Jim Tressel identifies common thread between Ohio State national champions

Twenty-one years later, he is retired but still an avid fan of the Buckeyes and a follower of both head coaches in the game Monday night.

Tressel has been a staunch supporter of Ryan Day over the years, and he praised the current Ohio State coach Monday night for preventing his team from splintering after a devastating loss to Michigan in November.

While these 14-2 Buckeyes had a much different path than his 14-0 title team, he did see a similarity in their stories.

“You know, it’s a whole different world because this was a playoff, and this was a team that had some adversity with a couple losses,” Tressel said. “Our team had a lot of adversity, but it was with a couple of tough wins, and then we didn’t have to go beat four top four teams in a row — so very different.

“But one common thread they both had is they both had suffered in years prior. We’d suffered for a couple years. We weren’t the Big Ten champions like we wanted to be and so forth, so through that suffering you grow closer, you get tougher, and look what it ended up.”

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman played for Ohio State during the Tressel era, including National Championship Game losses to Florida and LSU in 2006 and ’07.

Tressel has mentored him as he navigated the first three years as the head man in South Bend while Freeman has developed a team that utilizes a similar style of play based on playing great defense, strong special teams and opportunistic offense.

The Fighting Irish lost an early shocker to Northern Illinois this season but won 13 in a row to make their first title game in 12 years.

“I was proud of Marcus, too,” Tressel said. “Both those coaching staffs did a heck of a job. Marcus with his adversity against Northern Illinois — kept ‘em together. He kept fighting to the end today. Ryan with his adversity at the end of the year, and he kept ‘em together. And that’s tough teams. And tough teams can win tournaments.”

Prior to the game, Freeman credited Tressel with helping him figure out how to get into coaching after a health issue cut short his playing career and said they remain in regular contact.

“I’m able to ask him questions, and he gives me his opinion,” Freeman said Saturday during CFP media day. “That’s probably what’s most important. Somebody that I hold very high, somebody that has experience in games like this, somebody that can give you a perspective from a previous head coach in terms of how you performed last game.”