Coaching 'em Up

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article highlighting a vestige of Division I athletics from another era: head coaches teaching class.

Jim Tressel teaches a "Coaching Football" class on football to 49 current students in the fall. Tressel intentionally shifted the class from spring to fall, as part of his class requirements include observing high school practices and one OSU practice. Beyond Ohio State, there are no other D-IA football head coaches currently teaching a class. From what I've been able to find, this class existed before Tressel left Youngstown State, as John Cooper formerly taught the class.

"You see, this is how we plan on losing to an SEC team every year..."

I was able to find some more background information beyond what was mentioned in the story from a Buckeye blog thread from last year. The class is scheduled to meet MWF at 7:30AM, but due to the practice/scouting requirement, the class is only held Mondays and Wednesdays. Tressel frequently features guest speakers in class, including former head coaches Earle Bruce and John Cooper. The class is apparently held in their equivalent of the Butts-Mehre building, limiting average students from crashing the class.

The class goes from reviewing year-old scouting reports created for an opponent, to diagramming defenses (special love is given to the 46 defense), to breaking down scouting tapes. Definitely not a Jim Harrick Jr. class.

And apparently students can be valuable to the coach too. According to a coach who runs a similar program in Div-IAA:

"Southern Utah's head football coach, Ed Lamb, who teaches a coaching class like Mr. Tressel's in the spring, says regular students can even provide valuable feedback. . . some helpfully pointed out in practice evaluations that they thought 'coaches could be more organized' and 'players should move faster from drill to drill'."

I wonder, though, whether Ohio State realizes any true advantages by having a coach teach a class? While it is somewhat of a rarity for OSU players to actually take the class, I'm sure that Tressel is more in touch with the workload of students and probably has more of an ear to the ground for things that might hurt his players off-the-field and impact their on-the-field eligibility.

Maybe this is something that Richt, or more likely one of our assistant coaches, should consider for future years. Anything that could lessen the likelihood of banishment from Valdosta and suspended licenses...

Coming to a classroom near you?

In Case You Missed It...

Yesterday, Chris Brown of Smart Football and Yahoo's Dr. Saturday fame posted an excellent write-up on Jim Tressel's lack of creativity vs. USC on Saturday night. Terrell Pryor's lack of use is mind boggling, especially watching the far less athletic Tate Forcier take control at Michigan. Ohio State continues to lose big games because of Tressel ball.

Just like the "Circuit City" trophy, Jim Tressel's business model is outdated...

This year's USC team can be beaten. Jim Tressel still couldn't do it.

BNE Pick'Em Week 2

Week 2 of college football is over and what a great weekend of games! Four of our matchups came down to the wire causing a big shift in the points standing. Meeeechigan pulled an upset over #20 ranked Notre Dame 38-34, which, with USC's come-from-behind victory in the final seconds by the freshman QB in Columbus over Ohio State, has put Meeeechigan in the driver's seat of the Big 10. Once again, the Buckeyes and the sweater vest can't manage to beat a ranked oponent, what a surprise.

For UGA fans, man you guys need to step it up! Seriously, y'all should have lost that game. Statistically speaking, SUC beat UGA in the game in every category. Were it not for Garcia looking right instead of left, "happily ever after" would not be "the end" for the Dawgs. That being said, a win is a win, and UGA managed to pull it out after a much improved performance after the first lost to OK State. Speaking of which, WTF??! #5 Okie State lost to...Houston?! This is kick in the to UGA after a black eye last week. How embarassing.

In another upset, Tennessee lost to UCLA...again. Also, Alabama cruised to an easy win after looking rough in the 1st half to FIU. Meanwhile, Florida kept rolling against the men of Troy with an easy victory. On a side note, I watched this game and it wasn't all Florida's fault; Troy beat themselves. The men of Troy couldn't complete anything and kept getting slapped in the face...literally.

Not to sound partial here, but the best game of the weekend was Mississippi State and Auburn. Last year, this game was finished with a total combined score of 5. FIVE! Another interesting fact, neither coach from that game coached in this weekend's slugfest. Traditionally, this is a low-scoring affair between two SEC West defensive powerhouses. Not this time. Auburn smacked the western Bulldogs 49-24. Also, for the second week, Auburn piled up over 500 yards of offense, with two running backs, freshman Onterio McCalebb and Ben Tate, rushing for over 100 yards each. I don't care who you like, that's impressive! Keep an eye out next week if you like the run game.

So, based on the results from week 2, here are our leaders overall:
1. Gen. Stoopangle

2. Dutch

3. calgee & ecdawg

5. OneHairyDawg

6. DawgDai, td_dawg, ugaedgar,

9. bcdawg97, dawgsman81 & allyugadawg

Results from the BNE staff:

1. aumaverick

2. BFR

3. Bubba

4. Streit

5. Earl

6. BulldawgJosh (climbing out of the celler at #43 overall and the third best record this week!)

Remember to submit your picks for week 3. The big games this week will be the Mountain Men vs. Plainsmen, Queers vs. Steers, Cocky vs. Arrogant, Criminoles vs. Saints, and the Bees vs. A Mighty Wind. Good luck!

Week 2: Impressions and Ramblings

Week 2 of the college football season has passed and here are my thoughts:

Georgia vs. Central Michigan

- The offense really put on a show, racking up over 5oo yards of offense with balance split almost right down the middle. Matt Stafford's progression as a decision maker continues to impress me and I think the offense will keep it up next week against a slow Carolina defense.

- Knowshon Moreno should be at the top of the early Heisman list, however when I looked over at ESPN, he's not even in the top 5. He's got over 225 yards rushing, almost 90 yards receiving, and 6 touchdowns on the season, while Chris Wells didn't even play thi week (but he is still in the top 5). Are they just not watching any film before voting????

If this isn't a Heisman caliber play, I don't know what is.

- The young backs and receivers continue to impress me. Caleb King and Richard Samuel both got their first career touchdowns, MoMass is on fire, and I can't wait to see what happens when Stafford and AJ Green get their timing down.

- The penalties and kick-offs continue to be a concern. We can't give up free yards against SEC schools and, for the love of god, quit the directional kick-offs and just kick it deep.

- Up Next: South Carolina in Columbia

Washington Controversy

- For once, I actually agree with Mark May. There is no way a penalty should have been called on Jake Locker after scoring the touchdown in the closing second of their game vs. BYU. Locker was not taunting anyone and the ball was not thrown in anyone's direction. For the ref to call that and back them up made an easy PAT difficult (and it was ultimately blocked). Games should be decided by the kids on the field, not by some old guy in a striped shirt.

I actually agree with Mark..has hell frozen over???

Florida/ Miami

- For the second straight week, Florida's vaunted offense has looked at times very pedestrian. Leading only 9-3 at the start of the 4th, I would not say Tebow and company were lighting up the field. I was never in doubt that Florida would win, but what really made me mad about this game was the lack of class Urban Meyer showed once again. Leading 23-3 with about three minutes to go, Florida took the ball back. Urban Meyer proceeded to send his starters back onto the field and started throwing passes at the end zone. When Miami stopped them on third down and Meyer sent out the field goal team and the Florida crowd booed. Really classy Urban and Florida. Most coaches would have just taken knees to run out the clock, but you try to rub it in. I wish you would have gotten one of your players hurt, then maybe you would stop being such a jackass.

Ohio State Escapes...

....and will be crushed by USC next week. If you can barely beat Ohio without Beanine Wells, what is going to happen when you go play USC with a less than 100% Wells. I look for USC to win big next week.

"We're in deep trouble."