Blog ... Is Jim Tressel A Big Game Coach?

There's no question Jim Tressel has led Ohio State to glory in his first seven seasons. With that being said the last two national title losses coupled with the loss to Illinois in the horseshoe make many question does he still have what it takes to win the big game?

By Sean Jackson

Jim Tressel has taken an Ohio State team on the verge of being elite, and made them elite. Over the past five years the Buckeyes have played in three national title games and been constantly at the top of the polls. Tressel has developed a solid foundation of great players churning out All- American after All-American giving the Buckeyes the opportunity to be the best year in and year out. Aside from Pete Carroll, no one has come close to the success Jim Tressel has achieved in college football over the last 5 years. With that being said after the last two title games and the way they lost to Illinois in the horseshoe people are confused and wondering can Tressel still win the big game?

Argument for: Tressel’s resume during his first seven seasons at Ohio State is amazing, He’s led the Buckeyes to a 73-16 record, to three BCS national title games, (one of which they won, a fact forgotten by most people recently), to five BCS games, to four Big Ten titles and a 6-1 record against Michigan. He is 8-3 versus top 10 teams and 25-8 versus ranked teams. Tressel led the underdog Buckeyes to a huge upset win over Miami in 2003, which at the time had a 34 game winning streak, and possessed more NFL talent than the Detroit Lions have fielded in a decade. They also beat a very good Michigan team in 2006, and have managed to win the majority of games they are suppose to win, granted their schedule has been suspect as of late. One has to wonder if Jim Tressel is that good of a coach or has gotten lucky over the last few years playing in a weak Big Ten and having some pretty ridiculous non-conference schedules. With this being said this is a what have you done for me lately business and lately he hasn’t delivered.

Argument against: The debacle in Glendale still has many scratching their heads. In all fairness Florida was disrespected by the media and was clearly the more athletic team. But it didn’t give any excuse for Ohio State to play the way they did which in turn caused SEC fans to declare civil war on the Big Ten. The way they lost to Illinois also confused many. Clearly Illinois was an athletic team, but they shouldn’t have been that dominant holding the ball for the last 8:09 of the game. The LSU game is up for discussion. Many feel that Ohio State shouldn’t have been on the field that night, but regardless of them deserving they were still there. They played much harder than in 06’ but made some uncharacteristic penalties, including several unnecessary roughness penalties and a very costly roughing the kicker penalty that resulted in a lost possession and a touchdown for LSU. These could be explained as growing pains of a young team which they were, or does it have something to do with not being able to handle the pressure of playing on the nation’s biggest stage? Either way you slice it the play that night was extremely sloppy and very uncharacteristic of a Jim Tressel coached team.

With this being said there are apparent gaps in the armor at Ohio State. Anyone who knows or has followed Ohio State during the Tressel era knows that as long as they can play their game, they’re pretty much unstoppable. It’s when you take them out of their game, (i.e. Illinois, Florida, and LSU) they have trouble adjusting to their opponent; see the fourth quarter of the Illinois game. Blame this on the coaches, the coordinators, the scouts, whatever, but Tressel is the head coach and as such is ultimately responsible for when the team wins and loses. The inability to adjust to what the opponent is doing has been crucial as to why Ohio State hasn’t beaten an SEC team in the Tressel era and why they didn’t win the last two national title games. With USC on the horizon it’ll be interesting to see if history will repeat itself.

Verdict: There's no question Tressel has accomplished more than most could even imagine during his seven seasons at Ohio State. He has given fans in Columbus a national title contender year in and year out, this year being no different. Though the last two national title games have brought failure and some embarrassment, (some warranted, some not), it’ll be interesting to see how he handles the next few years at the helm. Until then all judgment should be reserved. Is Jim Tressel a Big Game Coach? July 1, 2008