What If . . .

[andrewharrington]

Would you have found a way to get Teddy Ginn the ball more than four times?

I know I would, whether it be at tailback for two or three downs each possession or just throwing it his way more than twice the whole game. Lord knows he can outrun somebody deep at least once in a game, so long as one of your quarterbacks can make a decent throw. Hell, even line him up at quarterback like they did in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State, and let him run quarterback draws. He played quarterback for three years in high school, Jim. He should have been touching the ball at least five times a quarter, instead of four times the whole game. He can't make plays if he never gets the ball. If ol' Jimmy is going to leave him out of the offense that much, he should be playing defense, too. He was in fact an All-Ohio defensive back in high school, and could've helped against that Young-Pittman connection.

On a side note, Ryan Hamby should get a pink slip for that debacle on the goal line in which he not only mishandled and tipped, but then flat-out dropped after contact a perfect five-yard touchdown pass from J. Zwick, which, in retrospect, would have likely won the game.

[Mings]

You go to OU, why are you rooting for OSU? Are you drunk again? I mean, its not even Halloween yet. By the way, are you gonna put me up for the weekend?

[slapshot]

If I were Jim Tressell, I would go around saying "my name rhymes with vessel".

[Cyclopsis Joe]

If my name was Jim Tressel, I'd name a railroad bridge after me so it'd be the Tressel Tressel (sp?).

[infrared41]

Would you have found a way to get Teddy Ginn the ball more than four times?

I know I would, whether it be at tailback for two or three downs each possession or just throwing it his way more than twice the whole game. Lord knows he can outrun somebody deep at least once in a game, so long as one of your quarterbacks can make a decent throw. Hell, even line him up at quarterback like they did in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State, and let him run quarterback draws. He played quarterback for three years in high school, Jim. He should have been touching the ball at least five times a quarter, instead of four times the whole game. He can't make plays if he never gets the ball. If ol' Jimmy is going to leave him out of the offense that much, he should be playing defense, too. He was in fact an All-Ohio defensive back in high school, and could've helped against that Young-Pittman connection.

The problem was that The Buckeyes were leading most of the game. When that happens Tressel gets too conservative. If it were me, I would have done everything I could to finish off Texas as quickly as possible and that means Ted Ginn would have been used A LOT. All he needed to do was bust one play open and that game is probably over. And I never would have tried that 50 yard field goal.

Still I have to give the Longhorns all the credit in the world. They came into one of the toughest places to play in the country and won. They look like they might be the real deal this year. They didn't play that great but they still got the job done. That's a sign of a championship team.

I thought the Buckeyes still looked a lot better than Iowa or Michigan. Haven't seen Purdue yet but I think the Bucks are still have a very good shot at winning the Big 10. Now I just have to sit back and hope a lot of teams lose so we can climb back into the hunt for the Rose Bowl.

[andrewharrington]

Would you have found a way to get Teddy Ginn the ball more than four times?

I know I would, whether it be at tailback for two or three downs each possession or just throwing it his way more than twice the whole game. Lord knows he can outrun somebody deep at least once in a game, so long as one of your quarterbacks can make a decent throw. Hell, even line him up at quarterback like they did in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State, and let him run quarterback draws. He played quarterback for three years in high school, Jim. He should have been touching the ball at least five times a quarter, instead of four times the whole game. He can't make plays if he never gets the ball. If ol' Jimmy is going to leave him out of the offense that much, he should be playing defense, too. He was in fact an All-Ohio defensive back in high school, and could've helped against that Young-Pittman connection.

The problem was that The Buckeyes were leading most of the game. When that happens Tressel gets too conservative. If it were me, I would have done everything I could to finish off Texas as quickly as possible and that means Ted Ginn would have been used A LOT. All he needed to do was bust one play open and that game is probably over. And I never would have tried that 50 yard field goal.

