Buckeye defensive woes continue

Last night the Buckeyes defensive issues continued in a 52-49 win over Indiana.  The high score is a bit amazing and even more so when you consider the score was 10-14 with 5 minutes left in the first half.  That means the score was 42-35 in a little more than a half.  Good offense but really bad defense.

The game wasn't as close as the final score as the defense has some huge mental breakdowns late in the game.  It is troubling though that the defense continues to give up big plays so I decided to watch the game in slow motion to see what is causing it.

1st quarter - 2 minutes left - OSU 10-Indiana 0 - Indiana on their 41 yard line (59 yd run)

Indiana lined up in the shotgun with one man in the backfield, a tight end to the short side and 3 receivers split to the wide side.   The play was a simple handoff left designed to go the short side between Left Guard and Tackle.  The Buckeye defense line was Simon on the Right side (from the Indiana point of view), Hale at right tackle, Goebells at left tackle and Spence at left end.  The line double teamed Hale and did straight up blocking on the rest of the left side.  The Indiana left tackle pushed Goebells back and the tight end destroyed Spence.  As Ohio State didn't put anyone over the Indiana right guard, the line call pulled the guard into the designed hole.

The odd thing is as the right side was overloaded with 3 receivers, one safety and the nickel back shifted to line up over them.  In addition, the other safety (Bryant) lined up as if he was covering the deep right half on the right side as well.  The way the safeties lined up, the left corner (Roby) seemed to have responsibility for the left half of the field but he was lined up as if he was covering the short zone and expecting help from deep middle.

When the running back hit the hole, Goebbels was blocked and Spence was blocked.  Shazier filled the hole but didn't see the guard coming who kicked him out and the running back ran inside him.  , Roby attempted to get there but the play was too far inside for him to close.  It fell to Bryant who was 15 yards off the ball and beyond the right hash and he barely made it into the television screen as the running back raced for a score.

 I think the blame for the big play falls on Bryant who seems like he was out of position and took a bad read.  Certainly credit has to goto the Indiana offense who executed the play well for a touchdown.

1st Quarter - 30 seconds left - OSU 10 - Indiana 7 - Ohio State punt (blocked)

Camren Williams misread the play and helped Boren double team to his right while the guy to his left ran in unblocked.  Indiana also lined up one more person wide to the right than we had blockers and he would have had a good shot at making a block even if Williams man didn't get there first.  That may have been Williams issue.  It seems he assumed that everyone would shift over a man which is why he blocked the way he did.

 Part of the issue is the Buckeye are sending 5 men sprinting downfield to cover the punt (2 wide on each side and the long snapper) and when the other side only initially drops 4 for the return like Indiana did on this play you have 5 on 7 situation.

I'd say some of this is scheme and but the block probably wouldn't happen without Williams' misread.

2nd Quarter - 14:30 - OSU 10 - Indiana 7 - Indiana on OSU's 10 yard line (10 yard run)

Simple run to the right.  Boren blitzed from the left linebacker spot and Shazier moved into his position.  The Indiana tackle on that side did a nice job reading the play and after sealing Boren inside moved downfield to take both Bryant and Barnett out of the play.  Shazier took a bad angle and the running back run into the end zone untouched.

This seems to be on Shazier, Bryant and Barnett as they had 3 on 1 blocker and couldn't make a tackle. 

 3rd Quarter - 14:30 - OSU 24 - Indiana 14 - Indiana on their 35 yard line (40 yard pass)

This was a simple situation where Indiana's best receiver was matched up against Doran Grant, the backup cornerback and he couldn't make a play.  Howard got banged up in the first half and they put Grant in to start the 2nd but after this and a bad pass interference on the next play Howard came back in.  Indiana got 3 points out of this drive almost entirely because of Grant's mistakes.  That's not a good sign for next year when both starting cornerbacks will likely be gone.

3rd Quarter - 9:30 - OSU 31 - Indiana 17 - OSU on the Indiana 4 (Interception)

I'm including this because it was so frustrating based on what happened right after this.  A score and Indiana starts to quit.  The bad decision to throw the ball late off his back foot kept them in the game.

 3rd Quarter - 8:50 - OSU 31 - Indiana 17 - Indiana on their 26 (74 yard pass)

Storm Klein took his drop a bit too deep covering the inside receiver and let the middle receiver (Shane Wynn from Glenville who'd look great in Urban's offense) cut over the middle for an easy 6 yard curl.  The deep help on the other side of the field (Bryant) got caught up with the receiver running a hook pattern.  Wynn cut behind this block taking both Bryant and Klein out of the play.  At this point it was a sprint to the end zone.

Shazier might have had a chance to make a play but Roby was blitzing from the right side and Shazier had responsibility for short coverage on that side.  The blitz meant Bryant had play up closer as well.  If Klein were a bit fast or Shazier reacted quicker this would might have been stopped but the real key was the play call was perfect for the defense Ohio State ran. 

