These three qualities have made Tressel great coach

	Troy Smith has wound up becoming the poster boy for Jim Tressel's emphasis on unity and togetherness. John Biever/SI
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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Sitting in the front row of stands at University of Phoenix Stadium on Friday, Ohio State offensive coordinator Jim Bollman was engaged in a conversation about his boss and colleague of 13 years, Jim Tressel, when he let out a chuckle.

"The media makes such a big deal out of how we've changed the offense [during Tressel's Ohio State tenure]. All four national championships they won at Youngstown, their offense from one to another was completely different" said Bollman, who was Tressel's offensive coordinator there for five years. "Heck, the first year they won it, in 1991, they ran the option."

As Tressel's Buckeyes prepare to face Florida on Monday for a shot at their second national championship in five years, it's become abundantly clear that the college football world got a wrong first impression of the man in the sweater vest. Back in 2002 and '03, when Ohio State was winning all those 10-6 and 13-7 games and its most valuable player was its field-goal kicker, it became popular to refer to those Buckeyes as the "Luckeyes."

It's hard to chalk up a six-year record of 62-13, a 19-game winning streak or 8-2 record against Top 10 teams to luck. The Buckeyes, it turns out, are simply the nation's best-prepared team.

Tressel's counterpart in Monday night's matchup, Gators coach Urban Meyer, first noticed the Tressel impact while watching OSU's 2003 Fiesta Bowl upset of Miami. The 'Canes at the time had not lost in 34 games, yet the Buckeyes' staff managed to find a weakness in their defense and exploit it with a surprising game-plan that involved repeated draw plays for QB Craig Krenzel, a player not exactly known for his foot speed.

"I sat and watched every snap of that game and the way they one it. It was intelligent coaching," said Meyer. "[Miami] had maybe a little more talented team and [the Buckeyes] spread the field and took a quarterback that was maybe not a runner and he ended up the leading rusher [in the game].

"I respect coaches that adapt to their personnel."

Tressel has done exactly that over the past two-and-half seasons, transforming Ohio State from a conservative, run-based offense to a wide-open spread attack that plays to the strengths of QB Troy Smith and his deep receiving corps. While many observers were stunned to see OSU break out repeated five-wide sets in its 42-39 win over Michigan earlier this year, Bollman points out that they've been a component of the Buckeyes' offense since the day Tressel arrived. It's just that it didn't make sense to use it so frequently with the less-accurate Krenzel at quarterback and a thinner receiving corps.

But the core of Tressel's coaching philosophy goes much deeper than that of his passing formations. And in these areas, there has been little adaptation involved. Both Tressel and Bollman say Tressel's program operates in nearly the same exact fashion on a day-in, day-out basis as it did for 15 years (1986-2000) at Division I-AA Youngstown State, where Tressel won four national championships and played for two others. From spending extensive time around Tressel's program dating to last spring, and from conducting numerous interviews for this story, it's apparent that these three qualities form the backbone of his program: