Sunday, January 18, 2015
Jim Tressel still knows a lot about Ohio State football.
And since his 2009 Buckeyes beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2010, it was clear he still knows a little something about the Ducks.
Duck hunting, that is.
So when Tressel — now Youngstown State’s president — arrived in Arlington, Texas, for the first College Football Playoff Championship Game, everyone wanted his take.
The questions actually started before Tressel even boarded a plane. Our Joe Scalzo, who interviewed Tressel about his election to the College Football Hall of Fame a few days before the game, was able to get a prediction from the former Penguins and Buckeyes coach.
“Ohio State, of course,” Tressel said.
But he stopped short of a margin of victory.
“I can’t go that far,” he told Scalzo. “I’ll be accused of betting. As long as it’s one point, it’s enough.”
Well, it turned out to be far more than one. Ohio State beat Oregon, 42-20.
Tressel admitted to being a bit more forthcoming on his prediction when he got to Texas, where he and Kansas State coach Bill Snyder — also elected to the College Football Hall of Fame — participated in the coin flip at AT&T Stadium.
“Guys were asking what I thought about it and I told the media folks it would be 38-20,” Tressel said Saturday, when he appeared with Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench at YSU’s annual First-Pitch Breakfast at the Maronite Center.
The former coach’s prognostication methods were simple enough.
“I thought Oregon’s offense was a little better than it was when we played them in 2010, when they scored 17 against us, and I thought our offense was a little better than it was in 2010, when we scored 26,” Tressel said.
In Monday’s game, the Buckeyes led 21-10 at halftime and although the Ducks got within a point in the third quarter, by the game’s waning minutes Ohio State was in control, 35-20. The Buckeyes added a touchdown in the final minute after the Ducks turned the ball over on downs deep in their own end.
“So it could have been 35-20 or it could have been 48-20 if things had happened a little differently,” Tressel said. “I thought 42-20 was pretty close [to my prediction].”
But for Tressel, the most enjoyable part of the trip — aside from seeing Ohio State’s first national championship since his 2002 Buckeyes beat Miami in double-overtime — was catching up with so many of his former players.
“It was great to see everyone and feel the excitement before the game,” Tressel said.
When Tressel and Snyder were ushered to midfield, they got there via the Oregon sideline.
“We probably would have needed more time to get there if we’d come from the other side,” Tressel said. “I’d have seen so many more people I knew.”
Like Cardale Jones, who went from virtually known third-string quarterback to national championship hero. On Thursday, Jones — a Tressel recruit — announced he would return to Ohio State instead of declaring for the NFL draft.
No surprise there for Tressel. And no surprise that Jones performed so well when it mattered most.
“He’s such a calm young man,” Tressel said. “He’s been through a lot in his life and he’s always stayed the course.”
In 25 years of coaching, Tressel said he never saw a team lose its top two QBs and still perform at such a high level.
That the Buckeyes overcame all that adversity is a tribute to the talent in the Ohio State program. Urban Meyer will get the majority of credit — as he should — for that championship, but Jones and other Tressel recruits played key roles.
And yet, a number of Ohio State’s key players were freshmen and sophomores, which should man the Buckeyes are positioned well to perhaps go back-to-back, like Alabama most recently.
Maybe it’s the SEC-type speed that started coming to Columbus under Tressel and has increased since Meyer took over the program.
“Speed does matter and talent does matter,” Tressel said. “We were getting better that way and Urban has done a great job of getting talented kids.
“It’s a quarterback-driven game now and if you have those kinds of players, you’re going to have a better chance to be successful.”
Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.