4th Quarter - 1:40 - OSU 52 - Indiana 41 - Indiana on the OSU 25 (25 yard pass)

After a really bad onside kick call by the refs, Indiana scored a few plays later.  They got a good rush with 4 defensive linemen and forced a shovel pass.    Zach Boren missed the tackle, Bryant took a bad angle, and Roby got caught on the wrong side of the receiver he was guarding who pushed him out of the play.

As I re-watched this there weren't as many big plays as I remembered.  That's actually bad because it means that Indiana was scheming us which would have taken way too long to review.  Kevin Wilson really had done a nice job with the talent at Indiana and I wonder if are going to make a push for the top half of the league in the future.

The players I am really liking on offense right now is Braxton, Corey (don't call me Philly) Brown,  Carlos Hyde, and Rod Smith.  I'm sure many would include Devin Smith as well but he's dropping too many easy passes right now.  The offensive line has been a nice surprise all season too.

Defensively it is hard to say.  Simon, Big Hank, and Roby all seem to be exceptional but without reviewing each play it is hard to say.  The bad thing is poor linebacker and safety play overshadows everything.  One bright spot is Zach Boren led the team in tackles at middle linebacker despite not playing the position since high school.  As he gets comfortable he might be a real nice surprise.

It should be interesting to hear Urban Meyer's comments this week after he looks at the film.

Gene Smith - Should he stay or should he go?

Someone posted on the Ozone yesterday that it was rumored that Ohio State's athletic director was getting a contract extension.  That set off a firestorm of protest on the forum from most of the posters who think he should be fired.  I include myself in that group but sometimes it amazes me how far some posters go in their blame of the man.  The following was a typical response:

First - the violations happened on his watch.

• December 2010, he assured everyone that he investigated and the original Tat5 was it. Nothing else.

• Then, in January 2011, he discovers that Tressel knew about all this back in April 2010. Whoops. Missed that in his "investigation". 

• He had two months until the rest of the world knew what he knew in January.  Story breaks in early March 2011. Ohio State hastily calls a news conference where it looks to everyone like they got caught with their pants down. They decide to retain Tressel. 

• Memorial Day - Ohio State fires Tressel. Why? Because between that press conference and Memorial Day, the rest of the CFB world finds out what Gene Smith already knew. And Gene Smith BADLY miscalculated how much pressure he could endure with his original decision to retain Tressel. 

• Summer 2011 - more NCAA violations are committed - again under his watch. 

• Fall 2011 - Gene Smith tells the world we'll forfeit the 2010 season but the NCAA won't levy a bowl ban. 

• December 2011 - Decides to accept the Gator Bowl bid. Shortly thereafter, the NCAA levies...a bowl ban.

I might have missed a mistake along the way. I apologize. Its so hard to keep up with Gene's screw-ups.

This is a typical refrain about Gene Smith and this poster along with most Buckeye fans really miss the point of where he fails.

When Gene Smith came to Ohio State in 2005 there were two facts that greatly has affected subsequent events.  1) he came into a situation where the previous AD was pressured to quit due to NCAA violations and the expectation was that the new AD would tighten things and 2) the Ohio State football team had recently won the national championship and its coach was extremely popular with fans, alumni, and boosters.

The first point is a bit harsh to the previous AD, Andy Geiger, as he had done a lot to make Ohio State's compliance department one of the best in the country.  Many outsiders scoff at that notion but it is something that Ohio State fans expect as it allows us to hold our head high and know we won the right way (that's also what makes the recent violations more painful).  Geiger made a statement last year that

"The setup that we had (when he was director of athletics) was extremely proactive," Geiger said. "It's my understanding that the current compliance people went to the car dealers, they are all over those kinds of things, they were doing their best to try to keep up with it, but there is, in Columbus, a very large community with a nationally prominent program, the Ohio State football program, that is just over the top in importance, in not only Columbus but in the state. That attracts all kinds of things to it, some of which is very, very difficult to control. There isn't any way that a compliance department, an Athletic Director or a football coach or whole staff of football coaches can be with people in a program 24/7. There are going to be influences, there are going to be relationships that built over time that can turn out to be negative and be very damaging. I experienced that, and it has been experienced one more time."

 Some may look at this as excuse making but there is a lot of truth in it.  Any organization that has to manage hundreds of people are going to find that a small percentage will always break the rules no matter how many times you educate them.  In this situation the only thing that a compliance department can do is put procedures into place that are designed to catch offenders.  This has a two fold purpose which first is to punish the offenders but it also is a deterrent to others so these acts aren't repeated.

