Puskas: Meyer’s coaching deserves credit

Random thoughts as we get closer to the end of another football season:

COACH OF THE YEAR

What does Urban Meyer have to do to get some respect?

The Big Ten gave its Coach of the Year Award to Minnesota’s Jerry Kill, whose Gophers went 8-4 in the regular season.

The Associated Press named TCU’s Gary Patterson its National Coach of the Year.

Meyer, whose Buckeyes will meet Oregon in the first College Football Playoff Championship tonight, should have won both awards.

Consider:

Ohio State lost Heisman Trophy candidate Braxton Miller to a shoulder injury a week before the season began.

The Buckeyes replaced Miller with J.T. Barrett, a redshirt freshman. They lost at home in September to a bad Virginia Tech team.

But Barrett himself developed into a Heisman candidate, passing for 2,834 yards and 34 touchdowns and running for 938 yards and 11 TDs as Ohio State worked itself back into the CFP picture.

Then Barrett went down with a fractured ankle in the regular-season finale against Michigan.

No matter. Meyer and Buckeyes offensive coordinator Tom Herman handed the keys to the offense to sophomore Cardale Jones, who played like a seasoned veteran as Ohio State crushed Wisconsin, 59-0, in the Big Ten title game and then “upset” Alabama, 42-35, in the Sugar Bowl.

Tonight, the Buckeyes have a very real opportunity to win their first national title since Jan. 3, 2003. And if it happens, Jones — who began the season as the third-string QB — will be a major reason for it.

You can credit that to the fact that Ohio State had Barrett and Jones in reserve, but how about some recognition for a coach and a staff who got Barrett and Jones ready to play?

But hey, Meyer wasn’t even the best coach in the Big Ten this season.

HISTORY LESSON

Meyer getting snubbed by the Big Ten? No surprise there. This goes back decades.

Earle Bruce was the last Buckeyes coach to be named Coach of the Year in the Big Ten, and that was in 1979 — his first season.

John Cooper never won it. Jim Tressel never won it, and his OSU teams dominated the Big Ten for a decade.

Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz has won it three times (2002, ’04, ’09). Several others, including Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio (2010, ’13) and former Penn State coach Joe Paterno (2005, ’08), have won it twice.

Even Ron Zook (Illinois, 2007) and John L. Smith (Michigan State, 2003) have won the award.

The biggest head-scratcher on the list?

Dennis Green was the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1982 after leading Northwestern to a 3-8 record.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF FOOTBALL

A thought came to mind after watching two weeks of the NFL playoffs:

Most of these teams are playing a different game than the one I watched the Cleveland Browns play during the regular season.

And that’s after the Browns won seven games, the most victories they’ve had in a season since 2007.

This was especially true in this weekend’s AFC and NFC Divisional games. It starts at QB, where the Browns had Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel and Connor Shaw. I watched Andrew Luck, Tom Brady, Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers make play after play to help move their teams within one victory of a Super Bowl and marveled at the thought of having a QB who can take over a game.

Of course, it’s not just a QB thing holding back the Browns. How would those four guys fare if you stuck them in Cleveland’s offense?

OFFENSIVE FOOTBALL

And speaking of the Browns’ offense, it is likely to look different next season after offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan’s exit.

It had been too quiet since the end of their season. You just knew something had to happen.

The only question now is who the Browns’ new offensive coordinator will be tutoring once he’s hired. Will it be Manziel or Hoyer or someone else?

Never a dull moment with the Browns. Seldom a winning moment, but never a dull one, as evidenced last week with the news that Shanahan and QBs coach Dowell Loggains were gone.

JOIN ME FOR LUNCH

Thanks to the Curbstone Coaches for the invitation to speak at the organization’s weekly luncheon today at Lucianno’s Banquet Center in Austintown.

The event begins at noon and is open to the public.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.