Flat Buckeyes limp past Nebraska 21-17

      Will Howard threw three touchdown passes , including the game winning score with six minutes remaining in the game as the Ohio State Buckeyes survived an unexpectedly stern test from the visiting  Nebraska Cornhuskers to salvage a 21-17 win in Columbus.

Carnell Tate caught four passes for one hundred and two yards including a forty-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter to lead the Ohio State offense.

It was the Ohio State defense that stood out in the win as they allowed just one touchdown, stopped Nebraska on a fourth and goal from the one, and Jordan Hancock's interception on the final drive that ended the Cornhusker's chances of an upset.

Ohio State improved to 6-1 overall (3-1 Big Ten) and will meet Penn State on the road next Saturday.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Last week against Oregon, Ohio State lost left tackle Josh Simmons for the rest of the season and the loss of Simmons was immediately felt against Nebraska.

Replacement Zen Michalski didn't play well and then suffered his own injury in the fourth quarter.

2) The offensive line now has to find someone capable of blocking Penn State's All-American Abdul Carter, who will have played very little this season or not at all, and have him ready in a week.

Seems to be a very tall task,

3) The woes on the offensive line have affected the running game with Ohio State running for only sixty-four yards for a tiny 2.1 yards per carry.

If you can't run the ball on Nebraska, how do you expect to do so against more physical teams such as Penn State or Michigan?

4) Will Howard threw three touchdown passes with one interception but Howard threw only sixteen passe, completing thirteen and it made me think about why Ryan Day threw so few passes.

The passing game was working but the running game wasn't yet the commitment was to what wasn't doing well, which is puzzling to me?

5) Jeremiah Smith caught one of Howard's touchdown passes, which gives him one in each of the seven games this season.

Smith is the first true freshman to do this since Sidney Rice of South Carolina did it in 2005 and his eight for the season, tied him for the Buckeye freshman record with Cris Carter, who accomplished his feat in 1984.

6) Carnell Tate's game was the first in his career of over one hundred yards and Tate is also showing signs of a legitimate deep threat.

Now if only Will Howard has the time to get the deep game going, Ohio State will really have something.

7) Ohio State was fortunate to only lose Arvell Reese for the first half against Penn State on a targeting call on the final Nebraska drive.

I've griped about targeting in the past but the fortunate break was Ryan Day on the field, slamming his headset on the field and perhaps brushing the official.

Could have been an extra fifteen yards to Nebraska but Ohio State wasn't penalized as they were warned for sideline issues.

8) The second-quarter miss from forty-two yards by Jayden Fielding was just awful.

Fielding's kick was so wide that it landed closer to the sidelines than the goalpost and was so off-target, that if there wasn't something amiss, I would have major concerns about Fielding.

9) Massive game from Cody Simon, who made the finishing hit on fourth down to stop the Huskers at the goal line and made two more tackles for losses on the final Nebraska drive.

10) Ohio State sacked Dylan Raiola three times and held him to only 152 yards passing.

In fact the biggest play the freshman was with his legs, when he galloped thirty-eight yards on a first-half run.

11) Not an inspiring game off a two-week layoff and they better pick up the pace in State College next week, another setback could mean a season that Ohio State entered as a potential dream season would become an instant nightmare.

Boxing Challenge

     The boxing weekend has only one card of importance with its main event as the only match in the boxing challenge as Matchroom/DAZN pairs a key fight in the junior welterweight division as Jack Catterall faces former WBC champion Regis Prograis in Manchester, England. 

The smooth-boxing Catterall avenged his controversial defeat to Josh Taylor in 2022 with a unanimous decision win in May.

Prograis looks like a fighter past his prime with dull efforts in his last two fights, a boring decision win over Danielito Zorilla, and losing every round to Devin Haney last December when he dropped his WBC title.

Prograis looked old and slow against Haney and while Catterall may not have the complete games that Haney possesses, he's a slicker boxer and he's lefthanded.

Unless Prograis can land the big punch against Catterall, the result appears to be pre-ordained. 

Boxing Challenge

Junior Welterweights. 12 Rds 

Jack Catterall vs Regis Prograis

R.L and TRS: Catterall Unanimous Decision 

V.S: Prograis Unanimous Decision

PPM

   The football season is in mid-swing and the PPM is here with our selections.

Last Week:7-6 

Overall: 78-32

College

Ohio State over Nebraska 45-21

TCU over Texas Tech 45-41

Boise State over UNLV 38-35

Middle Tennessee State over Jacksonville State 20-14

Georgia Southern over Old Dominion 27-17

Arkansas over Mississippi State 39-31

Toledo over Bowling Green 24-21

UTSA over Tulsa 31-21

Oregon State over California 34-28

Games of the Week

Navy over Notre Dame 24-23

Alabama over Missouri 42-31

NFL
Ravens over Browns 24-10

Games of the Week

Bengals over Eagles 27-21

Bills over Seahawks 31-24

I Tell Ya' Herbie

   Time for a few thoughts and notes from the college football world, which we like to call I Tell Ya' Herbie.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             Lincoln Riley and the tradition of USC appeared to be well-matched when Riley left Oklahoma for Southern California in 2022. 