Jim Tressel is a great man and a great coach.  He is not a perfect man.  Every good coach develops a style that works for them and is usually based on their personality.  Coach Tressel's system was a family atmosphere combined with micromanagement and there was very little that got by his notice in the locker room.  His style was also that he liked to take care of things in house with his usual punishment a fatherly mixture of harshness, suspensions, and forgiveness.  I believe his motives were pure but this had the unfortunate side effect of lessening compliance.

Andy Geiger made mention of this in Jim Tressel's annual reviews that he was unsatisfactory in self reporting violations in a timely manner.  The statements by Geiger make it clear that Jim Tressel's habit of not reporting violations wasn't a one time thing.

When a manager is hired into a job they have a few decisions that need to be made immediately.  The most important is what to do with their direct reports.  It is human nature that a manager wants someone on their staff that is "their" person.  Some immediately reorganize and some take years.  The key is a manager has to take charge and a good example is what Urban Meyer did in the football program by retaining only 3 coaches from Jim Tressel.  Actions like these make sure you have loyal people in your organization and ensures that their is little time wasted in conversations like - "But we used to do it this way..."

Contrast that with the Gene Smith's situation -- he needed to make changes and he had a popular coach with alumni/board support that like the way he was doing things.  It was a situation tailor made for disaster as Smith really didn't have the power to make changes in the football program.  That's why most of the charges against him are invalid.  Let's look at the charges listed above:

December 2010, he assured everyone that he investigated and the original Tat5 was it. Nothing else. - Jim Tressel lied to Gene Smith's investigators.  At the time this statement was correct and he can't be expected to be a mind reader.

January 2011, he discovers that Tressel knew about all this back in April 2010. - This was part of an annual audit the compliance department does and is proof that they are doing their job.  The sad truth is this wouldn't have been discovered at most other schools because they don't have the number of resources used at Ohio State to be able to conduct audits.

Story breaks in early March 2011. Ohio State hastily calls a news conference where it looks to everyone like they got caught with their pants down. They decide to retain Tressel. - They did get caught with their pants down but only because information was leaked to a reporter from the NCAA.  They were investigating and had notified the NCAA when it occurred.  They were about a week away from filing when the story broke.  The press conference was a disaster but not because of Gene Smith.  His best work of the year was done at that press conference but it was overshadowed by Gee's "I hope he doesn't fire me" and Tressel's incoherent ramblings that said nothing when he needed to say a lot.  He could get away with that approach in a press conference after a gameday victory but his habit of stonewalling made everyone involved look stupid on this day.

Memorial Day - Ohio State fires Tressel. Why? Because between that press conference and Memorial Day, the rest of the CFB world finds out what Gene Smith already knew. And Gene Smith BADLY miscalculated how much pressure he could endure with his original decision to retain Tressel. - This statement couldn't be further from the truth.  I have no doubt that Gene Smith believed that Tressel's actions warranted firing but realized that the coach's popularity made that difficult.  The thing is a situation of this magnitude wasn't made by Gee/Smith but when the board of trustees met as there's no way they didn't know about this before the end of February.  At this meeting the Tressel supporters won out and it was decided to keep him.  At the time they had the assurance from Tressel that he would make a public apology for his actions.  When Tressel didn't do this (and he still hasn't) it became tougher and tougher to support him.  The clincher was that fans started to turn on him.  I think that surprised the board because initially Buckeye fans were almost unanimously in their support to keep the coach but it slowly became apparent that this support was waning quickly.  Add to the additional NCAA violations if the Buckeyes kept Tressel and you have a situation where the board realized that Tressel had to go.  Gene Smith was merely the messenger in all this.

Summer 2011 - more NCAA violations are committed - again under his watch. - The violations actually occurred earlier but once again an AD should not be held accountable for players committing violations.  Discovering a violation is actually showing that an AD is doing their job.

Fall 2011 - Gene Smith tells the world we'll forfeit the 2010 season but the NCAA won't levy a bowl ban.  - The first part was a no brainer as when it was realized that Jim Tressel knowingly played ineligible players, that season had to be forfeit.  The second part is a bit of a problem and I will address it later.  The interesting thing this person doesn't mention is that in the fall, due to the BobbyD allegations, a "failure to monitor" charge is added to Ohio State's violations.  This is the only thing that occurred in the NCAA reports that can be attributed to Gene Smith and his staff.  The interesting part of this is Bobby D has been a close part of Ohio State since the 80s but there is no doubt a few paperwork items occurred on Gene Smith's watch.

December 2011 - Decides to accept the Gator Bowl bid. Shortly thereafter, the NCAA levies...a bowl ban. - In this long list this is the only accurate charge.  Gene Smith should have self penalized the school the 2011 Gator Bowl if there was any possibility of a bowl ban in 2012.  He didn't do this and it was a major failing on his part.

