The beauty is in the results for Buckeyes' Tressel

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Ohio State beat Michigan 21-10 on Saturday, and heaven help the Ohio State video people who try to splice together a highlight reel of more than a few plays. Ohio State won this game because that's what Ohio State does. It wins games. But it doesn't translate to highlight reels.

I get the feeling Ohio State coach Jim Tressel doesn't care. In fact, that's more than a feeling. I know he doesn't care. For kicks, I'm going to write the words "Jim Tressel" and "style points" in the same sentence, just to do something that has never been done before.

Don't take this as a blast at Tressel, either. I've been there, and I've done that, and it just doesn't matter. It doesn't do any good, or any harm, or anything at all. The man is impervious. He's stubborn. He coaches his way, and most of the time when the game is over, his way has produced more points than the other team's way.

Saturday at Michigan Stadium was an example. Ohio State won this game like Ohio State won this season, and -- yes -- Ohio State won this season. There is very little star power on the OSU roster beyond quarterback Terrelle Pryor, but the Buckeyes won 10 games, the outright Big Ten title and a spot in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes won't win the national championship, but the overall results for 2009 are in, and the Buckeyes won.

They did it for four months like they did it Saturday -- grinding, waiting for the other side to break. Over the course of the 2009 season, the Buckeyes waited for their competition in the Big Ten to break, and their competition obliged. Iowa broke. Penn State broke. Ohio State played a role by beating both of them in a November to remember, what with wins against the Nittany Lions, Hawkeyes and Wolverines.

"We knew when we looked at the November schedule it wasn't going to be an easy thing," Tressel said, "but our guys don't back down from anything."

On Saturday, the Buckeyes stood their ground and waited for Michigan to break. And it happened. It almost always happens. Tressel turns football into a staring contest -- first one to blink, loses -- and I swear the dude in the sweater vest was born without eyelids. Michigan gave it a shot for three quarters, but ultimately freshman quarterback Tate Forcier and sophomore coach Rich Rodriguez batted their eyelashes.

Rich Rodriguez, 0-2 vs. Ohio State, has some valuable lessons to learn from Jim Tressel. (AP)

In the fourth quarter, with the Buckeyes leading 21-10 and Tressel content to call three straight-forward rushes and punt, Forcier threw three interceptions. Two of them came in Ohio State territory, including one from the OSU 6. After three solid quarters in his first game against Ohio State, the true freshman cracked.

Someone in the media tried to ask Rodriguez about Forcier's fourth-quarter struggles, and the Michigan coached interrupted, "It's bigger than one person."

And he's right. The Michigan coach also was to blame for this. Rodriguez insisted on periodically playing his other true freshman quarterback, Denard Robinson, probably because he doesn't want Robinson to get mad and transfer. It wasn't as if Robinson was helping the team win. Almost every time Robinson ran onto the field, Rodriguez set him up in an empty backfield and called for a basic keeper. For a guy said to run a high-tech offense, it was play-calling straight out of sixth grade.

And it put Forcier in a bad position. Two of his three interceptions came after Robinson got the early snaps in the series, with Forcier summoned to clean up the mess. He couldn't do it. He's not ready. Three times he walked onto the field to replace Robinson on obvious passing downs, and three times he threw an immediate pick. That's on Rodriguez, whose team isn't going to a bowl after folding following a 4-0 start -- losing its final five games and seven of eight.

On the other sideline, Tressel stoically watched it unfold. He didn't force it to happen so much as he waited for it to happen. Michigan was dialing up 42 passing plays though it's Tressel who has the quarterback that started the season on the Heisman radar -- and Tressel called for just 17 passes, most of them no-risk horizontal tosses. Pryor averaged four yards per pass attempt, because Tressel wasn't trying to beat Michigan with thunder or lightning. He was trying to beat Michigan like water eventually beats a rock. By dripping, dripping, dripping.

And so tailback Dan Herron ran 19 times for 96 yards. And another tailback, Brandon Saine, ran 12 times for 84 yards. And a glorified tailback, Pryor, ran 19 times for 74 yards. The only thing missing was the cloud of dust.

"It was a heck of a hard-fought game," Tressel said. "Our kids stepped up and I thought they did a great job preparing. They did a nice job doing what they were called upon to do. It was a heck of a team effort."

There are some Ohio State fans, more than some, who hate it. They love the winning, we all know that, but they don't love how it's done. I've read your e-mails and seen your message boards. You think Tressel is too conservative. I'm tempted to say you're right, but then again ... 10-2 and a spot in the Rose Bowl. That's a pretty compelling counterargument, you know?