The Trojans appeared to be the crown jewel of the Big Ten's West Coast expansion and both appear to be mismatched.

Riley blames everyone but himself for the woes of USC and after finishing 8-5 in the final year of the Pac 12, USC was expected to finish in the upper tier in the Big Ten, even if they weren't an elite team.

The Trojans surprised many with an opening week upset of LSU but have won only twice since posting a 3-4 record of this writing and 1-4 in the Big Ten.

Losses to offensively inept Michigan, boat rowing Minnesota, and losing huge leads in losses to Penn State and Maryland have made me wonder just how they managed to defeat resurgent Wisconsin?

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            The Big 12 has two unbeaten teams- BYU and Iowa State, neither of which were expected to be title contenders.

Texas Tech suffered their first conference loss, losing at home by twenty-four to mediocre Baylor, to drop one game back, Colorado and Cincinnati each have one loss in conference and play each other this Saturday with the winner keeping hopes alive and the loser likely praying for tie-breaker miracles.

This leaves one loss Kansas State, who were trashed by BYU but will play Iowa State on November 30th in what could decide the participants in the Big 12 title game.

Another crazy year in the wacky Big 12.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            In the Sun Belt East, the door has opened for Georgis Southern to win the division after beating pre-season favorite James Madison, holding a win over Marshall, and the slow start to perennial contender Appalachian State.

Should the Eagles defeat Old Dominion on Saturday, they would have a two-game lead over the entire division except for Marshall, who they would have the tiebreaker after their win over the Thundering Herd.

UL-Monroe is the only unbeaten team in the Sun Belt West and holds a one-game lead over Arkansas State, South Alabama, and Texas State, all of whom the Warhawks will play in the final half of the season.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            It's hard to believe that after the first two weeks of the season, two teams that suffered non-conference defeats would be the final two schools standing without a loss in the SEC standings.

LSU has rebounded from their loss to USC on a neutral field in Las Vegas, while Texas A&M hasn't been defeated since a home defeat to Notre Dame.

The winner will have a step up on a possible SEC title trip while the loser will join five teams with one conference loss of this writing with Alabama not part of that group with two league setbacks.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            Which SEC coach has the more tenuous job security currently, Auburn's Hugh Freeze at 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the SEC or Brent Venables of 4-3 (But 1-3 in SEC play) Oklahoma?

I'd say Freeze as one of Auburn's two wins was over 1-AA Alabama A&M, their remaining games are road games at Kentucky and Alabama with home games against ranked Vanderbilt and Texas A&M along the aforementioned Sun Belt West leader UL-Monroe.

Auburn might be lucky to get two wins out of that run and winning one might be the most likely result.

I don't think 3-9 is what Auburn thought they were paying for when they hired Freeze from Liberty.

Cavaliers trample Toronto in season opener

     Evan Mobley scored 25 points and Donovan Mitchell added 21 as the Cleveland Cavaliers won their season opener, easily defeating the Toronto Raptors 136-106 in Toronto.

Cleveland returns for their home opener Friday night against the Detroit Pistons.

Swashbucklings

1) I didn't post a Cavaliers preview, partially due to time and partially because the team has literally added one player, first-round draftee Jaylon Tyson, to the team that lost to Boston in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

2) If the Cavaliers are going to improve from last season, that improvement relies on Evan Mobley's improved offensive game.

From what I saw, the project is off to a strong start with Mobley hitting nine of fourteen from the floor,

Mobley took a step forward in the playoffs last season, he may be taking another one very soon.

3) One of the main reasons Cleveland hired Kenny Atkinson as the new head coach is his ability to develop young players and Mobley was at the top of the list to work with.

Mobley doesn't have to become a three-point bomber or a on the block specialist but if he can improve in each of those areas, he could see a sizable jump in his scoring.

4) Max Strus injured his right ankle before the season and will miss some time with Dean Wade replacing him in the starting lineup.

Strus was expected to bring outside shooting to the team last season and he did- on occasion.

I'm hoping to see more consistency from Strus and for that matter-

5) Anything from Georges Niang would be welcomed after being disappointing as the expected off-the-bench gunner.

Niang started fast against Toronto, hitting four of five shots, three of those three-pointers, finishing with eleven points in nineteen minutes.

Niang would be a huge help to the second squad with play such as last night.

6) Streaky Caris LeVert hit his first seven shots and finished with nineteen points on eight of nine shooting.

LeVert will have his ups and downs but when on fire, he misses very few

Road Trip: Tennessee

     The final trip of the 2024 baseball season was to Kodak, Tennessee for the last visit to Smokies Stadium. 

The Chicago Cubs AA affiliate will move thirty miles to Knoxville for the 2025 season.

The move will leave Smokies Stadium without a tenant in 2025.

The stadium opened in 2000 after the franchise left Knoxville's Bill Meyer Stadium, allowing East Tennessee to retain Double-A baseball.

Smokies Stadium sits on a hill overlooking the area and interstate and other than a Bass Pro Shop shopping area across the street, the area was known essentially for being the exit to the vacation areas of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge when I made my first visit to the area.

