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OHIO STATE
Tressel makes sure to vote in final coaches poll this season
After receiving criticism for abstaining from the last coaches poll a season ago, Tressel makes his choice this year.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
One of the first questions reporters were anxious to ask Jim Tressel concerned his vote in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
Tressel, the Ohio State football coach, declined to vote for the final rankings last season after the Buckeyes already had clinched a spot in the national championship game, a decision that drew wide criticism.
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"I was scolded pretty good last year for not voting," Tressel said Sunday night after the announcement that top-ranked Ohio State will play Louisiana State in the BCS national championship game Jan. 7. "Grant Teaff (executive director of the American Football Coaches Association) told me if I didn't do it this year, I'd never be able to vote the rest of my life."
Despite the uproar over Tressel's vote last year and the BCS championship game annually, the Buckeyes will make their third title game appearance in the past six seasons largely without controversy. Last season, Florida leap-frogged Michigan for the No. 2 ranking in a move many felt was unfair. This season, LSU enters as a two-loss championship game contestant, which makes some uncomfortable.
But the Buckeyes, again, face no poll-related questions about their place in the title game, as they received 46 of the 60 first-place votes from the coaches, including Tressel's (for the record, he said he voted LSU No. 2).
"I think you're seeing two teams that have a lot of character about them," Tressel said. "I think you'll enjoy this matchup."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.
