I have a friend that I communicate with regularly by e-mail. The friendship developed from our mutual love of the Buckeyes. He is actually a member of this community. He has something to say sometimes, and once he chimed in on the topic of this blog post over on Bucknuts so maybe he will come in on it again.

Do you enjoy watching the Buckeyes? Everyone that comes here is a Buckeye fan. If you were not a Buckeye fan would you watch the Buckeyes? Does the fun factor matter? I have no position on the matter. I am an old school smash mouth kinda guy. We have not been effective with it so far but if we were, I would be the staunchest defender you will find of our offense. It is not about the style for me. It is the lack of effectiveness. Being able to run right at people, run it right down there throats, is a highly effective way of playing the game of football. You tire the opposition out. You take their heart by just running it right at them. They know what you are going to do but can't do anything about it. That is very demoralizing. It saps your energy. Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." It saps clock. Hard to score when you don't have the ball. In my mind there is a brutal beauty to it when done effectively.

I know some do not agree with that and they have an argument. Forget about the Buckeyes. Look at sports in general. We watch sports to be entertained. We watch sports for the spectacular. I only watch SportsCenter in the off-season for the highlight films. I am no baseball fan. I call it basebore but I still like catching the great plays from the games from the preceding night.

There are fans out there, alot of them actually, who do watch to be entertained. They do not see the beauty in the old school game. The fan sitting in the stadium is one thing. He can stay home. Someone will fill that seat. For most of us the prettiest thing there is is a another notch in the win column. With the teenager who is sitting at home thinking about what school to go to, it matters a great deal. Kids want excitement. They want to be dazzled. We are seeing it with tight end recruiting right now. They don't want to play in this offense, and they are saying it openly. Does it matter if we are boring? It depends on who might be watching. So far I say it has had very little impact.

Where it really hurts is in national perception. We don't impress. We are in a period where the Big Ten is down. Outside of the conference too many people are ready to say we are overrated. The polls have some impact on the BCS system. That the people who vote are not impressed by us, that is where our style has the potoential to hurt us most.

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Comments (16)

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written by Matt, July 29, 2009

I couldn't agree with you more. I love smashmouth Big 10 football. Simply put, there is nothing like it on a Fall saturday afternoon. I think running right off tackle is the most beautiful rushing play in the game, and I think PA off of running right off tackle is the most beautiful passing play in the game. I thought the PSU game was a thing of beauty, even though we lost and even though most of the SEC and Big 12 types would call it a snooze fest. Did you see the confused look in the concussed eyes of D. Clark on the sideline? That is the way football is supposed to be played.

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written by marksgforce, July 29, 2009

I think you already alluded to the fact that style doesn't matter as long as you're winning. Once you start losing, people will pick you to death. Look at Stoops. He still gets a ton of love from the press - even with 5 of 6 bowl losses and a record-setting shellacking by USC - because of his offensive style.

But if we beat USC 6-3, PSU 6-3, AND win a bowl game by any score this year, no one will be complaining too much about our style.

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re: style of play
written by 1buckfaninmich, July 29, 2009

I agree with the above. Winning matters most in terms of perception and recruiting. Style may matter most to some recruits, but if we are successful with our approach I would more than welcome them to go elsewhere. What hurts is ineptitude--the offense has looked (and been) inept at times the last couple of years. Also, the offense was inept in the early Tressel years. The offense has been quite productive and even (to use a Tresselism) "dyanmic" at other times. More than anything, we need consistent production from the offense, with a physical running game mixed with an effective and explosive passing attack. Nothing can cure the problems recently experienced more than good, physical play upfront with the OL.

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written by Bobby, July 29, 2009

JT plays to the talent he has
He opened it up with Troy
As he sees TP can handle it, he will open it up. As he sees this OL grow up, he will open this game book up. Be patient as this game book has much to offer. With Beanie gone, he will be forced to be more versatile.

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written by Sherman, July 29, 2009

If you have gotten your vision of what football should be from the shoe/apparel and video industries, you probably won't be satisifed with the way OSU wins.

I think most fans would be shocked if they actually knew how much of the OSU passing offense used the same route concepts that the "exciting teams" use.

Urban Meyer has never had a 1000 yard rusher. Not at BG, UT, or FL. He is modifying the offense slightly to adjust for the day when single winq quarterback Tebow is gone. Says he's looking for the type of back that can take the pounding one gets in the I.

Bob Stoops just said that he hopes his defense is improved enough that they don't have to score so many points to win. That feat will be hard to duplicate.

Even when a team is winning there will be a vocal "boring - didn't win by enough - the grass is greener" crowd. There is a fine line betwee pursuing perfection to gain excellence, and perfection being the enemy of the good. Especially when perfection is about style not substance.

I'm in the "just win baby" crowd. If you want offensive fireworks go to MAC games.