Now it's congested, and the area between the exit and the tourist traps has filled in and it's more like visiting a metropolitan area's traffic than what you would expect in East Tennessee.

It was well, Smoking hot on the day of the game and I was disappointed that I missed my friend Corey White while we were at the game.

Corey left us tickets but we missed communication and I wasn't able to see him, although I thanked him for the tickets via messenger.

We decided to leave after a few innings due to the heat and started hitting the antique mall circuit.

One massive facility was open for the first time on a visit so we stopped by and it was more of a flea market than an antique mall.

No judgment but flea markets rarely produce the type of additions to the collection unless you collect black hair coloring or car air fresheners and while this one didn't find any purchases, I did see someone I knew as I walked by one collectible booth.

Eric Esch, popularly known as "Butterbean" was once known as the "king of the four-rounders" after a career spent in the "Toughman" contests transitioned into a somewhat legitimate boxing career against preliminary boxers before finally fighting a legitimate heavyweight in aging former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes and losing a one-sided fight.

Esch is remembered for his quick icing of WWF Brawl for All victor Bart Gunn in thirty-four seconds at Wrestlemania XV but I didn't see much action from Esch, who recently starred in some videos from former wrestler Diamond Dallas Page covering Esch's attempt to drop weight and improve his mobility.

It was pretty sad seeing Esch have trouble moving around and no one asking him to sign anything, just sadly sitting in a chair.

We ran through a few places where I didn't purchase anything before finding the Green Olde Deal in Sevierville.

I did find a few programs there at very affordable prices,  1964 Baylor at Texas, 1984 N.C.State at Maryland and a 1981 Bluebonnet Bowl program with Arkansas playing Florida.

Dinner was a return to Captain Jim's Seafood House, where I had eaten before with Fred Landucci and Lefty Koch, the last time I visited Tennessee.

I had enjoyed my previous visit but there had been a few recent poor reviews, so even up to pulling into the parking lot, I was wondering about my decision, so as I was getting out of the car, the person parked next to us was leaving, so I asked him what he thought.

He said it was great and would return but if he did, he wouldn't get the crab legs addition as he thought there were plenty of items and for the extra twenty-five bucks, he didn't receive his money's worth.

I followed his recommendation, bought the non-crab legs buffet, and was quite pleased.

It takes a decent amount of time to navigate the Sevierville version of the Las Vegas strip and near our hotel was the famous Buc-ees, the gas station that has to be seen to be believed..

I mainly wanted the lay of the land of Buc-ees (like I could eat anything after Captain Jim's) for the next day when we would eat lunch there and purchase requested swag for the girls.

After returning to our hotel, next to the stadium and one that hosted the Smokies opponents, who could walk to work each day, I watched the Newcastle-Bournemouth match on replay from Peacock, and drifted off to sleep or what passes for it in my world.

On the next installment, time to wrap it up with Buc-ees, Knoxville, and a nice find in Virginia on the way home! 

Watson Finished, Bengals bump Browns

   The Cleveland Browns day went awry with the first kick of the game and never got better as the Browns lost to the Cincinnati Bengals 21-14 in Cleveland.

Charlie Jones of the Bengals took the opening kickoff for a touchdown and the Browns never pulled even for the remainder of the game.

Nick Chubb rushed for a touchdown and David Njoku caught ten passes including a touchdown to lead Cleveland in defeat on a day that DeShaun Watson may have taken his last snap as a Cleveland Brown.

Cleveland falls to 1-6 after the loss and will host Baltimore next week.

Brownie Bits

1) DeShaun Watson played his usual game for the Browns before the injury consisting of dink and dunk passes, completing many and moving the chains seldom.

That said, Watson was in the middle of the best Browns drive of the day to that point, which eventually would be finished with the Browns first touchdown.

Watson finished the day completing fifteen of seventeen passes for one hundred twenty-eight yards before leaving the game.

2) It was very evident on the play where DeShaun Watson blew out his Achilles tendon without being touched that the injury was severe.

I watched the play, turned, and said "That's an Achilles injury and that's bad".

The replay shows the bulge and those injuries are almost always devastating.

3) The controversy about some fans cheering the injury to Watson led to players confronting fans during the period that Watson was being attended to on the field and emotional statements by Myles Garrett and Jameis Winston after the game.

Here's my take- I think fans have the right to boo players that they feel aren't playing up to their salaries.

Cheering when players are injured crosses the line and I think the fans that did that crossed the line.

4) The final Watson drive was completed by Dorian Thompson-Robinson and ended with a short touchdown run by Nick Chubb.

On a day filled with bad football and the season-ending injury to DeShaun Watson, the return of Nick Chubb and the response that he received from Cleveland fans was just about the only fun news from an awful game.

5) It was a bad game for veteran kicker Dustin Hopkins, who missed a 49-yard field goal attempt, missed an extra point, and failed to take an angle on the Charlie Jones kick return that might have caused Jones to go out of bounds or give another player a better chance to bring Jones to the turf.

6) Special teams coach Bubba Ventrone is renowned as one of the better special teams coaches in the league, which is why the return for a touchdown by Cincinnati was a surprise.

