February 22, 2012

Ohio State vs Penn State and College Football Open Thread

November 19, 2011 By 2 Comments

These guys won't be there, but I imagine we'll hear their names in the broadcast once or twice

Hey, did you know today was Ohio State’s Senior Day? Somehow, with all the off-the-field news, it had completely slipped my mind. Go figure.

In other on-the-field news, assuming the NCAA doesn’t decide to suspend him in the next few hours, DeVier Posey will make his season debut versus the Nittany Lions. So that’s neat. It’ll be nice to see what Braxton Miller can and will do with all of his offensive weapons at his disposal.

Both OSU and PSU are in position to win the Big Ten’s Leaders Division, with Penn State’s position a tad bit stronger. Ohio State needs Wisconsin to lose their 12 o’clock game if they want a shot at the Leader Division title. So, unless the Illini can upset Wisconsin, come 3:30 pm Ohio State will be playing the role of spoiler.

And finally, this is unfortunate and, sadly, fairly predictable. Ohio State fans do themselves no favors with stuff like this. Now, this is just one incident of a tasteless joke and I believe and expect the majority of Ohio State fans to behave themselves. But it’d be nice if the story coming out of this game was, you know, the actual football game; not two rookie head coaches (first time since 1910!), not fan behavior, not coaching rumors or scandals.

Football.

Filed Under: Buckeyes, College football

There is No Recourse for Toledo in Syracuse Screw-Up

September 27, 2011 By 14 Comments

There is no doubt in my mind that Toledo was ripped off over the weekend in Syracuse.  I don’t know if it was intentional cheating or just unintentional incompetence.  Regardless of that point someone should be disciplined up to and including possible firing.  As for going back in time and vacating Syracuse’s win or anything to that effect, you just can’t do it. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Browns, College football Tagged With: , ,

Funny Video: Coastal Carolina’s Coach David Bennett is … An Original

September 9, 2011 By 5 Comments

Not Cleveland sports related, but sometimes a video makes you laugh so hard it doesn’t matter.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Best of the Web, College football Tagged With: , , , ,

Ohio State and Might Just Have Been the First Domino

August 17, 2011 By 17 Comments

There is no gloating to be done by Ohio State fans today.  Alabama might be in trouble for having players involved with a memorabilia scandal and now the University of Miami potentially in big trouble with a rogue Ponzi scheming booster, but these two situations – and any others that might arise – don’t absolve anyone or anything at Ohio State.  Sure, it might add some perspective to the things Ohio State and its players were involved with, but it will hopefully be good for everyone in the end.  Ohio State fans (this one included) largely sounded like babies when they said, “Oh come on!  You know everyone is doing exactly the same stuff.  The NCAA is a broken system.”  That’s the pain of being the first domino to fall.

Some will want to point at everyone else and say how much worse someone else’s violations were, but that ignores the larger point.  The NCAA has a system where the goals and benefits are so apparently misaligned that rule-breaking has become the norm, not the exception.  You can blame the players.  You can blame the boosters.  You can blame the NCAA and the schools.  At the end of it all, if this many big programs can’t figure out how to create an environment where players aren’t doing the wrong things, then it is the whole system. [Read more...]

Filed Under: College Basketball, College football Tagged With: , , , ,

The National Title Game is Here! And I’m Over It

January 10, 2011 By 22 Comments

Disclaimer – I am not a huge College Football fan. But obviously I love sports.  Tonight is the National Championship game in Glendale, Arizona as the #2 Oregon Ducks face the #1 Auburn Tigers. Both teams are undefeated. Both teams have electric offenses that light up the scoreboard. Auburn has Heisman Trophy winner and controversy king Cameron Newton at QB. Oregon has fellow Heisman finalist, the uber-quick LaMichael James at tailback. This game has all the makings of a classic.

But why is it that I don’t really care? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes, College football

It Was Most Definitely The WORST of Times…

January 6, 2011 By 32 Comments

On Monday when Eric Mangini got fired, my wife came home from work and we had the following conversation:

Me: “The Browns fired their coach today.”
Her: “Yeah, I saw that. So, is Michigan going to fire their coach, too?”
Me: “Probably.”
Her: “Wow, this has been a pretty bad sports year for you, huh?”

