded with an outstanding effort at quarterback!

this was a down year for ohio state. we lost a ton of good seniors who had alot of starts under their belt from last year. you should be happy with tressel that you feel we had a good chance to make a national title and just let it slip away but still won the big 10. Now next year unless we lose a few juniors to the draft tressel has no excuse to lose to anyone. We are a top 3 team next year preseason.

Ohio State won that game in spite of Jim Tressel. I seriously wonder if he had money riding on that game that it would go to overtime with some of his coaching decisions in the second half. How did he hide the fact that he has no ability to manage a clock or call plays for so long? If OSU plays not to lose in the Rose Bowl, they will get absolutely destroyed by whoever they play (especially if they play Oregon). It will be the same old song and dance, Oregon will be able to name the score.

'The thing about your statement is that do you wish to compare yourself to 100+ schools who are mediocre or do you wish to compare yourself to the handful of schools who are elite?"

Like USC? Lost to Stanford.

Like Florida....close game against South Carolina.

Like Alabama..a lot of unimpressive games this year, and had losing seasons and multiple head coaches in the last 10 years.


I'm out guys, I'm sorry if I offended anyone, I'm just being honest, many Ohio State fans are spoiled, and simply ignorant. OSU has done more in the last decade than they've done in the previous couple of decades, I really don't know what you want or who you want do it.

sportchampps wrote: this was a down year for ohio state. we lost a ton of good seniors who had alot of starts under their belt from last year. you should be happy with tressel that you feel we had a good chance to make a national title and jsut let it slip away but still own the big 10. Now next year unless we lose a few juniors to the draft tressel has no excuse to lose to anyone. We are a top 3 team next year preseason.

Its not a matter of what this team has achieved. The Rose Bowl is great...no one is complaining about going to the Rose Bowl. It's the underlying faults in Jim Tressel's coaching style (namely clock management and play calling) that annually undermine his team and put them in a position to lose.

believer wrote: Here's my take:

The Buckeyes beat a decent but not great Iowa team in yet another pathetic Big Televen season giving OSU I believe their 5th straight Big Televen title and a trip to another BCS game.

Most schools dream to have that kind of success, but die-hard Buckeye fans - right or wrong - expect nothing less than perfection.

That being said there are times when I look at Tress and think, "what the hell?" Chekwa looked clueless. Pryor is looking better but still acts like a deer caught in the headlights in inopportune moments.. The defense played reasonably well (minus Chekwa) but could not pressure Vandenberg.

The Buckeyes should clobber Michigan in Ann Arbor, but it would make the Wolverine's season to send the Buckeyes to Pasadena with a loss in the Big House...not to mention Michigan must win to be bowl eligible at 6-6.

At any rate I'll take the win and the championship but this team is far from being a complete unit.

Very well put!