Cleaning out the Inbox

  The inbox is overdue for a cleaning, so I'll do so here!

Apparently, whether you want to blame it on climate change or a natural coincidence, the range for animals continues to stretch, and when that happens, new breeds can intermix with each other.

Weather.com writes of the new hybrid species, the "Grue Jay," which is a breed comprised of a Blue Jay and a Green Jay.

The Green Jay, a warm-weather bird, has moved a few hundred miles north from its previous northern border along the Texas/Mexico border.

The Blue Jay has extended its range westward, and now the two have started interbreeding, producing birds with mixed characteristics.

NHL.com shares the inspirational story of Seattle Kraken reporter Piper Shaw, who has overcome a challenging childhood to achieve her goal of working in media. 

Shaw's story has to be read to be believed that she survived such awful treatment, and I'd recommend that you do so!

The Athletic offers "Trouble with the Snap, which discusses the tenth anniversary of the Michigan-Michigan State game that saw the Spartans win on the final play of the game when Michigan's punter fumbled the snap, and Michigan State recovered and scored for the victory.

The article also digs into the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry, which is often overshadowed by the Ohio State-Michigan wars but is almost as heated between the two schools.

Cleveland Magazine writes about the retro Pizza Hut restaurants that pop up around the country, yet the chain doesn't actually acknowledge they exist.

The Pizza Huts are decorated and designed exactly as they looked in the 1980s!!

The redesigns were offered for a limited time and aren't available after a change in management.

All is Well! Ohio State bullies Michigan 27-9

      Well, all is well in my world for the first time since 2021 as the Ohio State Buckeyes put things in their proper place with a dominating 27-9 win over the Michigan Wolverines in their snowy home in Ann Arbor.

Julian Sayin threw three touchdown passes, including a fifty-yard strike to Carnell Tate, Bo Jackson rushed for 117 yards, and the Ohio State defense never allowed the Wolverines to reach the end zone, holding them to three field goals, all in the first half.

Ohio State caps an undefeated regular season at 12-0 (9-0 Big Ten) and will play the other unbeaten team in the conference and country in the Big Ten Championship game next Saturday, meeting Indiana in Indianapolis.

Olentangy Offerings

1) I must admit, I was a little concerned when Michigan scored three points on their first drive, and then picked off Julian Sayin shortly thereafter to give them the ball in Ohio State territory,

Ohio State's defense would hold Michigan to another field goal, and only another field goal would be allowed for the remainder of the game.

2) The play that worried me most was an early run by Jordan Marshall, the player who mouthed off most through the week with gems such as "we (Michigan) have the best coach in the country", "it's about the culture" (think about that over the last few years), and not wanting to "be around people who are all about themselves".

Marshall entered the game with an injured shoulder; his first run was for thirty-six yards, but he left the game shortly.

Marshall tried to return in the second half, but he was stopped for little gains and soon was through for the day, finishing with sixty-one yards on seven carries.

3) Ohio State benefited and was stung by two calls in the first half.

Ohio State benefited on a close call on a Julian Sayin to Jeremiah Smith touchdown pass that saw Smith possibly losing control as he passed the goal line.

Because the ball went through the back of the end zone as part of the dumbest rule in the sport (a fumble through the end zone is considered a touchback and gives possession to the defense), Ohio State would have seen a 10-6 lead turn into a 6-3 Michigan lead, returning the ball to the Wolverines.

4) The other controversy happened earlier in the first half.

Julian Sayin's QB sneak was initially called a touchdown and reversed by replay (I don't think Sayin scored, but I didn't see evidence on the replay through the pile of bodies), but C.J. Donaldson pretty clearly broke the plane of the goal line (The second dumbest rule in football), and it wasn't even replayed! 

Ohio State settled for a field goal on the drive.

5) Much of the talk during the week was about the availability of Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith for the game, and in the case of Tate, if he would ever play for the Buckeyes again, with Tate's eligibility for the 2026 NFL Draft.