I stopped and thought for a second. And then it hit me. All five of the major sports teams I root for combined to make the last year or so (since seasons happen at different times) the worst aggregate sports year of my life. My boy TD touched on one aspect yesterday. But, for the rest, let’s just say: buckle up. This isn’t going to be pretty.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blue Jackets, Browns, Cavaliers, College football, Indians Tagged With: , , , ,

Was There A Worse Day To Be A Michigan Fan?

January 5, 2011 By 32 Comments

Yesterday…..

Its a Tuesday morning, the day after Jim Harbaugh’s Stanford Cardinal easily dispatched Virginia Tech 40-12 in the Orange Bowl. It was D-Day for the University of Michigan. For the last month, this was going to be their day. The plan for most Michigan fans was simple; fire Head Football Coach Rich Rodriguez and hire the hottest coach in the game (college or pro), Michigan grad Jim Harbaugh. This plan was seemingly in place for a year. If Rich Rod was a failure in his third season, can him and go get Harbaugh.

Ah, the best laid plans….. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes, College football Tagged With: , , , , ,

Buckeyes beat Boilers by lots of points…while Sparty looks like team of “destiny”

October 23, 2010 By 4 Comments

Last week was obviously a tough one for OSU.  While it doesn’t completely numb the sting of getting knocked off the number one spot by Wisconsin, it was nevertheless good to see the Buckeyes bounce back today against Purdue (4-3, 2-1). 

The Buckeyes (7-1, 3-1) led 42-0 at the half, gained over five football fields worth of yardage, scored three TD’s by air, three on the ground, and won 49-0.  In doing so, they also avenged last season’s lone conference loss which came at the hands of Purdue.

A good day overall to be sure for the guy who’s made sleeveless sweaters fashionable, but a day almost made better by the Northwestern Wildcats.   [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes, College football Tagged With: , , , ,

What Brian Daboll Could Learn from Rich Rodriguez about Using Josh Cribbs

October 6, 2010 By 24 Comments

It’s no secret that I’m not always very much of a fan of Brian Daboll’s play-calling. It’s also no secret around these parts that I am a fan of Michigan sports. So, when Denny (remember him?) and I got to talking the other day about college football as we often do, he suggested an idea for a piece about how the Browns could take a note or two from Michigan’s offense and its quarterback Denard Robinson. I believe Denny called him a “mini skinny Cribbs”. And in many ways, he is. Tremendous athlete; college QB; run-first option at QB; can still throw when given the opportunity; both wear #16 and have sweet dreads. Okay, that last one doesn’t matter as much.

It’s obviously not apples-to-apples to say that the Browns can employ a college-style spread into their Wildcat/Flash/Cyclone package and expect it to work; NFL defenses aren’t as slow as UMass’s and Indiana’s defenses, of course. But, Rich Rodriguez and Calvin McGee find ways to use Denard Robinson that exploit defensive tendencies that I think the Browns could explore in an effort to open things up and make Cribbs more of a weapon.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Browns, College football Tagged With: , , , , ,

A couch, HD TV, and endless hours of college football

September 4, 2010 By 9 Comments

I couldn’t be happier.  The rain outside around Cleveland’s a nice touch too.  This morning I was entertaining the possibility of cutting the grass today, but since then mother nature’s dictated I shelf that.  No problem.  There’s not too many things I enjoy doing more than watching College Football all day and all night long on Saturdays.  I suppose I’m a degenerate in that regard.

With the Buckeyes now looking towards week two – and The U - after thumping Marshall on Thursday, the games I will be keeping an eye on and why - through effective use of the remote control - are noted below.  

3:30 Games:

UConn at Michigan (ABC):  Let’s go Huskies, huh?  Rich Rod has managed to get himself on the hot seat in week one this season, and that’s impressive.  If he loses, his seat will be scorching, and it will be hilarious to watch the reaction from Wolverine Nation.  Part of me wants to watch the train-wreck that will ensue as a result of a UConn win here.  The other part wants Ole Rich to coach up north for the next decade.  But even that part can’t entice me to root for Michigan in any capacity.  So I won’t root, just watch.  And UConn can absolutely win this game. [Read more...]

