Good fortune is an offshoot of good coaching
If you placed Jim Tressel 3 feet in front of a Gatling gun and fired the trigger, not one bullet would scratch his sweater vest. Bury his Ohio State Buckeyes down in the planet’s core and they’d find a straw long enough to poke up through the Earth’s crust for air. If the past three seasons have taught anything, it’s that OSU is college football’s most fortunate team, right?
These are the Luckeyes, right?
Well, fate has smiled kindly on the Buckeyes, no doubt about it, since the start of the 2002 season.
Yet that isn’t the entire answer to the riddle of how OSU keeps wiggling into victories that seemingly don’t fit.
Nobody, not even Teflon Tressel, can have a string of luck run as long as the Buckeyes have enjoyed while winning 27 of their past 29 games.
Tressel has managed to create something else much stronger than fortune during his tenure as coach, and it was evident again yesterday when Mike Nugent booted a 55-yard field goal on the game’s final play to beat Marshall 24-21.
The Buckeyes, as a bonded group, simply expect to win the game at all times, no matter how dire the situation.
"Why you’ve been seeing what you’ve been seeing is that the kids believe," defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said.
Combine that confidence with the talent that a traditionladen powerhouse annually possesses and it makes for a powerful potion.
"Coach Tressel has brought this to the team," senior tailback Lydell Ross said. "You see it on the field. He’s instilled in us a way to win and what to expect. It’s like a natural thing."
This is not a great OSU team, at least not yet. The Buckeyes might be ranked No. 9 in the nation, but they’ve got a slew of new starters, including sophomore quarterback Justin Zwick.
The inexperience showed often yesterday as OSU staggered through a second half dominated by the Thundering Herd.
Marshall had the ball for 19:45 to OSU’s 10:15 in the final two quarters. In the fourth quarter alone, Zwick threw two interceptions and receiver Santonio Holmes lost a fumble.
In all, the Buckeyes lost four turnovers to zero by Marshall. The Buckeyes finished with 79 rushing yards and failed to convert eight of 10 third-down situations.
Yet none of those numbers ultimately mattered.
Marshall helped OSU in the game’s final 25 minutes by getting too cute with a failed fake field goal attempt, missing a 35-yard field goal attempt, shanking a punt and getting too conservative on offense on its final possession.
At clutch moments, the Thundering Herd played as if it hoped to win, negating its long stretches of dominance.
OSU expected to win, even when it couldn’t run the ball, couldn’t stop the run and suffered three turnovers in the game’s final 10 minutes.
The Buckeyes are going to have some rough moments this season, perhaps as soon as Saturday when they play at North Carolina State.
OSU will endure some growing pains. There are too many players, namely Zwick, who need more experience.
Those green players, however, already carry themselves with a certain confidence that should serve as a cornerstone for improvement. Like their departed former teammates, they expect to stay upright on greased tightropes.
"We’re such a close-knit team," junior linebacker Bobby Carpenter said. "Everyone on the team trusts each other. No one ever points fingers. We just expect to get the job done."
Tressel is the one who creates and cultivates a positive environment for his team. He’s established a palpable level of expectation for success.
OSU, because of its tradition, will always have talent. Talent doesn’t always win.
Talent combined with unshakable belief that good things will happen is a difficult combination to defeat.
Luck isn’t the answer to everything.
By Todd Jones, The Columbus Dispatch
Posted by Ron at September 12, 2004 07:40 AM