I Tell Ya' Herbie

     It's time for our weekly look at the college football world- I Tell Ya' Herbie!

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            I didn't mention it in my Ohio State recap of their 32-31 loss to Oregon but there is suddenly some controversy over Oregon intentionally taking a twelve-man on-the-field penalty as it cost Ohio State time that could not be placed back on the clock late in the game.

My take? I don't have an issue with it.

Dan Lanning found a loophole and exploited it, no issues at all there.

Now, the NCAA needs to close that loophole immediately but I have no problems with Lanning's knowing the rules.

Editor's Note: The NCAA closed that loophole on Wednesday.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            The Mountain West has reached the NCAA minimum of eight teams with the addition of Hawaii as a full-time member of the league.

Hawaii was previously a football-only member with their other sports participating in the Big West conference.

Hawaii earned the nod over New Mexico State and various 1-AA schools.

Now the question becomes what school will be the eighth team in the new Pac-12 as that conference is one full-time member shy of the minimum.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             The bigger schools are finding more ways to make money and Georgia Tech sold their 2025 home game with Georgia for ten million dollars to Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium,

Ten million dollars will go a long way toward renovations at Georgia Tech but with the increased seating and seating available to fans of both teams, Georgia has essentially bought itself a home-field advantage that considering the opponent, they didn't really need.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            I mentioned last week with both Army and Navy undefeated that should the two continue their run of play their season ending game could be significant with the AAC title and potential playoff berth at stake.

That still could be the case but I made an error.

Should Army and Navy remain at the top of the AAC, Army and Navy would play each in the AAC title game and then play their regularly scheduled game in an immediate rematch.

Both teams are currently ranked with Army at number twenty-three and Navy ranked twenty-fifth.

Navy was off last week while Army remained unbeaten with a 44-10 blasting of UAB.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             Did you ever think that you would ever see a day that Nebraska visiting Indiana would have Big Ten title ramifications?

Well, it's possible that by the end of the season, the matchup in Bloomington may not mean much in the league standings but for now the Hoosiers at 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten with Nebraska's record at 5-1 and 2-1 in the league with only a loss to Illinois.

Should Indiana win, their following two games are home vs Washington and at Michigan State, each winnable and would set them at 9-0 before a home date with Michigan and traveling to Ohio State.

Imagine that story, if the Hoosiers keep winning!

                            

                            

                            

Browns trade Amari Cooper to Buffalo

       Two days after Kevin Stefanski reiterated the team's stance to continue with DeShaun Watson, the Browns then made a move that makes sense but at the same time throws the towel in on a disappointing 2024.

Cleveland traded Amari Cooper and the Detroit Lions' sixth-round pick in 2025 to the Buffalo Bills for a 2025 third-rounder and a seventh-rounder in 2026.

Cooper leads the Browns in receptions (24), receiving yards (250), and touchdowns (2), where he is tied with Rodney McLeod but Cooper has dropped several passes this season, his chemistry with DeShaun Watson has been questionable, and his effort hasn't been as expected as Cooper appeared to be bothered by his name being mentioned in a potential trade in the offseason with the San Francisco 49ers for Brandon Aiyuk

The Browns reworked Cooper's contract in the offseason to make him cheaper under their cap and if the team decided to move on from him during the year, his contract would be easier for a trading team to absorb under their cap.

The Browns will carry twenty-five million of dead cap space for the 2025 season due to trading Cooper but felt the third-round pick was worth the dead cap hit.

If the Browns were 3-3, I'd wonder about the trade but at 1-5 for a player that isn't playing well for a team that would need a miracle to move into the playoff race, I'm ok with it.

The Raiders got a 3rd, that would become a 2nd if conditions were met for Davante Adams, so getting a third for Cooper is good value.

The problem is this- for the uneven play the Browns received from Cooper this season, he was still the team's biggest threat and most consistent pass catcher.

This moves Jerry Jeudy to the number one receiver spot, a role that he didn't flourish in for Denver, and someone who has played well in only one game this season and Cedric Tillman would move into the starting lineup.