Gene Smith gets a lot of grief from fans.  I want him gone too and my reasons are simple:

1. He doesn't protect Ohio State tradition - He willingly went along with the plan to separate Ohio State and Michigan in the new divisional structure and was OK with moving The Game to a spot earlier in the season.  The Big Ten is built on the Ohio State - Michigan game and the rest of the league profits from it.  To sell out that tradition to get a few more dollars from the television networks is unpardonable and shows that he doesn't have fans interest at heart.
2. He is out of his depth at times - While it was nice that he was the president of the NCAA basketball tournament selection committee last season, anyone that watched the selection show saw a man that couldn't explain the rankings.  I'm sure he was a bit preoccupied as this occurred at the height of the Tressel scandal but he should have resigned if that was the case.  This wasn't the only time this has happened and it is a far cry from what we got from Andy Geiger and what Ohio State deserves.
3. His bowl decision - I've wanted him gone since he tried to move "The Game" but this was no doubt his worst decision since becoming the Ohio State AD.  Some have said that the NCAA would have just made it a two year bowl ban if he self accessed one last year but as someone on the Ozone said, "We don't know that for sure and it certainly couldn't have hurt."

I'm sure there would be other things that Gene Smith has done that I'd include on this list if I were privy to the information.  The truth is we don't see the whole picture so it is hard for fans to judge.  However, I know the 3 reasons I've listed are true and that's enough for me.  I really hope the recent rumors that he's gotten an extension aren't true as it would really make me question the leadership at the school.

Should Tressel still be the coach in 2011?

With the Buckeyes poor showing this season one of the topics that keeps showing up on the forums is 'What would have happened if Jim Tressel were still the coach in 2011?"  My feeling is we probably would have lost to Miami/Michigan State but beat Nebraska/Penn State/Purdue.  Jim Tressel had a way to make teams believe in themselves and his teams always finished strong.  Does anyone think he would have allowed Nebraska to score 21 points in the 4th quarter, not come up with something to shut down Purdue, or figured out a way to get another score vs Penn State?  He was a master of the close games and protecting a lead.  Unfortunately he isn't with the team anymore.

That has created quite a backlash on forums as fan anger is now blaming the board for the decision to let him go as the wrong move.  In truth, there have always been a few that have said this they are now just louder since the results of the season are so poor.  Here's a good example of a recent post:

2011 didn't need to be "The Lost Year"; the OSU BOD could have retained JT&forced the NCAA's hands. We gave up too much *

My response was:  "The price of not getting a FTM or LOIC charge for Tatgate was Tressel."

If the university backed Tressel the NCAA would have given us a harsher penalty probably similar to USC. Backing him said to the NCAA, "The institution agrees with Coach Tressel's actons" which would have given the critics of the Buckeyes in the NCAA enough to punish us like they did with Bush/Carrol/Garrett. Instead, Tressel fell on his sword to save the program from his mistake. IMO the mistake was minor but once it became public the events had to play out like they did.

I wish people would move on. I love the 10 great years we got from Jim Tressel and look forward to the day when the NCAA rules and we can welcome him back with open arms in the stadium. I have no doubt we'd be in the B1G championship game with him at the helm but the sooner we move on as a program the sooner things will be able to return to the greatness that Jim Tressel gave us during his tenure. The BoT realized this over the summer and did the right thing to protect the future of the program. They have gotten a ton of grief for their decision but the reality is the program will be better in the long run because of it.

The response was: Says who? Gene The Weak? We gave up way too much and they'll STILL pile on. The Roo, for once, is right. * -

My response: Gene is gone too. I personally wish we'd have gotten rid of him after he allowed scUM and OSU in separate divisions

He's gone within 6 months after the sanctions are given.

In any big enterprise there is a conservative playbook for damage control. We might not agree with the decisions but in crisis large organizations make Tresselball look like the run and shoot by comparison. They don't take risks and anything that could possibly damage the "organization" is addressed in order.

Tressel was the most public issue and he was the first to go. It wouldn't surprise me if the NCAA gave back channel information to the Buckeyes of their penalty with or without Jim Tressel. Even if that didn't happen, part of the reason the Compliance Group was hired was to give the Board long term scenarios. I guarantee projections were made of donations and ticket sales for the next decade for all the possible outcomes. After reviewing everything they came up with their plan and part of that was to get rid of JT.

Many people here pretend that the Board is incompetent but many of them are very successful business people that face situations like this on a daily basis. I have no doubt that if we had all the information they did, most would have made the same decision.

The main opposition to the decision are people that look to the past and not to the future. That is fine for fans but the Board doesn't have that luxury as they have bills to pay. To do otherwise would been just as shortsighted for the athletic department as was Jim Tressel's initial decision to protect Pryor/Posey at the expense of the rest of the team.

Anyone that has spent any time in a large organization knows that what happened to Tressel had to happen. He was only going to coach 5-6 more years and the potential benefit was less than the threat he posed to the organization.  Organizations always do what is in their perceived best interest.  Tressel was a danger and had to go -- it is as simple as that.