7) Before the game, the Browns announced that Dorian Thompson-Robinson had been designated the backup QB with Jameis Winston as the emergency quarterback.

I thought that was a bit odd but when DeShaun Watson was injured, it was DTR in the game.

Other than the short field touchdown and a thirty-four-yard scramble, his play wasn't impressive, throwing two interceptions and injuring a finger when he took a sack.

8) When DTR left the game due to his finger injury, Jameis Winston entered the game as the designated emergency quarterback for the Browns final drive and the Browns scored their final touchdown when Winston hit a leaping David Njoku in the back of the end zone.

9) Many think the Browns should play Dorian Thompson-Robinson over Winston when he returns to health to see "what they have".

I don't. The Browns should know what they have as DTR lacks the arm to push the ball deep and his frail frame is going to keep him off and on that injured reserve.

10) Jameis Winston isn't going to send the Browns to the playoffs but his ability to stand tall in the pocket and power arm fits the offense and much like Joe Flacco in 2023, gives the Browns a chance to steal a few games- which might be exactly why they prefer DTR at this point.

11) David Njoku and Cedric Tillman combined for eighteen catches and might be the biggest winners of the quarterback change.

12) A final word on Jedric Wills, who continues to show a complete disinterest in blocking.

That is a real problem for an offensive tackle, the sooner he is gone, the better.

Boxing Challenge: Murtazaliev drills Tszyu!

     Boxing found itself with another upset Saturday night as Bakhram Murtazaliev knocked Tim Tszyu down four times and pounded him so badly that Tszyu's corner was forced to move to the ring apron and literally wave the towel of surrender in the third round to retain his IBF junior middleweight title in Orlando Florida.

Tsyzu fought well in the first round and things seemed to be in place for Tsyzu for an entertaining victory before something happened in round two- Tszyu couldn't avoid Murtazaliev's left hand.

Murtazaliev scored three knockdowns with Tszyu barely able to reach the corner at the end of the round and the doctor took what seemed to be an extremely lengthy check on Tszyu before the third round, which I thought might have allowed Tsyzu to survive a pivotal time in the fight.

Murtazaliev was having none of that as he immediately attacked Tszyu, sending him to the floor again the fight could have been stopped then but Tazyu showed tremendous will in beating the count and was given one final chance with the admonition that one more knockdown would end the match.

Tsyzu gamely tried to fire back but without any legs under him, Murtazaliev battered Tszyu along the ropes before the corner tossed in the towel to end the fight.

For Murtazaliev, the victory retains his title but also could place him on the radar of the Riyadh Season promoters for bigger fights in the future.

For Tim Tszyu, the loss is a devastating one as the defeat to Sebastian Fundora was excusable under the circumstances but Tszyu lacks any excuse for this setback.

All is not lost, Tszyu fought hard, is always entertaining, and if you remember his father's career, Kostya Tszyi lost a fight to Vince Phillips by knockout that he battled back to hold titles and enter the Hall of Fame.

Still, Tszyu will need to be rebuilt, and I think he needs to be rebuilt over the next one to two years with fighters that can refurbish his reputation and rebuild his confidence.

Earlier in the day, Boxxer saw their talented junior welterweight Adam Azim walk through former contender Ohara Davies on his way to an eighth-round knockout in London.

Give Davies credit, he landed his share of right hands but he lacked the pop to deter Azim, who knocked down Davies in round five and almost finished him off with Davies surviving the round on very shaky legs.

Davies survived until the eighth when a left hook polished Davies off for the evening, with the referee ending the bout with Davies on his knees.

Davies was a step up in competition for Azim and Azim looks to be ready for the next level after an excellent performance.

In a fight that I haven't watched, William Scull won the IBF super middleweight title via unanimous decision over Vladimir Shiskin by unanimous decision to win the title that the IBF stripped from Canelo Alvarez for refusing to defend against the unknown Scull.

Scores for Scull were 116-113, 115-113 and 116-112.

I've read from some that Scull outboxed Shishkin and others that Shiskin deserved the decision but it's agreed that Shiskin hurt Scull in the final round and it's agreed that it was a boring fight.

It will be interesting to see who Scull will defend against and when will the IBF mandate that fight?

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 147 Pts (0)

TRS: 143 Pts (2)
Vince Samano: 88 Pts (2)  

Boxing Challenge

    The boxing weekend has three cards but not deep ones, so for the boxing challenge, we will be picking the three main events only.

The biggest bout comes from Orlando, Florida, and PBC on Prime as Tim Tszyu attempts to regain a portion of the junior middleweight title after losing his WBO belt to Sebastian Fundora in a somewhat controversial fashion in his last fight.

Tszyu was dominating Fundora for the first two rounds before Fundora cracked Tszyu with an elbow that would have made Dusty Rhodes proud and opened one of the more hideous cuts of recent times in boxing.

Tszyu battled through the cut before losing a split decision and now returns with the IBF title at stake against Bakhram Murtazaliev, who made a career out of his IBF mandatory position by taking step-aside money and undercard appearances from PBC to not fight Jermell Charlo.