Tillman is the player who dropped a pass thrown right to him that ended the Browns hopes of a late comeback against the Giants in the first of four consecutive defeats.

Elijah Moore has been invisible and rookie Jamari Thrash hasn't been active all season and they will be in the third and fourth roles.

This wasn't a good group with Amari Cooper, it's downright dreadful without him.

Another question is just what the Browns are thinking for the season.

If they are committed to winning and they say DeShaun Watson gives them the best chance to win, why would you move his most dependable (for what that's worth) skill player?

If you are committed to a rebuild, I understand the trade but if you aren't, it doesn't make sense unless you were convinced that a third-rounder was the ceiling for Cooper's trade value and were afraid that Buffalo would acquire someone else in the interim, which would reduce a potential return.

While I am usually in favor of non-contenders building their draft arsenal by moving players before the deadline, this time my thoughts are these.

1) Who or any of the Browns brain trust (and I use that very loosely) will be using these extra picks and could this be an attempt to sell Jimmy Haslam on giving any or all another chance to rebuild.

2) Do you really trust Andrew Berry/Paul DePodesta to draft well with these picks?

Considering the picks sent to Houston, this draft is extremely important to the Browns to bulk up the roster, and considering that Berry has drafted one offensive starter in his four drafts (the mediocre tackle Jedrick Wills) and only one impact player period (Jeremiah Owosu-Koahmoah in the second round in 2022), do you trust Berry and DePodesta to make these selections?

Berry has been fairly shrewd in his trades (not counting the awful deal for Watson), including the one that landed Amari Cooper to start with, but his drafting has ranged from average at best to awful, especially with his wide receiver and offensive line picks, do you trust him?

My answer for now is no.

Boxing Challenge: Japanese Super Cards!

     The two night boxing extravaganza from Tokyo with seven world championships at stake had a little of everything over the two evenings.

A dominant knockout from the best boxer on the card, two champions losing their titles in upsets, vacant titles were filled, and competitive bouts showcased the best fighters in Japan, except for the very best- Naoya Inoue.

The biggest star retained his title on Monday as Junto Nakatani blasted Petch Sor Chitpattana out in six rounds to keep his WBC bantamweight title.

Nakatani was the one prohibitive favorite of the seven championship events and he followed up with an impressive performance in winning every round before the stoppage.

The lean Nakatani could move up to junior featherweight and a mega match against undisputed junior featherweight king Naoya Inoue and that may have been sped up a bit after the result of the Sunday main event where the Monster's brother Takuma Inoue was upset by Seiya Tsutsumi and lost his WBA bantamweight strap along with a possible unification match with Nakatani.

Tsutsumi's aggressive attack reminded me of WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball and while Inoue was competitive, he was unable to slow Tsutsumi down and lost a lucrative potential fight with Junto Nakatani.

Tsutsumi scored a knockdown in round eleven for the highlight before the reading of the cards, which read 117-110, 115-112, and a surprisingly close 114-113.

My score for Tsutsumi was 116-111 and I'll be very interested in the new champion's first title defense.

The junior bantamweight division had only one title match and it saw a new champion walking away with a title-winning surprise as Phumelele Cafu upset Kosei Tanaka via split decision.

The fight was filled with exchanges and excellent stages for both men with the difference coming in round five with Cafu landing a punishing counter-right that knocked down Tanaka.

The knockdown made the difference for Cafu who won on two cards (and mine) at 114-113 with Tanaka winning on the other card at 114-113.

Had there not been a knockdown, Tanaka would have retained his title by a Majority Decision Draw.

I would not be against these two hooking up in a rematch soon.

Three of the four flyweight world titles were on the line over the two days.

Former unified junior flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji won the vacant WBC title by battering former champion Cristofer Rosales into submission when the doctor stopped the fight before the start of round eleven.

Rosales was brave in taking his beating but Teraji's varied attack was more than Rosales could handle at this stage of his career.

Says here that I'd favor Teraji against anyone in the division, he's that good.

Seigo Yuri Akui retained his WBA version of the title by a split decision over Thananchai Charunphak.

Another tight battle that I could use close either way.

