Thanks for the entire quote, for putting Tressel’s comment in context. However, still, most would argue that having 12 or 13 guys on the field at once is the definition of a coaching mistake. Whether it’s a bad TO or a penalty, it comes from confusion on the sidelines from the coaching staff.

For the record, I don’t blame Tressel for the loss… I credit Juice Williams and Zook for the win.

We lost because our QB threw 3 horribly bad INT’s, our pass D blew 3 wide open coverages for 3 TD’s and the D couldn’t stop a QB from running and converting 2 straight 3 and 10 plus situations late in the 4th to allow them to run out the clock. That’s execution not coaching.

I don’t mean to continue to bemoan the point, but it was a little harsh about the T.O. being the worst coaching decision Tressel has made.

Just to make sure that we have the entire Tressel quote (and the link), and not a snipet, here it is:

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/football/stories/2007/11/10/tresseltranscript.html?sid=101

“Well, I wish I wouldn’t have called timeout. When they had their punt team out there, we still had 12 or 13 guys out, which was — would have been a problem, but I guess hindsight, I’d have liked to have not called that because at least we would have had a chance with the ball back, but it’s hard to communicate. It’s hard to get people off the field. It’s loud out there and I’d like to have that one back.”

Enough from me on the topic…GO BUCKS…Michigan Sucks!!!!!

If there were 12 men on the field, then it had to be called. If not, then it was an unfortunate call.

Let’s just make the necessary adjustments and beat the ever-loving pants of the Wolverines. Then get ready for Oregon or Oklahoma or whomever the BCS is going to throw at us.

On Offense, the line wasn’t doing a good job. There was pressure on Boeckman all night and the run game got stuffed routinely (i.e. Beanie had under 4 YPC). I expected Lehman to make plays (let’s face it: he’s great), but their front four really should be dominating the big hogs like that.

Boeckman was making poor decisions under pressure. This one is equal parts poor blocking and inexperience. There were shades of the MSU game in this all night. He simply wasn’t making good decisions in the face of the pass rush. Not all of the interceptions can be pinned on him (the endzone pick was a toss-up, but he probably shouldn’t have attempted that throw).

On Defense, there was nothing going there. OSU was clearly keyed on Mendenhall all night – and play action was their bane. As best I can remember, all 4 TD passes came on play action or scrub routes. Everyone was reading run. I am not too upset about this – UI hasn’t shown much of a passing game, and I think OSU game planned accordingly. However, not having a spy on Juice all night seems like a huge mistake. You know he’s going to run, that’s what he does. Spy on him. Seems pretty obvious.

Outside of UI’s good gameplan to exploit play action, our defense just didn’t do fundamental things very well. There was no pass rush to speak of. I won’t complain about the routine holding that Vern received, but it was there and uncalled. However, even if he got held every play, there are 10 other guys on the field who should be doing a better job. No one tackled well, everyone was slow in pursuit, it was just ugly. I can’t find anything good to say about this performance.

The thing that bothers me the most is that the perception is that Illinois is bad; they’re not. They’re a damn good team – if they played in the SEC, they’d be ranked where Georgia is ranked. The fact of the matter is that no matter what happens, no one from the Big Ten is going to get any respect because of the SEC hype machine that’s been running full steam for 5 years.

After the Big Ten went 2-1 in head to head play with the SEC last year, the hype machine just ignored the two losses and focused on one win. It’s pretty much bullshit. LSU has played like a D2 school for weeks now, but no one cares. Their record is full of victories over barely .500 teams, yet they are perceived as being all powerful. It makes me physically ill. I can only hope that either LSU faces Oregon and gets thoroughly pummeled, or that LSU loses in the SEC championship game and gets locked out of the MNC. Something’s got to give, because I can’t take another year of unwarranted unjustified SEC hype.

I guess my point is that expecting any team to be and stay #1 is unreasonable.

There are too many factors beyond any team’s control that contribute to an undefeated season. Not only do you have to be better than everyone else, but all the balls have to bounce your way. All the important calls have to come in your favor. No team in the history of college football has earned the title without a little help from “luck” or the “refs” or the “voters” or whatever. Not one.

