My humble opinion and state of mind....

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Well we are now 3-2 and 0-2 in the big ten and I have read countless threads and numerous articles and listened to has been coaches turned commentators and never was players critize and over analyze Coach T and the OSU team....here is my two cents for what it is worth....

I have been a life long OSU fan and had to endure the John Cooper era, that included just two wins against SCUM and eight years of three or more loses and I just wonder how many of you remember what it felt like during those years to have no shot at beating SCUM...I sure do and its something that I never want to go through again.

During Coach T's era we have already won a Big Ten Championship, a National Championship and went to three bowl games, in just 3.5 years at the helm.

This year we had to replace 14 players who were drafted and each played a key role in the last two years, including a quarterback who only lost three times in his career. At OSU we have certain expectations, good or bad that we simply just reload and not rebuild, well we have gotten a dose of reality that it is hard to replace a record 14 players taken in the draft, a shutdown corner, pretty much the whole O line, Three starters off the D line, the All american safety, punter and not to mention a senior MLB. We have alot of talented players still here but with little to no experience at key positions, including:

quarterback, receiver, three on the O line and three on the D line, safety and corner and the punter....thats alot to overcome.

We have a quarterback who shows flashes of being above average to being downright horrible, which can be contributed to lack of experience, he is a sophmore, he has five games under his belt and we expect him to not have some growing pains. I believe that Troy Smith deserves a shot at some playing time, but recently Coach T has said that Troy needs to practice better and I dont know call me old school, but I was always told you practice like you play.

The running game and offensive line go hand in hand, we don't have a decent offensive line which is hampering our running backs and quarterback. Some changes need to be made up front and I guess they have pulled the trigger because Kirk Barton is getting the start on Saturday, we need to see Pittman more and we need to give him the ball 15-20 times, not less than 10.

The point I am trying to make is that we have a talented but young team with little to no senior leadership and it has shown thus far, do I think they are a bad team....no....do I think they are a good team...yes....but they need some confidence and they need a spark, wehter its a qb change or different running back....thats not my call....thats coach T....he has more wins than all of us.....he is a proven winner....and I will not overly critize him for throwing pretty much a new team out on the field and not getting it done, it will take some time.

I hear everyone complaining about his conservative nature, but against Wisconsin he opened it up and the play calling was pretty good but the execution was horrible. We will continue to struggle until Zwick gets over the hump or there is a change, the qb is key and the O line must improve.

[BuckeyeCrazy#1]

I agree with you man!

[scooter1369]

Originally Posted by bucknuts44820

I have been a life long OSU fan and had to endure the John Cooper era, that included just two wins against SCUM and eight years of three or more loses and I just wonder how many of you remember what it felt like during those years to have no shot at beating SCUM...I sure do and its something that I never want to go through again.

During most of the Cooper era, when we lost to scUM, it was an upset. We should have won 9 of those easily. Cooper choked on it. It wasn't a matter of having no chance. It was a matter of Cooper downplaying the biggest rivalry in sports and the players letting him.

[BuckeyeBlitz04]

We have a quarterback who shows flashes of being above average to being downright horrible, which can be contributed to lack of experience, he is a sophmore, he has five games under his belt and we expect him to not have some growing pains. I believe that Troy Smith deserves a shot at some playing time, but recently Coach T has said that Troy needs to practice better and I dont know call me old school, but I was always told you practice like you play.


I hear everyone complaining about his conservative nature, but against Wisconsin he opened it up and the play calling was pretty good but the execution was horrible. We will continue to struggle until Zwick gets over the hump or there is a change, the qb is key and the O line must improve.


Let SMITH start against IOWA!

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

During most of the Cooper era, when we lost to scUM, it was an upset. We should have won 9 of those easily. Cooper choked on it. It wasn't a matter of having no chance. It was a matter of Cooper downplaying the biggest rivalry in sports and the players letting him.

You are exactly right scooter, thats why I said we had no chance at beating Scum because we clearly had the better teams but with him at the helm, we were at a disavantage......

[MililaniBuckeye]

Nice to see some true perspective here...my head still hurts from all the pieces of sky falling on it.

[scooter1369]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Nice to see some true perspective here...my head still hurts from all the pieces of sky falling on it.

Bet that hurts...

[BB73]

During most of the Cooper era, when we lost to scUM, it was an upset. We should have won 9 of those easily. Cooper choked on it.

Instead of watching TSUN game films in preparation for The Game, Coop should have been watching 'Deep Throat' nonstop, in order to learn how not to choke on the big ones.

I remember that President Nixon saw that movie repeatedly in order to get it down Pat.

[ScarletArrow]

I remember when we hired Coop after his Rose Bowl victory over scUM with Ariz St. - everyone thought 'we hired a guy who could beat scUM' - boy we're we wrong.

Four years after JT is gone (whenever that may be) - and having the advantage of history to look back on like we do now with Coop - we'll see this two game streak and / or this 'rebuilding' season as a mere hiccup in an otherwise outstanding model of consistency in JT's coaching career.

[Sdgobucks]

Originally Posted by bucknuts44820

I have been a life long OSU fan and had to endure the John Cooper era, that included just two wins against SCUM and eight years of three or more loses and I just wonder how many of you remember what it felt like during those years to have no shot at beating SCUM...I sure do and its something that I never want to go through again.

During Coach T's era we have already won a Big Ten Championship, a National Championship and went to three bowl games, in just 3.5 years at the helm.

I agree, Cooper Choked it up big time. There is nothing that makes me long for Cooper.

Originally Posted by bucknuts44820

I hear everyone complaining about his conservative nature, but against Wisconsin he opened it up and the play calling was pretty good but the execution was horrible. We will continue to struggle until Zwick gets over the hump or there is a change, the qb is key and the O line must improve.

Yep, hopefully some of Zwicks great practice sessions will turn into great games. The O line does need to improve. I think we have the right kids, I just question how they are being coached. This "Pro blocking" system Bollman uses may be to complex for college kids to learn, I don't know. I know the offensive line hasnt played well since Bollman has been the coach. I will say that I was impressed with the job they did in the first half against a great Wisconsin D line. Hopefully Bollman is getting things together, and the O line will have a great rest of the year.

[Bestbuck36]

I agree on the optimism, its just hard for us to see all the talent on this team and wonder why we don't win every game. Such is the life of a Buckeye fan! Perfection is the only thing tolerated, thats why we are the best school in history football and fan wise! Things will get turned around this weekend at Iowa.

[bukIpower]

I disagree with you...... Only reason is I think alot of the guys use this as a venting type of thing... Me included! haha we all know we'd never get it done at OSU, but its just fun to have our 2 cents thats all......We all also know Tressel is a very good coach, and there are some that bash him which sucks but its peoples opinions so you're just as wrong bashing the bashers if that even makes sense? Just on Record I don't bash Tressel......Now I question what Bollman is doing as well as Snyder sometimes but their proffesionals, and I'm just asking questions more than telling whats wrong.