Scores for Akui at 117-111 and 115-113 with the dissenting score of 115-113 for Charunphak.

I scored 115-113 for Akui.

The WBO title held by Anthony Olascuaga remained with him after a first-round head clash opened a cut over Jonathan Gonzalez's eye, which resulted in a no-contest.

One junior flyweight title was filled when Shokichi Iwata won the vacant WBO belt by stopping Jairo Noriega in the third round.

Noriega won the first two rounds but Iwata knocked Noriega down twice in round three, the second knockdown dropping him face-first for the finish,

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 147 Pts (4) 

TRS: 141 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 86 Pts (6)

Browns fall in Philly 20-16

      The Cleveland Browns didn't produce an offensive touchdown and as a result, the Browns lost another winnable game. this one to the Philadelphia Eagles 20-16 in Philadelphia.

Myles Garrett blocked a Jake Elliott field goal late in the first half and Rodney McLeod ran fifty yards with the recovery for the Browns only touchdown. Dustin Hopkins kicked three field goals to complete the Cleveland scoring.

The Browns dropped to 1-5 and will return to Cleveland next week after losing all three games of their road swing to play the Bengals.

Brownie Bits

1) There will be more talk from the press and the fans about the future of DeShaun Watson as the starter but Kevin Stefanski immediately stated following the game that Watson would be starting against the Bengals next Sunday.

I wonder about the crowd reception after these miserable three losses.

2) Watson did have a few highlights as his final drive bullet to Amari Cooper was drilled where it needed to be and he completed eleven of twelve passes in the second half but once again, Watson finished with less than two hundred yards passing.

3) I'm tired of writing this every week (but not as tired as I am of watching it)  but I still don't have a grasp on what the major factor is in why the Browns just aren't able to generate chunks of yardage.

Watson's inaccuracy, Watson's arm strength, wide receivers' inability to separate and their speed, and the offensive line's problems in protecting him, all contribute to this problem- I'm just not sure what can be fixed first.

4) The offensive line took another hit when center Nick Harris broke his fibula on the third play of the game.

Harris was starting in place of the injured Ethan Pocic and his injury forced Michael Dunn, who was starting at right guard rather than backup Zac Zinter, who had been ineffective in place of injured Pro Bowler Wyatt Teller, to shift to center and Zinter returned to the field.

5) Cleveland did receive some long-awaited help on the offensive line with the return of Jack Conklin at right tackle.

Conklin tore his left knee in the 2023 opener and hadn't played since.

Assuming Conklin can stay on the field, the line will be helped.

6) Myles Garrett didn't have a sack but he did have two tackles for loss and his block of a Jake Elliott field goal attempt led to the only Browns touchdown.

Garrett's athletic ability for a man of his size astounds me and it's always been reported how much Garrett loves basketball, which makes sense considering how he leaps!

7) Rodney McLeod's touchdown from the blocked field goal by Myles Garrett had to feel good for the former Eagle and it was his second touchdown of the season.

8) Rodney McLeod, a veteran defensive back, is tied for the team lead in touchdowns after six games.

That is how historically terrible the offense has been,

9) The Browns did use the running game a bit more than they previously had, finishing with one hundred yards as a team, forty-three of those for Pierre Strong.

10) The Browns lost Jerome Ford to injury after two carries but the Browns will return Nick Chubb to the field next Sunday, so the depth will not be affected. Ford is the most effective of the pass-catching backs though and would remove a target that DeShaun Watson looks for when he checks down.

11) I still can't believe the third quarter play call by Kevin Stefanski on a third and one.

After bringing Jameis Winston in for the QB sneak, which I have no problem with considering the size difference and the condition of Watson's shoulder, Stefanski called the number of wide receiver Cedric Tillman and on the replay, you hear a player screaming "It's coming to me".

That man was Brandon Graham, who was sitting in a spot where Tillman ran at him with Graham slamming Tillman to the ground for a five yard loss.

12) That play call resulted in a fifty-two-yard field goal try by Dustin Hopkins into a left-to-right wind that pushed the attempt wide of the goalposts.

