I'm eschewing the traditional format of my recaps because my mind is battered and my heart is broken. I'll be honest, I've always put a lot of stock in Tresselball. I think it is based on sound principles, but I've also always lamented the philosophy's incredibly small margin of error. Jim Tressel's remedy for this weakness is itself a little shaky: minimize offensive turnovers. If that doesn't work, we're basically screwed. If it does, solid defense and special teams should be enough to get you by. For the better part of 9 years, it has worked. But we've begun to see its weaknesses exposed here in the last three; first, the very concept of Tresselball as a successful, winning formula for an elite team was rendered laughable by Florida, LSU, et al. It was then that I gave up on the concept of Tresselball winning us any national championships without a truly elite defense and more than a few lucky breaks. I regarded losses to Texas, Penn State and USC as fluky ones that could have gone either way, signaling progress on the defensive side of the ball against elite offensive teams, but we still saw more of the same from the offense. But against a lackluster Big Ten, the strategy was infallible.

Then, today happened. Now, I want to make something clear: two years ago, USC lost to a miserable Stanford team. It was no less embarrassing than what happened today. USC was able to recover and win yet another Rose Bowl. While that almost certainly isn't happening for this Buckeye team, it's not a death knell to the program. Stop that talk, and now. Nevertheless, for the first time in recent memory, Tresselball has failed against a team clearly worse than Ohio State. The philosophy is not dead, but I'm coming to the opinion that it's in its death throes, at the very least.

What differs this Jim Tressel team from his past few is simple: the offense can't hold on to the freaking ball for anymore than a three-minute stretch, and even that feels like an eternity compared to its average drive. I still think the defense is terrific, but it isn't going to sustain unbelievable levels of awesome for an extended period of time. It cannot, and will not, replicate a fluky, weird-assed game like Wisconsin.

What's so frustrating about this offense is not merely consistent Pryor brainfarting; it's the inability to sustain any sort of drive whatsoever. I would bet my meager personal fortune on this team being lightyears better if it could just hold onto the ball for an extended period of a time. I've given up on asking for point explosions. I'm now just hoping the offense can give the defense a breather for more than a drive or two a game. There is something seriously wrong here, and it's not the talent level. I have difficulty saying it's just Pryor, either; both fumbles were caused by completely unblocked men. It's coaching, and if a change isn't coming this offseason, it never will.

Now, if you want to blame the loss on officiating, I may want to smack you, but I won't. They blew a clear fumble call. Bryant Browning's hold on a touchdown that would have put us ahead 14-6 seemed ticky-tack.  But I don't care, and it's pointless to bitch about, because both calls happened in the first half, and we still had countless opportunities to win afterward. We didn't. If you want to blame it on the defense, kindly die in a fire three times over. There was bad tackling, and a few blown coverages, but there were also turnovers that undoubtedly kept Ohio State in the game. Against Purdue. They were not great, but they weren't given help.

So what should we take away from this? Well, Minnesota and New Mexico State are probably still Ws. Yes, Minnesota beat Purdue by two touchdowns, but it's in the 'Shoe, and goddamn it, someone on the staff will remember to give the ball to Brandon Saine (7 carries today), let Pryor throw 10 bubble screens and we'll eek out a victory. Hopefully. New Mexico State is awful in every aspect of the game. They're 119th in total offense and 85th in rush defense (Purdue, btw, was 87th, so don't put all that much stock into that right now). We'll be bowl eligible by the time we head into the final stretch. If we play like we did today, we won't stand a chance in any of those final three games. Those teams are not dominant monsters, but they're each quite solid on at least one side of the ball, and they'll pounce on a mistake-prone Buckeye team. Wins are not impossible against Penn State and Iowa, but I have a hard time saying they aren't improbable, especially if the offense doesn't improve in the slightest. Tressel's focus this week in practice, knowing him, will be on limiting mistakes, and right now, that's not a terrible stategy. The defense will keep Ohio State in every game; it's up to the offense right now to a) stop shooting itself in the foot, and b) start moving the damn ball so the defense isn't on the field for 40 minutes a game.

In conclusion ARGH ARGH ARGH ARGH