Wisconsin vs Ohio State

I rarely do predictions but that is because 90% of the time it is because Ohio State is favored and then they proceed to pummel the opposition for a victory.  This season has been a struggle and the team has lost a few games I thought they'd win (Miami and Michigan State).  I figured they'd lose the Nebraska game which they should have won.  I did think they'd beat Illinois mainly because all signs pointed to Ron Zook's Illini winning the game and those are the games that Zook always loses.  There were many positive things that came out of that game but there were three things that will play a huge role in the Wisconsin game.

1. The return of Boom - Boom Herron was a huge difference in the Illinois game as he has vision and toughness that was missing from the other running backs.  No doubt the other running backs have talent and are great backups to him but it is nice to have a feature back that we can trust.  This offensive line is possible the best in the last decade and it is a shame that Boom only will get a half season to show his talents.
2. The maturation of Braxton - Braxton Miller didn't do anything particularly well against Illinois and only threw 4 passes with 1 completion.  Most people that didn't see the game would think it was a bad game by him but the reason they didn't pass more was the 30-40 mph winds and the coaches didn't want to risk the young QBs psyche in the swirling winds.  If the game was closer I'm sure they would have passed the ball but the team was content run the clock and win the surest way.  The key for me is that Braxton looked entirely comfortable behind center for the first time all season.  That annoys me a bit because it makes me think that if he'd played more earlier that the Miami and MSU games would have turned out differently.
3. The rise of the Silver Bullets - This years defense is really young and lost 7 starters from last years team and due to injuries have 9 players that are really new.  It takes time for a young defense to learn how to play together and this team is really coming together.  I feel sorry for teams that have to face them next year but they will continue to get better every game this year and as they shut down the previously high powered Illinois offense I expect that to continue.

These were positive signs coming out of the game.  The Buckeyes also have the advantage of a bye week which I expect the coaches used to reflect on the first half of the season and implement changes to better take advantage of their personnel and put together a specific game plan for Wisconsin.

This game is especially important because the Buckeyes should be the favorites in the rest of their games but they need to win this one to have a shot to win the league title.  The coaches know this and can't afford to play passive so I expect no holds barred.

Here are the keys to the game:

• The Ohio State linebackers - Wisconsin isn't very tricky as they expect to run the ball and wear down their opposition.  The one weak area on Ohio State's team is at linebacker as the play has been several levels down from what we've seen in the past.  The players there are big though not especially quick.  That works well against Wisconsin as their running game is a power game so the key is making sure they take good angles.  If they do this they will shut down Wisconsin's running game (meaning <150 yds as you can't shut it down completely).
• Contain Russell Wilson - The defensive line has to stay in their lanes and not let Wilson get to the outside where he can hurt you with his legs.  I expect the Buckeyes to put a safety in the box  to contain the running game and as the cornerbacks will need to stay manned up on the receivers on roll out passes, roll out passes could be especially dangerous.  I expect to see a quite a bit of blitzing to keep Wilson off balance and hopefully contain him.
• The offense needs to keep the defense off the field - Boom Herron has to have a good game and the team needs to have many long drives to keep the defense fresh.  We can't have a let down like happened at Nebraska as the defense folded but the offense didn't do them any favors with the 3 and outs.
• Braxton has to pass the ball - Wisconsin's defense isn't as great as their numbers suggest as their competition thus far hasn't been great (Neb and MSU excepted).  There are holes in this defense and Braxton has to take advantage.  I'm hoping the coaching staff has developed a game plan exclusively for Braxton to take advantage of his talents.  Now that Guiton is the #2 quarterback (and he has similar talents) there is no reason for two gameplans which should allow them to simplify and diversify the offense.  If I was Wisconsin I'd put 9 in the box until Braxton showed he could beat them deep which is why I'd start the game running for the first few plays then start working on the edges with swing passes and out patterns (I know Braxton can do this but we haven't seen one yet).  Once Wisconsin has to play honest, the running game should dominate.

My gut feeling in this game is that people have over rated Wisconsin because they haven't played a single team with a good offense.  Their offense is no doubt good but they haven't played a team with the talent that Ohio State has on defense.  This is absolutely a game that Ohio State can win but it is largely going to fall on the shoulders of the linebackers and Braxton Miller for it to happen.

I'm unsure if the linebackers will be able to hold Wisconsin all game so the Buckeyes are going to need to score points but I do think that Braxton is going to surprise people tonight (Posey would be really nice to have though as I'm still worried about our wide receivers).  Final score - Ohio State 28 - Wisconsin 24

GO BUCKS!!!

JT was a great coach in most every way but micromanagement was his biggest flaw

I just read this article and agree with it almost 100%.

Jim Tressel is a great man and should be remembered as one of the best coaches of all time.  Most of us were annoyed in the past 10 years with his micromanagement but we mostly overlooked it as he gave us wins.