I thought both would, both did, and both scored on long passes, 50 yards for Tate and 35 for Smith.

I think the Buckeyes are OK here.

6) The Ohio State defense never seemed threatened after the first drive.

Ohio State stopped Michigan after Julian Sayin's interception and shut down their offense entirely in the second half.

7) Michigan's freshman quarterback, Bryce Underwood, is being paid a lot of money, and he is a true freshman, but it's fair to consider that Michigan has to have thought they deserve more for their dollars than sixty-three passing yards and an interception.

8) While the game was essentially ended by the Sayin to Tate strike in the third quarter, the true kill-shot was the field goal that ate the final five-plus minutes of the third quarter and the first six of the final period.

That drive slowly sapped Michigan's will and any chance of it forging a rally.

9) Ohio State's offensive line has been maligned through the years (not as much this season), but the numbers in this game- Zero sacks allowed, Zero pressures against Julian Sayin, and one hundred eighty-six yards rushing.

It is often about the trenches and physicality in this game, and in the recent losses, Michigan had the edge in that department- not on this day.

10)  The defensive line did its share of bullying.

Kenyatta Jackson, Kayden McDonald, and Caden Curry are more than just pass rushers; they stuff the run as well.

Michigan finished with one hundred yards rushing as a team, but remember, thirty-six of those came on the first run by Jordan Marshall.

After that run, Michigan rushed for sixty-four yards on twenty-three rushes, an average of 2.78 per try.

11) The win (as we have heard so often) was the first over Michigan since 2019, but don't forget (although Michigan has) that in 2020, the Buckeyes reached the National Title game (before losing to Alabama), and a losing Michigan team ducked a certain defeat in that Covid season by meekly saying they didn't have enough players.

Combine that with the "Connor Stallion" losses, and you could say Michigan had a real two-game winning streak.

12) Give Ryan Day credit for class by telling his team not to plant the Ohio State flag at midfield.

Michigan stood at midfield to block any attempt and later said, "They weren't going to do that," but Day told Michigan coach Sherrone Moore at midfield that they wouldn't be planting any flags.

It defused a possible situation after last season's debacle in Columbus.
Perhaps if Michigan were so concerned about retribution, it shouldn't have started this practice.

Hopefully, we can get past this in the future from both schools.

Time for a new Day? - Ohio State tripped by Michigan

   Words cannot describe the pain of Ohio State's fan base destroying 13-10 loss to the Michigan Wolverines in Columbus.

Michigan's twenty-seven-yard field goal with forty-five seconds remaining made the three-point difference.

The loss will cause the Buckeyes to miss a rematch with Oregon in next week's Big Ten Championship, Penn State will play the Ducks instead but the Buckeyes will still have a CFP berth waiting for them.

I would suggest to Ryan Day that his team win that playoff for his sake.

Olentangy Offerings

1) I just cannot grasp why a team with the best group of wide receivers in the country didn't let their athletes go and make plays.

On the one drive that Ohio State tried to spread Michigan thin and move to a faster tempo, OSU scored their only touchdown late in the first half.

That success was ignored in the second half.

2) I know there have been concerns about the offensive line since various injuries have hit the team and I also know it is easier for a weakened line to run block than pass block but the strength of the Michigan defense is their stout defensive line and their weakness is in a secondary that was missing certain first-round pick Will Johnson.

Why didn't they challenge them downfield?

3) Chip Kelly was brought in as the man Ryan Day trusts most as Day's mentor.

Kelly may have cost his protege his job with a game plan that showed few results against an inferior team.

I'm still in shock over the bland game plan!

4) As the game moved on, one could almost see the fear in Ryan Day as once again, he coached not to lose rather than to win.

Just a timid display of coaching from a man who spent a year vowing that things would be different in this game.

5) Then there was the screw-up by Day on Michigan's game-winning drive that saw Day send extra players into the game, see that OSU was about to be called for twelve men on the field and called a time-out, which isn't allowed since teams cannot call two timeouts without a play.