Still I have to give the Longhorns all the credit in the world. They came into one of the toughest places to play in the country and won. They look like they might be the real deal this year. They didn't play that great but they still got the job done. That's a sign of a championship team.

I thought the Buckeyes still looked a lot better than Iowa or Michigan. Haven't seen Purdue yet but I think the Bucks are still have a very good shot at winning the Big 10. Now I just have to sit back and hope a lot of teams lose so we can climb back into the hunt for the Rose Bowl.

Definitely agree on the conservatism with the lead. After Hamby dropped the game winner, It was obvious we needed to score a touchdown to win the game. 4th down from the 33 yard line? Come on, Jim. The defense has contained the Texas offense for the better part of three and a half quarters. Go for it!

I agree there are many dangerous teams out there. USC and Texas obviously. USC at Notre Dame is shaping up to be an interesting matchup, though. Even if Texas loses, they will still probably beat us out in the BCS rankings because of the huge quality win they got for beating us. Virgina Tech has to handle Florida State and Miami in all likelihood, and now that I think about it, Florida State could be undefeated if they beat Virginia tech and Florida. I suppose we'll see if Notre Dame is for real when they play USC. My sleeper is Wisconsin. If their defense can hold up or improve, they could run the table. They have Mchigan, Purdue, and Iowa all at home this year, and they don't play us. We still have a shot if we win out. It's really not in our hands anymore. We have to get lucky. Credit to the Longhorns, I've always liked them, and I have a cousin who goes there, but we'll get 'em in Austin next year. I do feel kinda bad for Ryan Hamby, though:

Ohio State tight end Ryan Hamby told the Akron Beacon Journal that he has received "a couple hate" e-mails after dropping a sure touchdown pass in the Buckeyes' 25-22 loss to Texas.

Hamby let an 8-yard pass pop off his chest on third and goal late in the third quarter. A touchdown and extra point would have extended the Buckeyes' lead over Texas to 26-16. However, Ohio State had to settle for a field goal and later gave up the lead.

Hamby, a fifth-year senior, wouldn't elaborate on what the e-mails said, when asked by the newspaper.

"Just dumb things," he told the Beacon Journal. "You almost want to go, 'In the scheme of life, you've got things going on around the world. It's just a game.' I didn't approach it like that, but it is and it happened. I can't do anything about it."

Ohio State, which entered the top-10 showdown ranked No. 4 in The Associated Press poll, dropped to No. 9 in the latest AP poll. Texas remained No. 2, behind top-ranked Southern California.

[andrewharrington]

Josh, what are you talking about? Everyone in Ohio roots for Ohio State becasue its the only major-conference football team worth a damn in the state. Toledo, BG, Miami, and other MAC teams in the state are getting good, but it's not like they are OSU rivals or anything.

Im an RA, so I have to work until 3 AM Halloween Weekend, but you are welcome to come down as my guest, just let me know.

[mac]

If my name were Jim Tressel there is no way in hell I put in Justin zwick in with 2:30 left in the game down by one and the ball on the twenty yard line. Everyone at the party I was at was screaming for Troy Smith. What does zwick do the first series of the possession, he fumbles while trying to run with it.

[andrewharrington]

True. Everyone in my lobby got pissed that Justin Zwick was in for the defining series of the game. I really hoped he would orchestrate a stellar drive and win it, because I feel bad that everyone likes Troy Smith better. That really wasn't the reason we lost the game, though, even though most people are blaming Zwick and Hamby for the loss. I really amstarting to dislike Jim Tressel's conservative playcalling.

Whenever we face a big game and we get a big, convincing lead, it always dwindles to a few points and that's how the game is decided. We've had such a great team, good enough to completely dominate big games. They do it in the beginning, then trail off in the second half because of plopty playcalling. In 2002, there's no way Miami should ever have come back from two touchdowns back to send the Fiesta Bowl to overtime. It seems like Jim Tressel and his offensive coordinator play not to lose instead of play to win.