The scary thing is we could have been better if he would have allowed more talented individuals into his inner circle.  During his era the talent level in the rest of the Big Ten declined while Ohio State's talent was as good as ever.  Tressel used that talent to win the surest way and while the results on the field weren't always pretty he won.  The thing is after many of Ohio State's games you were often left with the perception that we made the games a lot harder than we needed.  That was usually because we didn't adapt to what the other defense gave us and instead insisted on running into the strengths of the other team.  We won in spite of that because we outmanned the other team but it did little to prepare us for teams with speed that matched ours.

The fact that Jim Tressel won as many games as he did is a testiment to his ability to micromanage the team but in the end his decision to micromanage punishments were his downfall.  His departure has left a massive hole in the football program and as there is no one on the staff with Jim's ability the only way to fix it is to bring in a new coach and overhaul the whole thing.  The talent level at Ohio State is still great and assuming the NCAA sanctions are light it shouldn't take a decent coach very long to restart the recruiting pipeline that happened in the Tressel era.  Whether they can have the same success on gameday is the big question.

In hindsight that was probably inevitable but I'm sure most people would have never imagined at this time last year that the program would be in this state in a short 12 months.  I for one can't wait for the nightmare to end.

Why did Smith's opinion of Tressel change.

The editor of the Ozone wrote an open letter to Gene Smith that basically were calling him out for not getting invited to last week's press conference.  You can read it here.  My thoughts?

 There are legitimate reasons to be upset at the handling of the situation since the beginning but you write an open letter because of an impromptu press conference?  Seriously?

Despite being a bit frivolous, the article does ask a few good questions, most notably, why did Smith's opinion of Tressel change?

I've always assumed that Gene Smith's initial issue with Jim Tressel was that JT never apologized.  You know that Tressel had to promise this before March's press conference or it wouldn't have been included in the NCAA filing.  Keep in mind that Smith spoke first then Gee and finally Tressel.  Once they both unequivocally endorsed Tressel it was really too late to take it back when Tressel gave his rambling speech that had nothing resembling an apology.  I know Smith and Tressel sat down a few days after the press conference so Smith could instruct Tressel on what he was expecting in an apology but what I saw over the following weeks wasn't any better.*

The apology request disappeared afterward so I always assumed that Smith told Tressel to hold off for the August meetings for a firm statement of responsibility.  About 6 weeks after the March press conference, Smith had an odd conversation with a member of the press that made it obvious that he and JT weren't seeing eye to eye.  In hindsight my suspicion is that time passed the gulf between the two widened from not agreeing about an apology to not agreeing about compliance.

Why would it widen?

One constant of most high level managers is they all have large ego's and people with ego's have a high opinion of their own ideas.  Another constant is the longer someone has been in an organization, the tougher it is for that person to change.  As change is constant in any organization, turf wars are the inevitable result.

When the Compliance Group came back with their recommendations my suspicion is their proposal included a lot of things that would take away a lot of the free reign that Jim Tressel had grown used to over his last 20+ years of coaching.  I know Andy Geiger recommended changes to football compliance so this isn't exactly a new idea.  His long tenure would have allowed that to happen pretty easily but his abrupt departure left the job undone.  When Gene Smith arrived he was in a weak position to implement change in the football program.  Some might say -- well he's the boss and it is his call.  You need to keep in mind that any change in policy still needs to have approval from Smith's bosses and he really was in a weak position to implement change in a program that was winning league championships every year.  All it would have taken was a phone call from Tressel to a few of the football friendly board members and any changes would have been tabled.  I have no doubt that Smith saw the TAT5 situation as an opportunity to improve compliance and when they were told to Jim Tressel he pushed back hard.  At some point Smith insisted and Tressel declined to comply so it went to Gordon Gee and the board. 

Of course all that is conjecture and  all we know is Smith supported Jim Tressel in March then asked for his resignation in May.  One hint we do know is when recently asked how long Smith felt he had spoken too strongly in Tressel's defense, he gave a one word answer - "Days".

I do know the answer to one question from the article - Why has Gene Smith never publicly spoken as to why he changed his mind?  The answer is simple - There is nothing to be gained from airing dirty laundry inside the program.

* "I'm sorry for what Buckeye fans are going through" is not an apology for the act.

Did the Buckeye's Oversign their 2011 class?

Over the weekend James Jackson made headlines on the O-Zone site and all over the internet because he claimed the Buckeyes oversigned.  They key quote was:

“They had an oversigning issue,” Jackson said. “They had to free up a few scholarships, and coach (Jim) Tressel told me I probably wouldn’t play and maybe Ohio State wasn’t the place for me.”