That gave Michigan a first down, draining Ohio State's remaining timeouts and leaving them little time on their final drive.

6) The defense played beyond what could be expected, other than allowing Kalei Mullings to break tackles for a big gain on Michigan's final drive.

Other than that play, I can't find any fault with Jim Knowles or the defense, which allowed only one touchdown, a five-yard drive following a first-half Will Howard interception.

7) I really thought Jack Sawyer had saved the day with an interception that thwarted Michigan again near the goal line in the fourth quarter.

8) Will Howard talked a big game but played his worst game as a Buckeye, finishing 19 of 33 for 175 yards and two interceptions.

It wasn't for lack of effort but Howard was brought in to win that game and his play wasn't good.

9) Caleb Downs did though, finishing with eleven tackles and a red zone interception.

For my money, he's the best DB in the land.

10) Jayden Fielding missed field goals from 34 and 38 yards, six points lost in a game lost by three.

Special teams continue to be a problem under Ryan Day.

11) Should Ryan Day go?

Well, maybe but consider this- Do you lose Julian Sayin or Jeremiah Smith if you remove Ryan Day?

That might be what saves Ryan Day.

Buckeyes disappoint in Michigan again 30-24

    A somewhat controversial call and two key turnovers cost the Ohio State Buckeyes as their comeback died inside Michigan territory with under a minute remaining for their third consecutive loss to Michigan, 30-24 in Ann Arbor.

Kyle McCord finished with 271 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, the final of which ended the game as his pass to Marvin Harrison Jr was intercepted by Rod Moore.

Marvin Harrison Jr. finished with five catches for 118 yards and a touchdown to lead the Buckeyes in what may likely be Harrison's final game as a Buckeye.

Ohio State finishes 11-1, losing to Michigan for the third season in a row, and will be selected for a New Year's Day bowl against a soon-to-be-named opponent.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Immediately, the talk from the extreme Buckeye faithful is how Ryan Day must go as some talk is in the air about Day being mentioned as a potential target for the open Texas A&M position.

I disagree.

Don't misunderstand, I'm not happy with the situation but talk of firing Ryan Day is ridiculous.

If Texas A&M wants to pay Day and he wishes to leave, fine but fire him?

Not at all.

2) The play that Ryan Day is being broiled most for is his decision to run over thirty seconds off the clock to wait for a fifty-two-yard field goal try for Jalen Fielding that was missed.

It was a fourth and two and Day had gotten his reputation as an offensive coach for his risk-taking, yet during this game, Day didn't gamble or use his strengths.

This decision didn't swing the game, but it set the narrative that Ohio State would play it conservatively and take very few risks.

3) Kyle McCord's numbers look solid but it can't denied that his two interceptions were the difference in the game.

The first one in the first quarter allowed Michigan a short field to take the first lead of the game and created an environment where Ohio State was chasing points the entire game.

4) The first McCord interception is inexcusable but the final drive's interception is a little easier to defend.

Marvin Harrison Jr. was open on the play and McCord was trying to get him the ball but McCord was hit as he threw and the ball didn't have enough zip to reach Harrison and was intercepted.

McCord could have stepped up into the pocket and perhaps that would have helped make a better throw but he didn't and the rush certainly affected his throw.

5) Ohio State had whispered all season that Ryan Day was holding some things back for this game and that was why the offense had not shown everything that they possessed during the season.

Instead, it was the same vanilla offense and it was the supposed dull team that tried some different things as backup running quarterback Alex Orji appeared under center in the third quarter and took off for a twenty-yard gain, and halfback Donovan Edwards lofted a halfback pass that gained thirty-four yards in the fourth.

6) Why didn't Ohio State do anything to open the game up to best use the one advantage that they clearly owned over Michigan in their skill position players?

We may never really know but if I was guessing, I think Ryan Day didn't truly trust Kyle McCord to play from too far behind and didn't think the risk was worth the reward.