13) If the draft was held today, Cleveland's first-round pick would be first overall as the Browns schedule is the third weakest in the league to date.

And they are 1-5.

Boxing Challenge: Beterbiev bumps Bivol

    The long-awaited light heavyweight unification match between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol may not have been a firefight but it was a fascinating technical battle at the highest level that the sport can offer and at the end of twelve closely-matched rounds, it was Beterbiev who emerged with the narrow victory and adding the fourth (WBA) title to his three (WBC, IBF, WBO) and the title as the undisputed best in the division.  

The fight's scoring has been criticized but I scored it 114-114 which agreed with one judge and the others giving an edge to Beterbiev 115-113 and 116-112.

Beterbiev threw over two hundred more punches and landed the stronger shots but Bivol landed six more punches overall for a higher percentage. 
I thought it was even but if I am forced to choose, I would lean towards the more aggressive Beterbiev.

Beterbiev went the distance for the first time in his career after twenty knockouts in his previous twenty fights, while Bivol suffered his first defeat.

I would not have an issue if someone scored Bivol a close winner and a rematch seems to be the main money fight for each man as neither is likely to move to cruiserweight and Bivol's loss may render him uninteresting for Canelo Alvarez, now that Bivol does not hold a title.

The undercard was pretty mundane with one exception as Fabio Wardley conclusively finished his rivalry with Frazer Clarke with a stunning first-round knockout.

The two hooked up in a sensational war in March that was scored a draw but this one ended when Wardley hurt Clarke with a right hand and sent him to a knee in the corner in no condition to continue.

An excellent win for Wardley, who will move up in the ratings after a spectacular victory.

Jai Opetaia retained his IBF cruiserweight title with a sixth-round stoppage of Jack Massey.

Opetaia was well ahead on my card when Massey's corner threw in the towel.

Opetaia is the top cruiserweight currently and I would love to see him against the winner of this fall's unification match between WBA champion Gilberto Ramirez and WBO king Chris Billam-Smith.

Middleweight Chris Eubank Jr, knocked down Kamil Szeremets three times before stopping him in the seventh round of a middleweight mismatch.

In Nagoya Japan, Masamchi Yabuki won the IBF junior flyweight title with a ninth-round stoppage of Sivenathi Nontshinga.

Yabuki, the former WBC champion in the division and the only fighter to defeat Kenshiro Teraji knocked down Nontshinga late in the eighth round and was dropped twice in the ninth round before the referee ended the fight.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica; 143 Pts (6)

TRS: 136 Pts (6)

Vince Samano: 80 Pts (4) 

Not what Quacked up to be- Oregon 32 Ohio State 31

     The Ohio State Buckeyes came to Eugene Oregon with the reputation of an offensive machine that was able to outscore anyone.

They left with the knowledge that they were good enough to beat anyone but any team can be felled on a particular day, as the Oregon Ducks slipped by the Buckeyes 32-31 to end hopes for an unbeaten season.

Will Howard threw two touchdown passes and 326 yards but Howard's game will be remembered for the final play rather than anything else he did.

Jeremiah Smith caught nine passes for one hundred yards and a touchdown but his day will be remembered for an offensive pass interference call that took Ohio State out of field goal range and led to the eventual time running out for OSU at the Oregon 25.

Ohio State falls to 5-1 overall  (2-1 in the Big Ten) and will be off next Saturday before hosting Nebraska.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Here's my number one takeaway.

Ohio State took the best shot of an excellent team, complete with fluke plays (the onside kick in the first half) trick plays, that had home field three time zones away and lost by one point.

Any loss isn't a good loss but all things considered, if Oregon emptied the tank under those conditions, I like Ohio State's chances in a likely rematch in Indianapolis.

2) Will Howard played well and I'm going to not baste Howard over the scramble that saw time expire before using what would have been Ohio State's final timeout.

I understood what Howard was trying to do, get close enough to make a field goal attempt plausible, he simply made an error with the time.

3) BUT the problem is this- Ohio State brought Howard to add experience to the position from someone who had been in situations before, and he came up short.