Either way, missed opportunities was the name of the game on Saturday, whatever way you look at it, not only did we get field goals all night, but we got field goals off three turnovers, which could have ended the Longhorns' hopes had we scored even one touchdown. That and not putting the ball in the hands of your big play guys; SIX receptions combined for two of the most dangerous wide receivers in the country. Plus the missed field goal, (I miss Mike Nugent) but we should have gone for it on 4th down from the 33 yard line with the game on the line like that, even 4th and 14; use those receivers!

They also should have let Texas score at the end so they could have started their march down 8 points from much better field position with 2:05 on the clock and 3 timeouts instead of from their own 1 with :19 on the clock and no timeouts. Great thinking.

[Mings]

Josh, what are you talking about? Everyone in Ohio roots for Ohio State becasue its the only major-conference football team worth a damn in the state. Toledo, BG, Miami, and other MAC teams in the state are getting good, but it's not like they are OSU rivals or anything.

Im an RA, so I have to work until 3 AM Halloween Weekend, but you are welcome to come down as my guest, just let me know.

I know, I'm just messing with ya. At the big UC-OSU game a few years ago, there were way more OSU fans.

And 3AM that sucks. But if you get to work it with a chick that makes it worth while.

[rainmaker17]

Can anyone here admit Texas has a decent football team? Of course we could have lost....easily. The Horns went into one of the most hostile environments in college football, commited/had forced three turnovers, can't cover kicks...and still managed to win. I think that is impressive.

Texas has no past with Ohio State.

When no. 2 plays no. 4 something has to give. Does it have to be Tressell bungled it? Ginn wasn't used properly. Hamby gets death treats? Maybe Texas is worthy of a little praise.

[infrared41]

Can anyone here admit Texas has a decent football team? Of course we could have lost....easily. The Horns went into one of the most hostile environments in college football, commited/had forced three turnovers, can't cover kicks...and still managed to win. I think that is impressive.

Texas has no past with Ohio State.

When no. 2 plays no. 4 something has to give. Does it have to be Tressell bungled it? Ginn wasn't used properly. Hamby gets death treats? Maybe Texas is worthy of a little praise.

Read my earlier post dude. I said I gave Texas all the credit in the world, said they were the real deal, that they didn't play that well and still beat a really good team in a very tough road game and that they had championship quality. I think that's conceding that they are at least decent don't you? I think if you read some other posts you'll see I wasn't the only one to give Texas credit.

[HappyBrownie13]

Tempest, you go to OU? I'm a freshman in Brown Hall...that Pitt game was sick! Maybe you could gimme the scoop on my RA

[pcgd]

Illinois owns the Big Ten this year!

2-0 baby!

[cableguy]

As a huge Ohio State and Jim Tressel fan, I was shocked and disappointed by their performance against Texas. Tressel played the whole game "not to lose". He was way too conservitive and almost coached scared. You are correct in the fact that Ginn should have been used alot more...not only did it cost his team a victory but it also cost him any hopes at the Heisman trophy.

I knew at halftime the Bucks were going to lose that game...you cant get in the red zone four times and settle for four field goals thus keeping Texas in the game way too long...you had to know Young would find a way to get his team in the end zone. I felt especially bad for the buckeyes linebackers who played the game of their lives and deserved a better fate.

If you would have told me at the beginning of the year, that by week TWO...Oklahoma, Michigan AND Ohios State would all suffer HOME losses...I wouldnt have believed you. What and interesting year it has been!

[pcgd]

... Michigan AND Ohios State would all suffer HOME losses...I wouldnt have believed you. What and interesting year it has been!

and that the ENTIRE Big Ten (minus purdue who didn't have a game) won in week one. Last time that happend? 1985.

[yh]

Illinois owns the Big Ten this year!

2-0 baby!

Please . . .

Wait . . . . UNM 45, Mizzou 35.

Crap, I got nothin'.

Go Tigers -- beat Troy.

----sigh---