After Charlo finally vacated/stripped the IBF belt, Murtazaliev won the vacant title with a unanimous decision over Jack Culcay and while Murtazaliev is expected to make an entertaining fight with Tszyu, he appears to be a cut below the young Australian in class.

Editor's Note; Murtazaliev stopped Culcay in the eleventh round.

From London, Boxxer (Peacock simulcasted) a crossroads junior welterweight bout is their main event as flashy and unbeaten Adam Azim faces former world title challenger Ohara Davies.

Azim faces his best opponent after stopping then-unbeaten Enoch Paulsen in five earlier this year, while Davies was a heavy favorite in January for the vacant WBA title against Ismael Barroso before being knocked down twice and stopped in one round.

An untelevised fight will also fill a vacant world title as William Scull will meet Vladimir Shishkin for the vacant IBF super middleweight championship in Falkensee, Germany.

Canelo Alvarez lost his undisputed status when the IBF stripped him of their title for not defending against the undistinguished Scull, a Cuban based in Germany, who lacks any wins against notable opposition.

Shishkin is also unbeaten and has a few victories over recognizable names such as former IBF champion Jose Uzcategui, Sena Agbeko, and Ulises Sierra on his record.

Boxing Challenge

IBF Junior Middleweight Title. 12 Rds 

Bakhram Murtazaliev vs Tim Tszyu

Ramon Malpica:
TRS: Tszyu Unanimous Decision

Vince Samano: Tszyu KO 8

Junior Welterweights.12 Rda

Adam Azim vs Ohara Davies

R.L:
TRS: Azim KO 4
V.S: Azim KO 6

Vacant IBF Super Middleweight Title. 12 Rds

William Scull vs Vladimir Shishkin

R.L:
TRS and V.S: Shishkin Unanimous Decision

PPM

     Another big football week coming up with our predictions on the PPM!

Last Week: 8-5

Overall: 71-26

College

Texas Tech over Baylor 34-24

California over N.C. State 41-24

Bowling Green over Kent State 31-18

UTSA over Florida Atlantic 31-28

James Madison over Georgia Southern 38-34

LSU over Arkansas 28-20

UNLV over Oregon State 31-30

Games of the Week

Texas over Georgia 38-30

Nebraska over Indiana 28-26

NFL
Bengals over Browns 27-17

Games of the Week

Vikings over Lions 31-28

Ravens over Buccaneers 24-21

Premier League

Newcastle over Brighton

EFL

Norwich City over Middlesbrough

 

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

Boxing Challenge

     It's a huge few days in boxing with perhaps the best fight in the game finally happening and then two cards from Japan with several title bouts over the following two days.

From Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a fight that many thought may never happen finally will as light heavyweight champions Artur Beterbiev (WBC, IBF, WBO) and Dmitry Bivol (WBA) clash on ESPN+.  

The last unification fight that had been this awaited and was thought to be a pick 'em fight, was last summer's welterweight unification between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence and while that one was one-sided in the ring, I don't think this one will be.

Bivol is currently the favorite by the slimmest of margins but it's very even in the eyes of most observers.

Bivol is considered the more rounded of the two and owns the best victory with his decision victory over Canelo Alvarez while Beterbiev is the feared puncher who has won every fight by knockout and has unified three of the four titles.

I can imagine Bivol outboxing Beterbiev over twelve frustrating rounds and I can imagine Bivol building a lead and Beterbiev grinding forward and breaking Bivol down in a late-round knockout.

Two things that could decide this fight that aren't getting attention.

One- Beterbiev was a decorated amateur with an Olympic background, he's not a crude bomber and is a much better boxer than people think.

Two- I remember Bivol wobbling badly late in his fight against Joe Smith.

Smith is an excellent puncher but he's no Beterbiev, I think Beterbiec eventually gets to Bivol and takes him out - but I wouldn't bet on it!

The undercard consists of a world title, a rematch of a terrific fight earlier this year, and a squash match.

The co-feature is the worst of the three on paper as Chris Eubank Jr faces Kamil Szeremeta in a twelve-round middleweight pairing.

Eubank Jr. last fought in September 2023 when he avenged his loss to Liam Smith with a tenth-round knockout, while Szeremeta has five wins and a draw against non-entities since his back-to-back losses to Gennady Golovkin and Jaime Munguia.

The anticipated match on the undercard is the rematch between unbeaten British heavyweights Fabio Wardley and Fraser Clarke of their dynamic war that ended in a draw in March.

If the rematch is even close to the action of their first battle, we will have a great fight!

I thought Wardley won the first fight but Clarke is capable of reversing that on Saturday.

The world title fight will feature the best cruiserweight in the world defending his title as Jai Opetaia defends against Jack Massey.

Opetaia defended his title in May against the fighter he won the title from, Mairis Bredis, by unanimous decision, while Massey earned the title chance with a mild upset over Isaac Chamberlain in June.

Saturday's fight from  Nagoya Japan will match Sivenathi Nontshinga against Masamichi Yabuki for Nontshinga's IBF light flyweight title.