4) Ohio State was moving the football and was in field goal range before an offensive pass interference call on Jeremiah Smith turned a nine-yard gain into a fifteen-yard loss.

While I did think Smith pushed off and the call was fair, one can question the call late in a game, considering the field position, etc.

The penalty was fair but I do question a little why the flag was thrown.

5) The surprising part of the game for me?

Oregon's speed at receiver was better than I expected against the Buckeye secondary.

It wasn't only the multiple big plays for touchdowns, it was how many additional big plays could have occurred if not for errant throws from Dillon Gabriel.

6) Oregon attacked cornerback Denzel Burke all evening with multiple receivers for chunks of yardage all night and the thought that I couldn't remove was Burke losing NFL draft status and money with each long completion.

Hopefully, this was a bad matchup or bad evening for Burke because if Oregon has discovered a weakness in Burke's game, it won't be bad only for Burke, it will be bad for the Buckeyes.

7) I'm still not sure if the first-half onside kick by Oregon was deliberate or not.

It was kicked very hard and could have been intended to get downfield as a squib kick with the Buckeyes unfortunate to have someone get in the way.

If it was a called play, it makes me question why more teams don't try the "bullet kick" more often.

8) Pro and Con on defense.

Pro- they needed a stop on Oregon's final drive and held them to a field goal, which placed Ohio State in a spot where a field goal would win the game, not a touchdown

Con- they needed one stop, allowing Oregon to move seventy-five yards for the field goal and win.

9) Classy move by Oregon's Traeshon Holden to spit over Ohio State's Davidson Igbinosun.

Holden was rightfully ejected.

10) Defense allowed over five hundred yards of offense, and didn't record a sack or turnover.

11) Ohio State took a loss on the offensive line with tackle Josh Simmons suffering a season-ending injury.

I always hate the term "next man up" because usually, the next man isn't as solid as the man down.

The offensive line was the biggest question mark entering the season and losing Simmons doesn't help.

12) Ryan Day is now 1-7 against top-five teams.

Just for the record, not that Day had a glaring mistake in this loss.

13) I'm surprised about two things on the day after.

The first is the glee that some media is taking in this loss, notably CBS in this article.

The other is from Buckeye Nation. Yes, there are things to clean up, and yes, this game was there to be won, but in the playoff era, one loss doesn't kill your hopes.

All things considered, a one-point loss to the third-ranked team in the country on the road isn't a devastating defeat.

However, the buffer is now gone- any loss from here on out will be a season-ending one.

Boxing Challenge

     Tokyo, Japan is the place to be for boxing on Sunday and Monday with two cards filled with world title matches that will hopefully lead to bigger fights in 2025.

This will be a just the facts version but the best of Japanese boxing (Other than Naoya Inoue) will be in action on these cards with seven world titles at stake, ranging from the junior flyweight to the bantamweight division.

Sunday Card

WBA Bantamweight Title. 12 Rds

Takuma Inoue vs Seiya Tsutsumi

Ramon Malpica: Inoue KO  10
TRS and Vince Samano: Inoue Unanimous Decision

Vacant WBC Flyweight Title.12 Rds

Kenshiro Teraji vs Cristofer Rosales

R.L and TRS: Teraji Unanimous Decision
V.S: Teraji KO 7

WBA Flyweight Title

Seigo Yuri Akui vs Thananchai Charunphak

All:  Akui Unanimous Decision

Vacant WBO Junior Flyweight Title. 12 Rds

Shokichi Iwata vs Jairo Noriega

All: Iwata Unanimous Decision

Monday Card

WBC Bantamweight Title 12 Rds

Junto Nakatani vs Petch Sor Chitpattana

R.L: Nakatani Unanimous Decision
TRS: Nakatani KO 4
V.S: Nakatani KO 5

WBO Junior Bantamweight Title. 12 Rds

Kosei Tanaka vs Phumelele Cafu

R.L and V.S: Tanaka Unanimous Decision
TRS: Tanaka KO 9

WBO Flyweight Title. 12 Rds

Anthony Olascuaga vs Jonathan Gonzalez

All: Olascuaga Unanimous Decision