Football
10 Things We Learned from a Sixth Straight Win over Michigan
By Brandon CastelANN ARBOR, Mich. – Another year, another Jim Tressel victory over Michigan.
You may not like how he does it, but Tressel has mastered the art of beating the Wolverines unlike any other coach in school history.
Yes, that includes Woody Hayes.
Not since the turn of the century, that would be the 20th century, as in 1900-1910, has a coach won eight games in a decade of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry.
We take a look at 10 things we learned from Tressel’s sixth straight win over Michigan, his eighth in nine seasons in Columbus.
10. Brandon Graham is a first-round NFL talent. Even that might not do him justice, but this isn’t about projecting draft stock. The Buckeyes specifically game-planned to stop Michigan’s one explosive defensive player and even that couldn’t keep Graham from making four big stops in the backfield, including an 8-yard sack on Pryor. Playing his very last game as a Wolverine, Graham beat double-teams and even ran down Pryor from behind as he proved to be as good or better than any of the other defensive ends Ohio State has faced this season.
9. Losing Ryan Mallett set Michigan back three years, minimum. No offense to Tate Forcier – who despite his five turnovers, showed some glimpses of ability against the Buckeye defense – but it’s interesting to think what this game might have been like with Ryan Mallett under center running Lloyd Carr’s offense (or really anyone’s but Rich Rodriguez). Mallett was a five-star stud coming out of high school and watching him play at Arkansas (313 yards, 5 TD’s today) it’s hard to think this kid won’t be playing on Sunday’s in the near future. He has a rocket arm and the numbers he has put up in his first season at Arkansas (2,885 yards, 23 TD’s, 4 INT’s) are mind-boggling considering he is playing against SEC defenses every week.
8.Justin Boren made the right decision. Are there still people out there who think Boren would have been better off staying at Michigan? Really? His new set of Gold Pants, Big Championship ring and date with the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day say differently. By the same token, are there still people who think Ohio State would have been better off without him? Really? By all accounts, Boren has been the Buckeyes best offensive lineman this season and he has brought toughness to a group that has cleared the way for five straight 200-yard rushing performances. Despite the jeers of understandably pissed off Michigan fans, Boren went out and had one of his best games ever in his return to the Big House, including a pancake block against defensive tackle Mike Martin on Brandon Saine’s long touchdown run.
7. Nintendo it's not, the offensive line is playing at another level. It wasn’t just Boren who turned in a fine day against the Wolverines Saturday. Count left tackle Jim Cordle as another lineman who had one of the best games of his career against Michigan as the same five guys played nearly every snap of the game. They couldn’t contain Graham the entire day, but they managed to limit the damage while neutralizing the rest of Michigan’s defense. With 251 yards on the ground, the Buckeyes have now rushed for at least 220 yards in each of the last five games, and Jim Bollman’s group is playing at its highest level since 2006 pre-title game.
“There’s no secrets, this isn’t like playing Nintendo,” Bollman said after the game.
“Guys get better or guys get worse. That’s one of the things that we try to do is continually improve so that at the end of the season we're as close to as good as we can be.”
7. Aint no party like a Big House party. Buckeye fans have celebrated victory in a number of stadiums over the years – including of course their own – but there just seems to be something extra special about partying at the Big House. After the game ended, captain Kurt Coleman led the charge into the OSU section, doing his best Lambeau Leap impression into the south stands. The band struck up 7 Nation Army and the players stuck roses between their teeth in a celebration that mirrored the one that took place here two years ago. In fact, this current group of fifth-year seniors has been around for three straight wins in Michigan Stadium, but none of them featured as much scarlet in the stands as the one Saturday.
