According to the Columbus Dispatch, as Ohio State began to lose momentum, it also began to unravel internally. The newspaper stated that "offensive players were hollering at one another in the second half as the Tigers began to pull away." Left Tackle Alex Boone was quoted as saying "...everybody started pointing the finger at somebody. Guys were trying to fight each other, getting ticked off because they didn't think people were helping them..." No wonder OSU lost. When things start going bad for you, that's the time to pull together - not come apart at the seams.
That is a direct cause of only having 3 seniors to really lead. I remember at one point during the game when one of LSU players started to get mouthy (for lack of a better word) and dorsey grabbed him and said soemthing and he just walked off and it was over. The Buckeyes definately did not have any on field leadership last night.
Looks like the MAJOR difference between LSU and Ohio St. is TEAM CHEMISTRY The same 2003 LSU Championship Team also had great chemistry. Edit: Oh, I forgot about team leadership.
Which goes back to coaching and is a plus for Miles- he creates that "Team" attitude. I read a piece on Ryan Perrilloux on rivals the other day and was VERY impressed with his maturity. He talked about how a leader is not only judged by what they do on the field but off, as well. He went on to say Flynn has been that kind of leader, on and off and gave Flynn A LOT of props. Much different from the self-centered attitude that he came in with- and is present in many kids out of HS, understandibly.
I had a feeling that was going to happen as soon as we took the lead. They probably all said, "Here we go again."
I guess by the second half they had all bought into and believed those Christmas DVDs they got. :rolleye33:
I think Tressel with a little help from the media ended up putting too much pressure on the team...When I heard that they didn't do anything during their stay in New Orleans, I thought to myself that they were gonna be in trouble...All of that led to a major build up of pressure and the team became too uptight.
Yup, in the end it's still only a game...It's funny how some people in here were freaking out reading Patrick Fisher's blog and saying that the team was too relaxed and eating too much.