Nontshinga regained the title in February from Adrian Curiel, stopping him in round ten.
Yabuki holds the only win over the sensational Kenshiro Teraji, defeating Teraji for the WBC title via tenth-round KO in 2021 before Teraji crushed him in three rounds in the rematch.

Yabuki has won his three fights since the Teraji loss, so he's rebounded well from the defeat.

I hope to do a preview of the Sunday and Monday cards from Tokyo but with Beterbiev-Bivol, Ohio State-Oregon, and Browns-Eagles, that may be a just the facts prediction post.

Boxing Challenge

Unification WBC/IBF/WBO- WBA Light Heavyweight Titles. 12 Rds 

Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol

Ramon Malpica and Vince Samano: Bivol Unanimous Decision
TRS: Beterbiev KO 10

Middleweights. 12 Rds

Chris Eubank Jr. Vs Kamil Szeremeta

R.L: Eubank Unanimous Decision

TRS: Eubank KO 5

V.S: Eubank KO 6

Heavyweights. 12 Rds

Fabio Wardley vs Fraser Clarke

R.L: Wardley KO 7

TRS: Wardley Split Decision

V.S: Clarke Unanimous Decision

IBF Cruiserweight Title, 12 Rds

Jai Opetaia vs Jack Massey

R.L: Opetaia KO 6

TRS: Opetaia Unanimous Decision

V.S: Opetaia KO 4

IBF Junior Flyweight Title. 12 Rds

Sivenathi Nontshinga vs Masamichi Yabuki

R.L and V.S: Nontshinga Unanimous Decision

TRS: Yabuki Split Decision

PPM

    After a crazy college football weekend last week, we move to another action-packed trip to the PPM. 

Last Week: 9-4

Overall: 63-21

College 

Ohio State over Oregon 27-17

Boise State over Hawaii 52-20

Louisiana Tech over Middle Tennessee State 21-18

Northern Illinois over Bowling Green 27-24

UTSA over Rice 34-24

Oregon State over Nevada 40-17

N.C.State over Syracuse 28-24

Georgia Southern over Marshall 31-28

Games of the Week

Texas over Oklahoma 35-24

LSU over Ole Miss 28-24

NFL

Eagles over Browns 27-13

Games of the Week

Ravens over Commanders 24-20

Saints over Buccaneers 28-26

I Tell Ya' Herbie

    After what might have been the craziest weekend ever for heavy underdogs defeating highly ranked favorites, we return with our notebook on college football- I Tell Ya' Herbie.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            That was one crazy Saturday as four top ten teams lost, including number one ranked Alabama and three of the four losing to unranked teams, with the fourth losing to 25th ranked Texas A&M.

I'm sure that hasn't happened often and in the playoff era, none of the losses will eliminate any of those team's chances for the new postseason.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            Both sides of the argument on the mighty SEC.

One side says the SEC is down with Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Missouri, and Tennessee losing in the last two weeks and only Georgia's close loss to Alabama as a defeat that didn't come with a gasp and a question mark.

The other is the conference is becoming more balanced as Vanderbilt (Alabama), Kentucky (Ole Miss), and Arkansas (Tennessee) as middle-of-the-pack teams to bottom dwellers dropping conference blue bloods prove that there is some catching up going on in the SEC.

My answer? I think the lower teams playing at home are gaining a little bit compared to the past as only Kentucky's win over Ole Miss was on the road but you will still have to prove to me in crunch time that SEC teams not named Alabama or Georgia are head and shoulders over the mid-range schools.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             It'll be interesting as the CFP evolves to see how schools such as Ole Miss, Tennessee, Missouri, and Texas A&M are graded when the season ends.

I'd think 10-2 will be enough for most SEC ( and Big Ten) teams to get in but if you are 10-2, lack big wins, and lost to Vanderbilt and Arkansas, are you an automatic entrant?

I could see that happening more often than not but not always as time goes on.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            This likely moved under most radars as two mediocre teams in Temple and Connecticut battled in Storrs, CT with an incredible ending.

Connecticut leads 23-20 with three seconds remaining but Temple has the ball on a fourth and goal from inside the Huskies one-yard line.

Temple tries a quarterback sneak, and just as it seems the Owls quarterback is going to break the plane of the goal line for a win, the ball pops up. UConn takes the ball ninety-nine yards for a score, giving them a 29-20 win.

The win moves UConn to 4-2 and in a position to make six wins for a bowl appearance.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                              Things are falling into place for the ACC for two teams in the CFP despite extremely disappointing seasons from Florida State and N.C.State.

Miami rallied from a huge deficit to nip California on the road to remain unbeaten, and Clemson has taken care of their business since their opening loss to Georgia.

Pittsburgh is still unbeaten and SMU has one loss, a three-point loss to unbeaten BYU.

The best news is for Miami, who doesn't play any of those three, and if they can get by Louisville this weekend on the road, the Hurricanes look to have a chance to win out.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             The Group of Five with the biggest surprise has to be the 5-0 starts by Army and Navy that have both at the top of the AAC.

Navy has the more impressive wins with a win over pre-season favorite Memphis and road wins over UAB and Air Force.