Ohio State fans have long been critical of oversigning as the practice isn't allowed in the Big Ten.  It is a normal practice in the SEC and discussions between these two groups of fans will almost always lead to an argument about the merits of oversigning.  When this article hit the internet it poured fuel on the fire as the SEC fans cackled, "See Ohio State does it too!"

This really bugged me because 1) I think oversigning is wrong on principal and 2) I couldn't imagine the Buckeyes oversigned because they missed out on a player they really wanted on signing day (Aundrey Walker).  I had to figure it out for myself.

Schools don't really share scholarship information with the public but it is pretty easy to figure out who has a scholarship if you are willing to dig a little.  I used two resources to research the Buckeyes scholarships.  The first was the Rivals.com scouting site for scholarships and the Scout.com site for the Buckeye roster.  What I essentially did was cross-check the recruiting list for the last few seasons with the 2010/2011 Buckeye roster to see who was still on the team that had signed a letter of intent to play for Ohio State.

The following are players on the current Buckeye roster (by year recruited / alphabetical order) followed by the year they appear on the Rivals Website:

Recruited Players
Joe Bauserman - 2004
Tyler Moeller - 2006
Evan Blankenship - 2007
Donnie Evege - 2007
Dan Herron - 2007
Nate Oliver - 2007
Solomon Thomas - 2007

Mike Adams - 2008
Michael Brewster - 2008
Ben Buchanan - 2008
Zach Domicone - 2008
Garrett Goebel - 2008
Travis Howard - 2008
Orhian Johnson - 2008
DeVier Posey - 2008
Etienne Sabino - 2008
J.B. Shugarts - 2008
Jacob Stoneburner - 2008
Andrew Sweat - 2008
Nathan Williams - 2008

C.J. Barnett - 2009
Dorian Bell - 2009
Adam Bellamy - 2009
Jaamal Berry - 2009
Zach Boren - 2009
Corey Brown - 2009
Dominic Clarke - 2009
Melvin Fellows - 2009
Chris Fields - 2009
Reid Fragel - 2009
Kenneth Guiton - 2009
Jordan Hall - 2009
Marcus Hall - 2009
Adam Homan - 2009
Carlos Hyde - 2009
Storm Klein - 2009
Corey Linsley - 2009
Jack Mewhort - 2009
Jonathan Newsome - 2009
Johnny Simon - 2009
Jordan Whiting - 2009
Jamie Wood - 2009

Darryl Baldwin - 2010
Drew Basil - 2010
Corey Brown - 2010
Christian Bryant - 2010
David Durham - 2010
Taylor Graham - 2010
Adam Griffin - 2010
Chad Hagan - 2010
Johnathan Hankins - 2010
James Louis - 2010
Scott McVey - 2010
J.T. Moore - 2010
Andrew Norwell - 2010
Verlon Reed - 2010
Bradley Roby - 2010
Roderick Smith - 2010
Tyrone Williams - 2010

Michael Bennett - 2011
Brian Bobek - 2011
Tommy Brown - 2011
Chris Carter - 2011
Jeremy Cash - 2011
Conner Crowell - 2011
Chase Farris - 2011
DerJuan Gambrell - 2011
Curtis Grant - 2011
Doran Grant - 2011
Joel Hale - 2011
Ken Hayes - 2011
Bryce Haynes - 2011
Jeff Heuerman - 2011
Braxton Miller - 2011
Steve Miller - 2011
Ryan Shazier - 2011
Devin Smith - 2011
Evan Spencer - 2011
Ron Tanner - 2011
Antonio Underwood - 2011
Nick Vannett - 2011

Dionte Allen - Transfer

That's a total of 82 scholarship players on the roster right now (60 in school now and 22 true freshman) .  Since it is possible that walk-ons have been given a scholarship I checked each of the following and haven't found any that have been given a scholarship:

Walk-ons
Dan Bain
Dalton Britt
Bo Delande - Preferred
Nate Ebner
Derek Erwin
James Georgiades - Preferred
Tony Harlamert
James Hastings
Tony Jackson
Jon Lorenz
George Makridis
Don Matheney
Chris Maxwell
Taylor Rice
Justin Siems
Spencer Smith
Stewart Smith
Ben St. John
Julian Vann

That leaves the changes that have occurred since last season.  After dropping off graduating seniors you are left with 6 players and I split them into two groups:


Gone but expected to be on roster on signing day

Ejuan Price - Enrolling at Pitt
Terrelle Pryor - Declared for the NFL
James Jackson - Transferred to Grand Valley State


Not expected to be on August roster on signing day
Nic DiLillo - Given a scholarship for 2010 but according to Dave Biddle was kicked from the team last fall.
Sam Longo - Told coaching staff of his intention to transfer in January.
Cardale Jones - Recruited as part of 2011 class but was told at the time he would need to greyshirt

On signing day the Buckeyes had 62 players on scholarship and signed 23 players (excluding the greyshirting Cardale Jones) for the mandated total of 85.  Since then Jackson, Pryor, and Price have left which leaves them at 82 scholarships.