7) TreVeyon Henderson is the type of back that gains a few yards here, a few yards there, and then makes those gains worthwhile because Henderson breaks through with a long run, and in this game, that didn't happen.

Henderson's longest run was for eight yards and finished with sixty yards on nineteen carries and a touchdown.

Henderson did suffer an ankle injury and kudos to him for playing through it but there is little doubt that while the Ohio State running game wasn't awful, it wasn't explosive either.

8)  The Ohio State defense didn't play poorly and when they needed a stop to hold Michigan to three points on their final drive, they did so but Michigan took over seven minutes off the clock, forcing the Buckeyes to use their three-time outs and left only a minute remaining to win the game.

They received points for making the stop eventually but they allowed too many conversions on the drive that could have saved valuable time.

9) The Ohio State special teams haven't been good all season and punter Jesse Mirco wasn't good in Ann Arbor, averaging thirty-six yards on three punts, and zero inside the twenty-yard line.

Special teams coach Parker Fleming might be one of a few changes on the Buckeye staff in the off-season.

10) Marvin Harrison Jr. finished with over 100 receiving yards in a game for the fifteenth time in his Columbus tenure, breaking a tie with David Boston for the most in Ohio State history.

Harrison would be unlikely to play in another Ohio State game unless the path would somehow open u for a trip to the CFP.

11) I've waited this long for the one thing that worked against the Buckeyes that wasn't their own fault.

I thought the second-quarter touchdown pass of twenty-two yards to Roman Wilson from J.J. McCarthy should have been overruled as an interception by Denzel Burke.

Wilson never completed the catch with possession and it was Burke that emerged with the ball.

The referees called it a touchdown on the field and the replay didn't change the call.

I think if this game is in Columbus, it's changed but that's the home-field advantage for you.

That's seven points off the board in a game that you lost by six but that doesn't mean the decision cost the game for Ohio State.

That play was early enough in the game that Ohio State could have overcome it.

12) Ohio State wasn't out-toughed and they weren't out-battled, they just lost a close game.

I'm not sure what changes next year because I'd wager OSU will lose Marvin Harrison, TreVeyon Henderson, and perhaps Emeka Egbuka.

They are in a position to handle receiver losses better than any school in the country, and in ways other than the game-breaking speed, Dallan Hayden might be a better back than TreVeyon Henderson.

I think they have to find someone to run special teams other than Parker Fleming, and the time may be right to consider moving on from Corey Dennis (Urban Meyer's son-in-law) as the quarterbacks coach.

Ryan Day is returning unless Texas A&M throws huge dollars at him and he decides to leave, and so is Kyle McCord, who I just can't see Day not picking as the starter, even if there is a competition announced

The pressure is only going to increase on this program over the next year and with no excuses for next season's game in Columbus, everyone involved with Ohio State football is going to have to look at next season's game as more than a must-win for the season.

It may be a must-win for the future of the program entering a new era in college football. 

I Tell Ya' Herbie

    With the final weekend of the college football regular season set to start, it's time for the last regular season version of I Tell Ya' Herbie.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                              While both Ohio State and Michigan have entered The Game unbeaten several times in the past, and with conference titles and national prestige at stake, this Saturday's clash in Ann Arbor has those and even more.

In fact, this might be the biggest The Game of them all when everything is considered.

 For Ohio State, it's breaking a two-game losing streak, keeps Ryan Day from hearing the name John Cooper with every other sentence or paragraph, and takes some credibility away from the previous two losses considering the sign-stealing scandals at Michigan.

For Michigan, it's all about credibility-lose this game without Jim Harbaugh on the sideline and suddenly it appears that the scandal was legitimate, the "Michigan Men" were so desperate to win that they had to cheat, and there is an asterisk beside the two previous wins and it's almost like Michigan is still on a losing streak.

Plus a loss won't shine well on Jim Harbaugh, even though he won't be there in person, and a loss could mean that this could be the last game that Harbaugh coaches at Michigan.