Both teams will meet Notre Dame later in the season, so it's unlikely that both teams will be unbeaten entering their season-ending clash in December but imagine the stakes for the game if both teams could manage to be unbeaten.

The December 14th game is the only game on the schedule, and should the dream seasons continue for both, the game could have not only the Commander in Chief trophy at stake, the game would decide the AAC champion, and perhaps put the CFP on hold waiting for who might receive the Group of Five automatic bid.

                            

                            

                            

                            

Road Trip: Florence

   The final day of the trip involved more antique stops for the collection, a stop for dinner, and another park checked off the ballpark passport. 

We started the day with a trip that hadn't been planned originally.

I had thought since we had until the 6 PM start for the baseball game, that it might be interesting to travel to Indiana or Kentucky to the nearest large antique mall and see what they had to offer.

Those two states were intriguing as I was hoping to find some ABA items as both states had teams in the league as well as looking for the usual that I look for.

The decision was Indiana and Exit 76 Antique Mall in Edinburgh, Indiana and I'm glad we had extra time because the GPS took us through about every farm road in the state, which meant we spent about an hour more than we would have needed to arrive via the highway!

This was another excellent Antique Mall and I found a few things that I was looking for - including one that was placed back for a Christmas present (I reserve the right to edit this in a few months to insert the item)!

I did find several programs with the jewel being a 1975-76 Indiana Pacers media guide from the team's final ABA season!

I liked the price even better at three dollars and I added two 1993 NCAA regional programs, several Pacers programs from the eighties, and a 1985 Indiana State vs Evansville basketball program all at fifteen dollars for the bunch.

There was one other thing that I saw early in our visit and was considering purchasing but I forgot about it and I wish I wouldn't have!

I did buy one other item as there were two drinking glasses from Shakey's Pizza with characachers of Richard Nixon (red) and George McGovern (blue) from the 1972 presidential election.

I was tempted to buy both but the Nixon didn't even remotely resemble him, so I only purchased the McGovern glass.

After leaving Exit 76, we stopped in Columbus, Indiana, just outside the state capital of Bloomington and the home of the University of Indiana.

The lunch choice was Jaggers, a regional fast-food chain.

I ordered a burger with egg and ham (I can't remember the name on the menu) with fries and the young lady behind the counter started raving about their chicken, which she claimed was "better than Chick-fil-A", so I ordered it as well.

Well, she was wrong as they were overcooked and scrawny to boot.

It was too bad because the burger was pretty damn good.

By the time we arrived in Florence, Kentucky, we had an hour to kill so I ran into a Target looking for a Cincinnati Reds T-shirt for Cherie.

They didn't have a wide selection, so I would stop and find her one at a Walmart after the game before we left town.

The Florence Ya'lls are a team in the independent Frontier League and are named after the city water tower.

The story goes that the tower had the local mall's name on it but the city changed it to Ya'll due to legal concerns.

The Ya'lls open their ballpark very early, so we were able to go inside and check out the team shop (no baseballs for sale, which was the second time this season that a team shop didn't sell baseballs) for a bit before the players come out to the field.

Thomas More Stadium was in nice condition but nothing stood out as particularly unusual and it seemed pretty typical of a stadium built in its time (2004) with one exception.

Florence, Kentucky is located on the opposite side of the Ohio River and is the location of the Cincinnati area airport, so there is the unusual slice of attending a Ya'lls game as you constantly see (and hear) airplanes taking off and landing.

It's pretty loud and even though it's been years since my concussion, loud noises like that still bother me and while the locals are used to it, it wasn't pleasant for me!

After a quick stop at a nearby Walmart for Cherie's Reds shirt, we headed home with only stops for stretching the legs and bathroom breaks until hitting the homestead.

Florence was the final stadium that I visited for the first time this year, bringing my total to 89.

New Stadiums this year included Worcester, Portland, Somerset, Omaha, Dayton, Cincinnati, Florence, and the new park in Hagerstown.

The trips for next year are unknown as it's becoming more difficult to find parks that are close enough to do in a day.

One trip in the works would add the final minor league stadium on the east coast, New Hampshire, and add it to Fenway Park in Boston.

Once I add New Hampshire, I would have every park from Maine through North Carolina except for two parks in the New York City area (Brooklyn and Staten Island) and I find it unlikely that I go through the hassle of NYC traffic for those two parks.

The nearest stadiums to the south that I would need would be (whichever is closer to these) a new park in Spartanburg, Columbia, Charleston, or Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, while the closest to the west would be one of these Indiana facilities- Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, or South Bend.

I still have one more trip to write about before concluding the summer road trip series and I'll be working on that in the future!

Boxing Challenge: Ball batters Rios

   Saturday afternoon in  Liverpool, England, Nick Ball battered Ronny Rios for ten rounds before Rios's corner stopped the fight in round ten to retain his WBA featherweight title.

Ball overwhelmed Rios with his normal tornado-like attack that the aging Rios tried to defend against but was unable to deflect the aggressive Ball's punches.  

Ball almost finished Rios in the third round when he knocked down the veteran and had him on the verge of a stoppage.