After doing this it does make me wonder what the Buckeyes would have done if Glenville's Aundrey Walker would have signed with the team on signing day as they would have then given 86 scholarships.  My suspicion is since Adam Griffin's scholarship was a last minute gift in 2010 that the same principle held in 2011.  Since Aundrey didn't sign we will never know.

The one thing I know for sure is when James Jackson announced his transfer in March the Buckeyes weren't oversigned and didn't need to make room to get in compliance.

Double standard for Jim Tressel

When the TAT5 story first broke back in December the O-Zone boards were split between the fans that wanted the players kicked from the program and the fans that didn't.  The posts were really heated and I was personally outraged that they'd disrespect the university and do something as stupid as selling their trophies for money.

I wanted those players kicked off the team so we could move forward with players that valued the tradition of Ohio State.  As time went on and the players were allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl I was outraged that the university and the NCAA could allow this to happen.  At that point I put my faith in Jim Tressel.  Certainly he understood the magnitude of what these players had done.  Certainly he would put everything right.

As I posted in another article, Jim Tressel proceeded to have a masterful press conference where he chastised the fans and alumni for thinking of themselves first and not the kids.  Three months later that press conference had a different meaning altogether.

The day in March the news broke about Jim Tressel  it was chaos. Various rumors were coming out and a question was asked on the O-Zone forums:

"To all you people that wanted the players to be kicked from the program in December ... Do you feel the same way about Jim Tressel?"

The question was asked condescendingly as it was unthinkable to most that this could cause Jim Tressel to leave the program.  I started to post but stopped myself.  I didn't know what to think as frankly we didn't have all the information at the time.  Even a few weeks later when I wrote the post I linked above I hesitated because I didn't want to face it.  The truth in hindsight is what Jim Tressel did was unpardonable.  He's the coach and  he can't lie to the NCAA.  He had to go.

My first reaction when the question posed above was asked was ... "He has to go too!"  I didn't think about it but it was my gut reaction.  It's funny how we react when we are faced with tough situations.  Being human means any decision can be affected by our emotions and it is up to us to see if we remain true to our values or bend them because of past deeds (or wins).  I modified my opinion over times because while the rest of the world was calling for his head, Buckeye Nation was pretty much following Gordon Gee and Gene Smith's lead in supporting the coach.  There were a few Buckeye trendsetters like Bruce Hooley and I personally remember being chastised repeatedly for even suggesting that Jim Tressel lied as many thought it was a grand conspiracy of some sort.  Despite the administration's support, public opinion gradually shifted and Jim Tressel went from 90% support to barely a majority with the minority getting more vocal every single day.  I found it funny as I saw my opinion go from being a radical Buckeye hater to being called a mindless supporter.  My position never changed -- once Gene Smith said they were going to support the coach and present information to the NCAA in August I felt we owed it to Coach Tressel to give him his day in court before making a final judgement.  Pressure mounted though and ultimately Jim Tressel decided to end the circus by resigning.

In hindsight I wish I had stood by my gut reaction because although I still think Coach is a good man he just had to go.  Taking a position like that would have been tough in Columbus back in March but I regret having a double standard.  I know I was uncompromising in December when I felt the players should have been kicked from the team but caved when the subject changed to the coach.

In the end I think that's the key.  We love our heroes and Jim Tressel was a hero for Buckeye Nation. We would have followed him almost anywhere and believed anything he said until he was proven to be human like the rest of us.  It took a while for us to realize it and once we did the double standard disappeared.  Once that happened, it was impossible for Jim Tressel to remain coach of the Buckeyes and his departure was only a matter of time.

Dorhmann will get credit for Coach Tressel's dismissal but it had been in the works for weeks

The brass at Ohio State didn't even know there would be an article until it was pretty much too late to do anything. You just don't find out on Friday there is going to be an article and fire him on Monday. At that point they don't even know if the allegations in the article are true or even exactly what is going to be said. It takes a while to do these things because lawyers will always be involved. Yes I know Ohio State has the misstatement on the October compliance report as cause but the last thing they want is a public battle of any sort. You just don't get that kind of agreement over a holiday weekend.

I've thought for a while that if the administrators were going to fire Jim Tressel that they had to do it now. The NCAA has been in town for a while and I'd be disappointed if there hasn't been off the record conversations between Gene Smith, The Compliance Group, and key members of the NCAA infractions committee about "what can we expect?" Assuming the response wasn't good for Coach Tressel, waiting until the official ruling could be devastating. Once camp starts making a change any time before NLoI day in February would be really messy. Better to do it now to minimize the damage to the program than wait and affect the regular season and recruiting.

Dohrmann will get the rep as someone that fired Coach Tressel but it isn't true. He just had fortunate timing for his article.