Why the Illini must put a stop to Tressel's reign of terror

I am a fan of movies, and as any of my friends will tell you, I am more than willing to have a conversation composed entirely of movie quotes. So when I think of what has happened to the Big Ten in the era of Jim Tressel's unprecedented dominance and post season disappointment, I am reminded from a quote from The Dark Knight "This town deserves a better class of criminal, and I'm going to give it to them." If the Big Ten is going to be dominated by a bloated, talent laden, year in year out conference champion, we need someone better than Jim Tressel. This league, if you will, deserves a better class of coaching.

No, I do not believe the analogy extends all the way to Zook here. (If you are looking for a misunderstood anarchistic sociopath to burn the city down, I think Tim Brewster is the more fitting man) But what I am getting at is the rule of the Tressel crime syndicate over the league has too often meant running roughshod over the Midwestern states, only to fall flat on its face when it faces any state below the Mason Dixon line. Florida, LSU, USC, Texas and USC again. It has been a mighty disappointing road to hoe for the buckeyes when faced with players who don't have easy access to sweet corn.

My point, ladies and gentlemen, is that having already lost, in an entirely new form of embarrassment, to USC. The Buckeyes must not be allowed to even share in another conference title this year.

The USC game as it has been very very well documented by Chris Brown of Smart Football, shows that Jim Tressel cannot be trusted with the advantages that he has been given at Ohio State, the Heisman Trophies, the easy recruiting, the gigantic stadium and loyal fan base, all of these things are wasted on a man who wants to sit on a 5 point league against USC and hope he can bleed the clock.. A man who can take the best college athlete to ever walk into his locker room and reduce him to playing football like Todd Boeckman. A man whose offensive strategy is conservative even by the standards of  the stale as nails NFL. A man who is apparently more concerned with making Pryor a legit pro prospect than actually winning a football  game.

Go ahead look at how Tressel's team performed against Toledo on Saturday. Look at all the offensive statistics you want. 38 points, a million yards for Pryor, blah blah etc. That is, no offense to Toledo, against a MAC team where OSU enjoyed an absurd talent and size advantage. We know what happens to Tressel when he meets a team with equal talent to his own. He loses his confidence, his guts and his creativity on offense in hopes that he can steal a win by relying on his  defense and hoping the clock runs out before his opponent can start playing post 1991 football. Problem is, this is 2009, and Pete Carrol is not afraid to gamble, put the ball in the hands of a freshman and tell him to win the game. Woody and Bo are long gone, and so should be their brand of football.

Don't get me wrong, the Illini and the rest of the Big Ten have played their own role in this, by rolling over to the assumed winner year in year out. (Although we have beaten the Bucks a whole lot more often than others in recent years.) The rest of the league, for its own sake needs to keep Ohio State out of the BCS, at least for this one year, if only perhaps to shake the sweater vest out of his comfort zone. As long as the Buckeyes, and their archaic brand of football are allowed to run roughshod over the conference, they will be allowed to define the Big 10's national perception. This cannot be allowed to continue. So on Saturday, I hope for the Illini give the Buckeyes a 0-1 record in the Big Ten, for all of our sakes.