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Get off the sofa !!!
written by Woody, July 29, 2009

Ok - most of National Perception garbage is fed and prolonged by the outlets in Big Ten Region. Too many over weight northern people worried about what others think. Get over it and win a few games. Media at Chicago meetings couldn't let it go.

Listen to Ferentz's full comments from Iowa when he was asked. Said something to the effect the last time it got this bad conference came back with 4 times in top 12 and a National Champion.

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Bucks Fan
written by John, July 29, 2009

Duane, I agree with virtually everything you have to say but, Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."

Go Bucks!

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re: Bucks Fan
written by Kasino Royale, July 29, 2009

Duane, I agree with virtually everything you have to say but, Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."

Go Bucks!

They both have F's. Close enough. :lol:

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written by pula_86, July 29, 2009

Winning generates excitement. That OSU has won in the Big Ten, even dominantly doesn't cause excitement in a down conference. OSU needs to go out of conference and have success.

The biggest problem for OSU is that we are not built to be a running team and haven't been for years. Under Tressel there has not been a dominant OL for OSU. Think about that statement for a moment, it has been over a decade without OSU having a dominant OL.

I think we might just finally be getting an OL that will can dominate. Fans love high flying passing attacks, but they also love when your team can blow the other team off the line. 20-30 yard runs are just as exciting as the big passing play. Pryor is the definition of excitement when he takes off. Once we get appropriate depth at OL OSU can establish an identity on offense. While a high flying passing attack would be an improvement, I would love for OSU to play smash mouth football like Alabama last year. The nice thing about the players we have is that our skill position guys are talented enough that we can play both styles.

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written by hilltopbass, July 29, 2009

The first thing I think of when I see score's posted in the 30-40 points per team range, didn't anybody bring a defense. I'm an old school smash mouth kind of fan, but nobody want's to watch a 3 to 6 score game every week anymore than the so called pitchers duel.

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written by DHOS, July 29, 2009

Duane, this thought and mindset is very incorrect.

Look at the recruiting gains in the past two years. Best classes since the Mid-90's and this comes off a time when we are supposedly "Slowhio State" and "Overrated State University."

Our image is strong in recruiting and that is the only place it really matters.

Don't believe me..ask James Louis...

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re: Bucks Fan
written by Duane Long, July 30, 2009

Duane, I agree with virtually everything you have to say but, Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."

Go Bucks!

I have no idea how I got fear out of fatigue. I thought I cut and pasted the damn thing. I went in and fixed it.

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Damn straight - I miss effective smashmouth
written by Jarheadbuck, July 30, 2009

Personally, I'd love to see TP bring the boys to the line, shift into the Robust-T and pound it right down the throat of say USC. Can you imagine the emotion if they throw up Woody's pic on the scoreboard jumbo when that happens?

It wouldn't even take a total gameplan of smashmouth to make the opponents sorry they even showed up. Maybe a couple series of it each half...as long as it was effective...would take the legs & heart out of the opponent Def. And the change of paces between that & say the 5-wide spread passing attack would keep them on their heels.

Alas, we haven't had the line for the smashmouth game for 10 years or so...and I'm not sure we have the backs for it now. (Certainly a ? at FB.)

So that leaves us with Tresselball, which ain't smashmouth and it ain't exciting...it's just conservative. Which sadly leaves both camps a little upset when we don't win by 30.

That said, s TP matures Tress will make the gameplan more exciting like he did with Troy.

Still, I sure miss that smashmouth (real) football. Best drive I ever saw was just such a drive. The drive to win against Purdue in '68. We ran the same T-Dive about 8 or 9 plays in a row...each for 7-10 yards. Completely obliterated Purdue's will to win...they were just trying to get out alive after that drive. Ended in TD, beating #1 Purdue and setting the stage for our NC run.

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written by KR, July 30, 2009

one of my father's friends once said, "you know what's fun to watch? someone who's really good at what they do." that little throwaway quote pops into my head from time to time. i love watching texas tech's offense just as much as georgia tech's ... one team throws it almost exclusively, one runs it almost exclusively ... one is a 'bleeding-edge' O and one is basically an updated version of the wishbone ... but they both methodically find and expose the holes in your D. what matters to the fans, ultimately, is winning (though admittedly against the minnows on the sched, fans are looking for style points). what matter to recruits is winning and putting players in the league. it's not the system, it's the execution.

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3 yds and a cloud of dust
written by D Ables, July 31, 2009

The 72-75 teams were plenty exciting and they only passed when Woody went to the john!

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written by marksgforce, August 02, 2009

On the recruiting front as related to exciting, it was Herbie who started the mantra that no great skill players will come to OSU because of JT's button down offense - that he would not send his kids to play for JT. A lot of posters on the various sites have echoed variations of that theme. Interesting thesis where it not for the fact that the high end skill guys continued to come here.

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