Toss in a Big Ten title appearance at stake and a likely berth to the CFP ( unless you think offensively challenged Iowa could beat either school) and It's not hyperbole to say this could be the biggest game ever between these two teams and that says it all.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             Friday's Texas Tech at Texas game will be the final time that these two hook up for a while with Texas leaving for the SEC next year and no future games scheduled between the two.

Tech looks at Texas as more of a rival than vice versa but the games between the two are usually competitive and hard-fought with more than its share of wacky endings.

I'll miss the series and Tech now lacks a true rival to despise.

It will take some time as the new Big 12 doesn't have many schools close to Lubbock and many of its schools are in the same boat with lost rivals.

For now, I'd say the most likely to eventually become the Red Raiders "big game" might be one of their old SWC members TCU, Baylor, or Houston but it is going to take time.

The Chancellor's Spurs trophy which Texas and Texas Tech started in 1996 will reside with the winner until the rivalry will eventually be resumed.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             The AAC race is coming down to the wire with three schools without a conference loss entering the final game.

Fortunately, the schedule will sift things down to the final two for the league title game next week as two of the teams will play each other on Friday as UTSA visits Tulane.

The winner of that is guaranteed a title game ticket, while 7-0 SMU hosts Navy (5-5 overall), and a Mustang victory would punch their ticket to the title matchup.

I'm not sure who would win a tie-breaker between SMU (if they lose) or the UTSA-Tulane loser but the conference has to be happy with such a race to the finish.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            The other crazy race is in the Big 12 where Texas leads at 7-1 and three schools (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State) are all at 6-2 for the two Big 12 championship game slots.

The two teams that control their own destiny are Texas and Oklahoma State but that's if it stays that way after this week.

If Texas Tech beats Texas and all three 6-2 teams win, which is possible as none of them play each other, the league would have a four-way tie for two spots and I don't know how that tiebreaker would play out.

Without knowing who wins the tiebreaker, Mike Gundy's Cowboys could get into the game with a win but also could win and perhaps not make it in should Texas lose.

Wild!

                  

I Tell Ya' Herbie

Back with more from the college football universe with I Tell Ya' Herbie.

I Tell Ya' Herbie: 

                             Right now, the biggest injustice in the sport isn't Connor Stallions or the other "honorable" Michigan Men involved in their sign-stealing scandal.

It's the NCAA for stubbornly sticking to their bowl ban for undefeated James Madison for moving up to 1-A and daring to go unbeaten thus far.

The Dukes still have to win have to win home games against UConn and Appalachian State along with a road trip to Coastal Carolina but if they finish unbeaten and things fall right with one loss teams such as the AAC's Tulane and the Mountain West's Air Force and Fresno State, the NCAA needs to do the right thing by an unbeaten team and say no adjustment time needed and allow the Dukes to take the automatic bid to the New Years Day bowl in its final year.

It's the right thing to do.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             The most interesting conference race at this stage might be in the AAC mentioned above with three undefeated teams at 5-0 in the league (Tulane, SMU, and UTSA) and a 4-1 team lurking behind the three leaders in Memphis.

And sadly with each team with three games to play, there are only two scheduled between the four with SMU traveling to Memphis and UTSA visiting Tulane.

It's too bad there isn't more interaction between the four down the stretch.

I Tell Ya' Herbie;

                             The most anticipated game of this week has to be Michigan traveling to State College for the first test of note for the third-ranked and scandal-scarred Wolverines this season.

While Michigan has steamrolled all opponents, their best wins have been over Rutgers and UNLV, neither of whom would be confused with the sport's powerhouses.

Penn State failed their big test in Columbus but their best wins are better than those of Michigan to date with wins over West Virginia and Iowa.

This one is in State College, so Michigan's first test will be away from home, and considering the sign-stealing scandal, the crowd will be especially strong against the Wolverines.

