Todd Porter: Tressel never went for the knockout vs. USC
By Todd Porter
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Sep 13, 2009 @ 12:55 AM
COLUMBUS —
When Ohio State players arrived at their lockers before Saturday night’s defining moment against No. 3 USC, each player found a sheet of paper in his locker. On it was that player’s number and a list of former great Buckeyes who wore it.
That wasn’t what got their attention. It was the question at the end.
“Can you contribute to the legacy of this number?”
Terrelle Pryor, wearing No. 2 the same as three-time All American Mike Doss and Cris Carter, almost did his part. Brian Rolle, wearing No. 36 just as Chris Spielman did, almost did his part.
One by one all the way down Ohio State’s roster, the Buckeyes almost did their parts to add to the legacy of their individual numbers. In one of the biggest games in Ohio Stadium history — a game to regain respect or lose what little the Buckeyes had left — Ohio State had a chance to slay the beast.
Instead, Jim Tressel opted to poke it and run, doing just enough to annoy USC, but not put it down. In the end, he left the door open — and the Trojans marched through for an 18-15 win.
Ohio State didn’t get blown out, but moral victories don’t make anyone feel better. Not Saturday night, when the Buckeyes were so close to being perched where it once stood.
Tressel challenged his players to add to the Ohio State legacy and then seemed to coach scared with a lead. The Buckeyes weren’t outplayed on the biggest stage as much as they were outsmarted and outcoached.
Pete Carroll coached like he believed all along the Trojans would win.
“We just didn’t come up with enough of the things you need to do to win a ballgame like that,” Tressel said. “You need to score more than five points in the second half, and they came up with plays on that last drive when they needed to, and so they go home with the spoils.”
Tressel coached like he was playing with house money.
“They have an arsenal of everything,” defensive tackle and co-captain Doug Worthington said. “They have offensive linemen that come in and play right away. They have quarterbacks who are freshmen. Pete Carroll reloads all the time.”
Then Worthington uttered the phrase that would stick with the Buckeyes all week. He remembered the movie “Gladiator.”
“Whatever they bring at us, we have to stick together,” Worthington said. “Like the gladiator said, whatever comes at us out of those gates we stick together.”
The actual line from the movie came when Maximus said, “Whatever comes out of these gates, we have a better chance of survival if we work together. Do you understand? We stay together, we survive.”
Tressel coached like he was the hunted rather than the hunter. Tressel nursed a five-point lead like a newborn infant.
He’ll be haunted by a decision he made in the fourth quarter. Tressel never went for the knockout.
In the middle of that quarter, he turned his nose at a 53-yard field goal that would have given the Buckeyes an 8-point lead and placed another chip on Carroll’s shoulder.
Kicker Aaron Pettrey has drilled five field goals in his career of 50 yards or more and the 53-yarder was a yard shy of his career best.
Tressel punted. He coached safe. Carroll gambled. His offense converted 3-of-4 fourth-down plays.
“I suppose in hindsight ... we could have taken a shot at the long field goal there at the end to put it to eight,” Tressel said, the look on his face saying he, too, second-guessed the decision. “The thinking there was if we didn’t make it, we didn’t want to put our defense in that situation, and we thought we’d be better served to punt it way down there, which (Jon) Thoma did a great job all night down there. We didn’t finish the job.”
Carroll practically dared Tressel to kick the field. Ohio State took a delay of game penalty on purpose to give Thoma more room. Carroll declined it.
Tressel had a brief conversation with Pettrey. He still declined to kick the field goal. Carroll declined the penalty because he knew Tressel is Fox News and USC coaches like MSNBC.
In the end, Tressel wanted to save his defense from being a tough spot — like 21 yards of field position would have made a difference — when that’s the unit he could afford most to be put in a tough spot. Ohio State’s defense nearly won that game.
The offense looked confused with 61 ticks left and about 35 yards needs for a game-tying field goal.
“We have a long way to go,” running back Dan “Boom” Herron said.
USC had the ball 86 yards away from the end zone and needed a touchdown with 7:15 left in the game.
Carroll never flinched. He knew all along how it would end.
Painfully, predictably, so did Ohio State.