Filed Under: College football Tagged With: , ,

Buckeyes Will Need a Mature Terrelle Pryor to Succeed

September 2, 2010 By 6 Comments

The Buckeyes won the recruiting battle when they landed Terrelle Pryor out of Pennsylvania.  After Pryor held a couple of schools hostage, it made it much easier for many of the losing schools to feel like maybe they dodged a bullet in not landing such an ego-maniac.  Getting top recruits is a mixed blessing.  On the one hand, they are top recruits because they have talent that exceeds that of their peers.  That talent also frequently leads to bloated egos and senses of entitlement that also exceeds that of their peers.  As an Ohio State fan it isn’t something you generally worry too much about because you count on Jim Tressel to be able to manage that and get through to kids.  As the Buckeyes head into their third year with Terrelle Pryor, they are going to need Terrelle Pryor to live up to the hype of his talent and also take a giant step forward in terms of maturity. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes, College football Tagged With: , , ,

College Football Landscape About to Change

June 10, 2010 By 37 Comments

Two huge stories that broke yesterday will have different, but significant impact on the College football scene. I’ll start with the last one. Late last night the story came out that the NCAA is sanctioning USC with a 2 year ban on bowl games and a loss of 20 scholarships. Consider that a little welcome present from Pete Carroll to Lane Kiffin. Now as a Buckeye fan I can’t help but snicker a bit as Colin Cowherd’s favorite program gets rocked. USC will still be a good team. These sanctions won’t knock them down to mediocrity, but it does knock them out of relevancy for a couple seasons.

When the Trojans are again eligible for the Rose Bowl or other year end game they may just find the road to get there is a bit trickier, as the Pac 10 may be including some stiffer competition with the reported demise of the Big 12.

The first chunk of NCAA news from yesterday was the defection of Nebraska from the Big 12 to the Big Ten (which would actually be 12 teams strong if Nebraska does make that move). The addition of the Huskers to the conference would mean 4 of the top 10 winningest programs in college football history would call the Big Ten home. Nebraska has 827 wins compared to Ohio State’s 819. (Michigan leads all of the NCAA with 877. [Read more...]

Filed Under: College football Tagged With: , , , ,

Of Sports and Time Travel

September 18, 2009 By 10 Comments

nhl94This week, there has been a lot of talk about that one touchdown scored by USC.  The picture shows that USC might not have actually scored a touchdown.  The waves of groaning, whining and complaining emanated from around the Buckeye world.  The logic, seemingly being, that if that touchdown had not counted, then the Buckeyes would have won the game.  That kind of thinking is completely and utterly flawed and let me tell you why.

I learned this theory in college from one of my roommates.  We used to play NHL ’94 on Sega Genesis for some retro gaming action when we were decidedly unable to date females.  The biggest flaw in that game was that you could end in ties on occasion.  When you are betting or trying to figure out who is going to stay on and play the next game, it causes problems.  One of my roommates was of the position that you should just play a single period of a new game and whoever was leading after that “overtime” period should get to stay on.  My other roommate came up with the logic that I quote to this day.  ”You can’t play the first period of a new game as an overtime period.  An overtime is a desperate situation where players know that the next goal ends it.  All those video game guys on the screen have NO IDEA that they are playing a sudden death in the middle of the first period.  We must play a full second game to decide it.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes, College football Tagged With: , , , , ,

Michigan Players Say Program Broke Rules

August 30, 2009 By 16 Comments
AP Photo

AP Photo

Well, you have to wonder how the history books are going to look at the Rich Rodriguez era at Michigan.  Based on the early results, you have to think that this whole thing isn’t going very well.  There was scandal all over the place concerning Rich Rod’s exit from WVU.  There was the huge amount of player turnover and the record setting losses early on in his tenure.  Now some current and former players are speaking anonymously to the Freep.

Players on the 2008 and 2009 teams described training and practice sessions that far exceeded limits set by the NCAA, which governs college athletics. The restrictions are designed to protect players’ well-being, ensure adequate study time and prevent schools from gaining an unfair competitive advantage… [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes, College football Tagged With: , , ,

Beanie Wells Signed, Injured

August 2, 2009 By 14 Comments

As Ohio State fans, we all know how good Beanie Wells can be.  When he is healthy, his powerful running style and dominating stiff-arm make him one of the most dangerous runners in football.  The problem is that first part of the sentence.  The knock on Wells in college and on draft day was his well-documented injury history.  He was drafted in the second round by the Arizona Cardinals and recently signed his rookie contract worth $11.8 million ($6.3 million guaranteed) over five years.  And then he got hurt on his first day of practice. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes, College football Tagged With: , , , ,
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