By JON SPENCER
The (Mansfield) News Journal

Ohio State fans sit on one of the goal posts at Ohio Stadium following the 14-9 win over Michigan Saturday. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

If I'm Jim Tressel, I can think of 172,000 reasons to be thankful on this day. That's how much - in dollars, not turkey legs - Tressel is likely to receive in bonus pay for leading second-ranked Ohio State to a 13-0 record, co-Big Ten title and appearance in the national championship game.

You could buy a lot of cranberry sauce, candied yams and pumpkin pies with that bonus, which breaks down like this: $15,000 for winning a minimum of nine games, $17,000 (one month's salary) for sharing the Big Ten title with Iowa, $40,000 for finishing in the final top 10 of either the Associated Press or ESPN/USA Today poll and $100,000 for reaching the Bowl Championship Series national title game at the Jan. 3 Fiesta Bowl.

Not that it's all about the money with Tressel. If it were, he wouldn't have returned some of his original salary to the athletic budget to help pay for the coaching staff he wanted.

It turned out to be a great out-of-pocket investment. This group of coaches has had an uncanny knack for making halftime adjustments, reflected in OSU's 206-54 second-half scoring dominance this season.

Their support and assistance would be reason No. 172,001 for Tressel to give thanks.

You've got to hand it to this rare bird who covers his plumage with red sweater vests. Small-minded fans with a built-in bias against coaches with small college backgrounds and small town values were waiting to carve Tressel up like the centerpiece on your dining table today.

But even the Scrooges who wanted Glen Mason, Mike Bellotti or Walt Harris to succeed John Cooper at OSU have seen the light.

Tressel has become bigger in stature than that Garfield balloon floating among the skyscrapers in this morning's Macy's parade.

In case you're keeping score at home, that's reason No. 172,002 for him to give thanks.

But why stop there? If I'm Jim Tressel, my dinner guests fall asleep today (and not from the tryptophan in the turkey) waiting on me to stop giving thanks for:

- Adonis-like running backs coach Tim Spencer not giving Maurice Clarett something much worse than a shoulder stinger during their shouting match on the sidelines at Northwestern.

- The cops arresting 49 celebrants for drunkenness and rioting after the Michigan win - and not one of them was a Buckeye.

- The Cincinnati Bearcats receivers who were wearing oven mitts on those two dropped passes in the end zone

- For Matt Wilhelm morphing from a gimpy middle linebacker on one good ankle into an All-Big Ten performer deserving of All-America acclaim and an apology for ever being listed as "co" starter at his position with Fred Pagac Jr.

- For John Cooper recruiting Andy Groom, Dustin Fox, Chris Gamble, Maurice Clarett, Lydell Ross and Maurice Hall. Oh wait, Cooper didn't recruit any of them.

- For winning one more game than, collectively, the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins - three of the four NFL teams you'll be watching on the tube today. (Here's a suggestion: Walk off your meal instead.)

- For the schedule-makers giving him Texas Tech, Washington State, Penn State and Michigan all at home this season. Next year, he'll really be thankful if the Buckeyes are sitting here undefeated after stops in State College, Ann Arbor and Madison (for the second year in a row).

- For Craig Krenzel making the right decision not to run (as far from OSU as possible) after Tressel yanked him seven snaps into a 0-0 Outback Bowl last January - his unjust reward for leading the team to victory at Michigan. In one year, Krenzel went from DNP most weekends to MVP in the eyes of his teammates and fans.

- For playing a soft schedule that "only" included four nationally-ranked opponents, a Texas Tech team that beat Texas and three Heisman Trophy candidates.

- For having Maurice Clarett in the backfield, even if that shoulder stinger is turning into that four-year groin pull linebacker Preston Harrison had back in the early 1990s.

- For the rockets Michael Jenkins has in his Reeboks.

- For two-way starter and triple threat Chris Gamble not being on life support after averaging over 100 plays the last three games.

- For Will Allen, whose interceptions sealed victories over Cincinnati and Michigan.

And finally,

- For reporters, like me, who make the former college sports writer - he went by J.T. Tressel in his byline - thankful each day he made the correct career choice.