6. Kurt Coleman will be missed. This senior class certainly isn’t as heralded as the one that included 28 guys a year ago (although it would been pretty stout with Beanie Wells, Brian Hartline and Donald Washington added to it) but there are a handful of seniors who will truly be missed next season. While Doug Worthington, Todd Denlinger and Lawrence Wilson have anchored one of the best defensive fronts in the country, the player OSU will miss the most next year is safety Kurt Coleman. A playmaker in every sense of the word, Coleman had two more picks Saturday – giving him five for the season and nine for his career – and nearly had one or two more. He did an excellent job taking away the deep ball for Forcier, but also has the ability to come up and make a big hit. He even slid out to play a little corner to give the Buckeyes a better tacklers when Denard Robinson was in the game at quarterback.
5. Devon Torrence could fill that role. He isn’t an all-star just yet, but look for cornerback Devon Torrence to make that kind of a jump heading into next season. With Coleman gone, the Buckeyes will need someone to step up and make plays in the secondary, and Torrence looks like the guy to do that. He is big and fast and always seems to be around the football. Unlike most corners, Torrence doesn’t shy away from contact, but his biggest asset is the way he attacks the ball like he did on the interception in the end zone Saturday. He still has to work on his coverage in the short passing game, and he did give up a long one last week to the Hawkeyes, but Torrence should be Ohio State’s best all-around defensive back next season.
4. Ross Homan proves he fits the mold of great OSU linebackers. It’s not time to starting talking historically when it comes to Ross Homan (probably never will be), but this kid has turned into one heck of a football player. While Brian Rolle brings the flash – and he had another big game this week – Homan brings the lunch pail and simply goes to work. He had 12 more tackles Saturday, giving him 96 for the season, including a team-high 49 solo stops. He blends Rolle’s speed with Austin Spitler’s physical style of play to form the Buckeyes best all-around defensive performer (apologies to Coleman and Cam Heyward).
3. Jon Thoma is the most inconsistent punter of the Tressel era. It’s hard to label Thoma as terrible after a game where he booted a 54-yard punt and pinned Michigan inside its own 20 on three different occasions, but this guy has one of the most widely erratic legs on the planet. Much like the Penn State game, Thoma set up the first touchdown Saturday, but it came on a ball that hit at the 23-yard line and rolled 15 yards in Ohio State’s favor down to the Michigan seven. He also had punts of 28 and 31 yards, not to mention a 35-yarder in the fourth quarter that gave the Wolverines the ball at midfield. He excels at pinning teams close to their end zone, but it’s gotten to the point where Tressel might need to get Ben Buchanan ready for the long punts in the bowl game.
2. Jim Tressel doesn’t mind being lucky if it means beating Michigan. Just moments after beating Michigan for the sixth straight year to win the outright Big Ten title, OSU coach Jim Tressel was asked about the play call on the counter-read play to Saine that went for a 29-yard touchdown in the second quarter:
“You're going to laugh, but the first one, Saine's touchdown, the student intern, student manager, put the wrong wrist band number on the board, so that was not the play we called. He called that,” Tressel said with a smile.
Upon hearing that a student manager called what ultimately would be the game-winning touchdown, laughter would seem to be the only appropriate response. But that’s just fine by Tressel. When it comes to beating Michigan and winning Big Ten titles, Ohio State’s ninth-year head coach will take it any way he can get it; lucky or good.
1.Terrelle Pryor is becoming a winner. Before Pryor ever stepped foot on the Ohio State campus, it was obvious he was a super athlete. As a 6-foot-6 quarterback with gazelle-like strides and a strong arm, the only question mark surrounding him was how quickly he could go from athlete playing quarterback to athletic quarterback. Fans envisioned the second coming of Vince Young or even Troy Smith, but after 21 starts, Pryor is starting to look more like another former Buckeye quarterback: Craig Krenzel.
Obviously their styles are different, but since his 4-interception game against Purdue, Pryor has become much more of a game-manager who can step up and make big plays with his leg when the game is on the line. Both he and Tressel have always said winning is what matters most, and Pryor is getting a chance to prove that as a sophomore. All he has done in his first two seasons of college football is win two Big Ten Championships, beat Michigan twice and take the Buckeyes two BCS bowl games. Maybe he still will become the next VY or Troy, but Buckeye fans would gladly take the next Krenzel or Rex Kern if it meant bringing another championship to Columbus.
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