Around the Big Ten

[Hannibal]

Yeah, for basically his 8 good teams (out of 10), Tressel only lost one game he absolutely should have won, and that was @Purdue in 2008. The only other game that might qualify is the loss to Illinois and Juice Williams at home, but they were 9-4. In his '8 good seasons" the records of teams that beat him:

7-6 (@Wisconsin at night -- that's always a dogfight)
10-3
13-0
11-1
13-1
9-4
12-2
12-1
11-2
12-1
9-4
5-7
11-2

He got boat raced by the stupid good 2008 USC and, of course, UFM's Florida team. But his teams would have never got smoked by Purdue or Iowa. That said, he wasn't as good in the "big games" as UFM. I think both are direct products of their approaches. Tressel was very conservative with his offense AND his defense. The latter was definitely a "make you drive the field" approach that generally kills lesser offensive talent. UFM is high pressure on offense and defense. So, Tressel wasn't prone to highs and lows like UFM.

Tressel's offense was underachieving crap other than the 18 or so games where Troy Smith was the Heisman guy. He squandered Pryor's physical gifts in a way that Brady Hoke probably couldn't even do. Jim Bollman was his Mike Debord. His defense was always solid. So was his, ahem, "recruiting".

[froot loops]

Pryor was overrated though. Having physical gifts is secondary to being able to play the position.

You can't take away Troy Smith anymore than you can take away Tim Tebow from Meyer. Successful coaches have really good players, that is what makes them successful coaches.

[THE_WIZARD_]

_{You're overrated}

[Hannibal]

I dunno. Tressel's offenses rarely passed the eyeball test for me. I don't think that he got a lot out of his guys on that side of the ball.

[froot loops]

Passing your eyeball test is not what makes a great coach though.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Does passing gas?

farts

[UMStan White]

Glad I didn't upgrade to Microsoft's smellavision

[Cody_Russell]

[AlabamAlum]

Maryland is a dumpster fire.

"Durkin retained! Er, Durkin fired!"

[Dr. Strangelove]

Could Michigan State please announce a game time already? I wanna know if i'm gonna have a long miserable day or a really, really long miserable day

[Jeff Buchanan]

........... justifiable outrage regarding Durkini's retention from multiple levels, including players, forced Loh's hand. Bravo for the correct decision to fire Durkin but Loh's an idiot and so was every member of the BOR who endorsed his retention.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Could Michigan State please announce a game time already? I wanna know if i'm gonna have a long miserable day or a really, really long miserable day

Clearly Dantonio is up to his intimidation techniques. Good chance he's got a hand in this although it's probably got more to do with network conflicts. regardless, he's back there grinning and laughing.

[iam416]

[froot loops]

Isn't that a Big Ten/Fox/Disney decision?

[Hannibal]

Maryland is a dumpster fire.

"Durkin retained! Er, Durkin fired!"

That they even thought about retaining him is incredible. But it's just another example of how worthless the concept of self-policing in the sport is.