It’s patently unfair to expect any team to be perfect. If it happens – hey great.

Believe it or not, OSU football is about Big Ten championships and the UM rivalry. Has always been and will be. It’s not about national titles. If they happen, hey great. If all a fan cares about is titles, then that’s what the NFL is for.

Some motivation, because the game tonight just became the worst loss at home to a Big 10(11) also-ran team ever, topping the ‘98 team losing to MSU.

Not the worst loss by a large margin. The loss against MSU was “HOW IN THE WORLD DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!?” OSU was #1 that year by TOTAL consensus. Men playing with boys. And they dominated that entire game. MSU came back in the last few minutes and won.

One final thought about your comment: ILLINOIS IS NOT AN “ALSO-RAN.” This is a good team that will finish the season with 9 or 10 victories. This is the team that will at least tie for second place in the Big Ten. This is the team that will be expected to challenge OSU for the title next year. Williams & company are just sophomores… the next year or two are going to be interesting.

@ E -
The D looked bad for most of the game today and the O was inconsistent at best

The D did exactly what we thought they would do; it’s the offense that put them in bad positions.

Look at my prediction from yesterday; I figured that Illinois was the best offense the Bucks would see, matchup wise, and gave them 20 points. I didn’t account for Illinois scoring 14 points off turnovers, and being able to run EIGHT MINUTES off the clock out off another turnover. Remove just one of Boeckman’s turnovers and the Bucks win. Way too many unlikely things happened at the same time for the Bucks to salvage the game.

The OSU D was on the field for the last 8 minutes of the game. No matter how good your defense is, they’re tired after 8 minutes. Not the D’s fault.

Oh, and both teams entered the fourth quarter tied statistically. It wasn’t a “spanking.”

The only constructive criticism I have of the D is that often they were seen hitting, not tackling. On Williams’ last first down, Gholston caught him five yards behind the first down marker, but didn’t wrap him up, he just hit him, allowing Juice to fall forward past the marker.

@ James & Dave -
the fans in my section didn’t have a problem with the time out when Illinois had fourth down. We had too many men on the field due to substitutions and would have given them a first down by penalty.

I don’t like that el Kaiser called the timeout on 4th down Tressel’s biggest coaching error ever. The Buckeyes had too many men on the field

According to Tressel in his news conference, he “wanted that decision back.” There weren’t too many men on the field, he called the time out to apparently discuss whether they wanted to choose between going for a good return or a block. Bad, bad decision.

As for the non-fumble, I haven’t seen a replay yet (and the end of the play was completely out of view for me), but I was under the impression that you can’t review a fumble if the refs call them down and blow the whistle. That’s why referees are instructed to call it a fumble when in doubt and let the replay process happen. Or was it originally called a fumble? Like I said, I couldn’t see the end of that play at all.

I’m still disappointed, but the fact of the matter is we still can still beat Michigan and go to the Rose Bowl. It isn’t the NC game, but 11-1 and a Rose Bowl isn’t bad.

I don’t like that el Kaiser called the timeout on 4th down Tressel’s biggest coaching error ever. The Buckeyes had too many men on the field and if he doesn’t call the TO, they get the 1st down anyway. The Buckeyes had there chances on that last drive to stop the Illini with 3rd and 10 and a 3rd and 8, but couldn’t do it. Credit Illinois for executing and wanting it more.

I for one have felt the athletic talent that Illinois has been acculumulating was going to rise the level of the Big 10. They will be on the level of the Buckeyes, scUM, Wisconsin, and PSU consistently. I just thought it was going to be next year tnat they might beat us. Congrats to them, they made the plays they had to and beat the #1 team in the country in a hostile environment. Welcome to the Big 10 Illinois, now get ready to here how much our conference sucks.

I also don’t like the Cooper reference, because he made his entire stay in Columbus a choke job in big spots and never beat scUM. Tressel can lose the next five big games this team plays in and he a still won’t be Cooper. Why? Because he has made the Buckeyes a threat every year by winning big games.

Hopefully the sting is gone by Monday from this lose and we can all get excited about the possibility of beating that other team we play next Saturday.