Ball would knock Rios down in the seventh before delivering a fierce battering to Rios in the tenth, knocking him through the ropes with Rios rolling under the lower rope and rising to his feet but his corner surrendered for their fighter.

Give Rios credit for an incredibly brave effort in his third and likely final chance at a world title, as he could have packed it in on several occasions but battled on and gave it everything he had.

As for Nick Ball, he has put himself in the Honorable Mention consideration for fighter of the year with his title-winning split decision over Raymond Ford in a great fight, a draw against Rey Vargas for Vargas's WBC title in which Ball dropped Vargas twice and this win over Rios.

Ball would make interesting fights against any of the other champions Rey Vargas (WBC), Angelo Leo (IBF) Rafael Espinoza (WBO), or Robeisy Ramirez, should Ramirez defeat Espinosa in their rematch later this year.

A fight against minor beltholder Brandon Figueroa would be an almost guaranteed war and Raymond Ford certainly deserves a rematch should he decide to stay in the featherweight division.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 137 Pts (1)

TRS: 130 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 76 Pts (1)

Browns wiped out in Washington 34-13

   The Cleveland Browns needed a win in the worst way as they traveled to Washington to meet the suddenly resurgent Commanders.

They leave town with their head down, a season in disarray, and with many questions, including the direction of the franchise after a 34-13 defeat.

The offense was terrible, receiving only one touchdown, a fourth-quarter garbage time pass from DeShaun Watson to Jordan Akins.

The standout for Cleveland was Jeremiah Owosu-Koahmoah, who finished with a sack, forced fumble, interception, and another pass knocked down.

The Browns drop to 1-4 with the loss and finish their three-game road swing in Philadelphia next week against the Eagles.

Brownie Bits

1) DeShaun Watson did throw the aforementioned touchdown as the game wound down.

He also finished with 125 passing yards without a completion of longer than nineteen yards.

2) Watson was sacked seven times and while he didn't throw an interception, Watson's refusal to get the ball out quickly continued to end drives before they began.

I seem to write this every week!

3) The offense is so broken that I could comment on several factors.

A lack of commitment to running the ball even a little, Watson's inaccuracy downfield, the receiver's inability to get open beyond ten yards, the problems with the offensive line (although Wyatt Teller's absence is a factor, and questionable game decisions all contribute.

4) The wide receivers are a major problem as for the second off-season in a row, Andrew Berry made a trade to add a disgruntled and disappointing receiver from another team and then stopped his work in place, thinking that he had improved the position enough.

Elijah Moore (Jets 2023) and Jerry Jeudy (Broncos 2024) haven't been awful but they haven't been difference-makers either.

Moore caught three passes vs Washington for a whopping eleven yards, while Jeudy caught one pass for sixteen and dropped a would-be touchdown pass in the end zone.

At least, the Browns can escape Moore, who is a free agent at the end of the year, Jeudy was signed to an extension by Andrew Berry before he had played a snap in Cleveland.

5) DeShaun Watson was sacked seven times as I mentioned above but the offensive line has to take some blame as well.

The Browns have been without Jack Conklin and Wyatt Teller, which certainly doesn't help, but they don't drive block on the run and or protect Watson well.

Dawand Jones has taken a step back after a promising rookie season and Jedrick Wills should be shown the door at the end of the year rather than be re-signed.

6) Jeremiah Owosu-Koahmoah's stats for the game are listed above but his interception at the goal line in the first half was the type of reception that you would expect from a tight end, not a linebacker.

JOK is one of the few Browns that is playing as expected in the first five games of the season.

7) Corey Bojorquez averaged over fifty yards on his seven punts and dropped two inside the five.

It's a long day when the punter was the top offensive threat.

8) The Browns rushing numbers were inflated during garbage time but Jerome Ford and D'onta Foreman combined for ninety-one yards on eighteen carries.

The numbers are deceiving but better than expected.

9) David Njoku returned to the field after missing the last three games and on the first offensive play, caught a pass for fourteen yards.

Njoku would not catch another pass in the game.

10) Myles Garrett was controlled by Washington as Garrett would not only finish the game without a sack, he didn't even notch a tackle.

When your best defensive player has so little impact on the game, it's always a tough day.

11) The wheels have clearly come off the wagon for the Browns.

The problem is this- what can really be done to stem the tide?

Kevin Stefanski could allow offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey to call the plays rather than Stefanski and the Browns could try Jameis Winston at quarterback and bench DeShaun Watson.

Neither of those is likely to happen.

Stefanski's ego won't allow Dorsey to call plays because Stefanski believes that's his domain and starting Winston will appear that the Browns are blaming Watson (fairly or unfairly) for all their woes.

And when you make the move to sit Watson, whenever that is, you have to be prepared to make the decision stick because if Winston succeeds, a situation develops (as in the Joe Flacco case) that any eventual move to return Watson to the lineup will be highly unpopular with the fans.

If Winston doesn't play well, going back to Watson wouldn't be appreciated by anyone, and even Watson would be unlikely to be thrilled by that position.

In other words, unless the Browns and DeShaun Watson as currently constructed can improve their play, The Browns are at checkmate.