This may be Drew Allar's last chance to score a career-changing win this season but from what I saw in Columbus, even at home this game may be more advanced than he can handle.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            The coach of the year in the Big 12 might be Mike Gundy for the rally-saving season for his Oklahoma State Cowboys.

The Cowboys have won five straight since losing to South Alabama at home and Iowa State on the road with wins over Kansas, Kansas State, and most importantly to them, the final (for now) Bedlam against Oklahoma which gives Oklahoma State final bragging rights and may have knocked the Sooners out of the Big 12 championship game.

Gundy has moved from the hot seat to the possible coach of the year and should the Cowboys win out against Central Florida (4-5), Houston (4-5), and BYU (5-4), it will be Oklahoma State as the Sooner State's representative in the league title game.

I Tell Ya' Herbie

 I Tell Ya' Herbie is our weekly take on topics from the world of college football.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            The Michigan sign-stealing scandal continues to gain steam and more details seem to emerge every day but so far the one smoking gun appears to be that Michigan's staff never expected to play TCU in last year's playoff.

Michigan apparently did their video work for most of the Big Ten teams and a few teams that they thought they could face in the playoff but not TCU, who dealt them a humiliating upset defeat in the playoffs 51-45 and was tipped off about the Wolverines scheme, dealing with it with dummy signals.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             I'm not sure if Caleb Williams will be the top overall pick in next year's NFL Draft but someone needs to talk to Williams and his representatives and explain two things.

The first is demanding ownership in whatever team selects Williams is not only a bad look but it's also against NFL rules.

Patrick Mahomes attempted to do just that and was told it was against league rules.

The second is that it looks really bad to be dropping demands for the NFL before your college season ends-especially when you have lost your last two games.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            Another year North Carolina raises hopes that they are going to finally break through to the top of the sport and disappoint by losing to a team that they should defeat.

This year, the undefeated Tar Heels fell for the first time to a Virginia team that had won only one game entering the game and the game was in Chapel Hill!

North Carolina has traditionally lost when they appear to be past their reputation and oops, they did it again.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            Arkansas has changed from loving Sam Pittman two years ago to being ready to be rid of Pittman now with the Hogs at 2-6 overall, holding a current losing streak of six games, and lost to almost as woeful Mississippi State last week by the stimulating score of 7-3.

Pittman fired offensive coordinator Dan Enos after the game but with remaining conference games against Florida, Auburn, and Missouri, only a non-conference game against Florida International looks like a win in a season that could place Pittman firmly on the hot seat for 2024.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             It's funny how the swagger of Dabo Swinney left as soon as Clemson started losing games inside the ACC.

The Tigers have already lost three games for a mediocre 4-3 record and could lose more with games against Notre Dame and North Carolina still to be played.

Swinney has been an advocate of not using the transfer portal to shore up weaknesses on his roster and though I might even agree with his stand on principle, programs will have to adapt to the times.

Still, it is somewhat fair to think of how Swinney was so full of himself when the times were good and lacked the same personality when they were not.

I Tell Ya Herbie

   We return with I Tell Ya' Herbie, our weekly look at college football.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            The Washington win over Oregon was as good of a game as you'll see.

Wide open with big plays and yet it wasn't bad defense either.

A back-and-forth game with six lead changes and Washington's Michael Penix establishing himself as the leader in the Heisman race at this time makes this game of the year to date.

Looking forward to a possible rematch in Las Vegas in the final Pac-12 championship game.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            As for the other Pac-12 unbeaten, USC's offense finally couldn't make up for their porous defense as the Trojans were pounded at Notre Dame as Caleb Williams threw three interceptions in the loss.

The defense hasn't shown very much improvement over last year's defensive disaster and although USC is still unbeaten in the conference, four of their final five games are against ranked teams.

Three of those four are at home (Utah, Washington, and UCLA) with Oregon on the road so I find it hard to believe that the Trojans with their defensive problems win all of those games.

I Tell Ya' Herbie;

                            Mentions in the Herbie column for Mountain West teams seem to be jinxed as two weeks ago, we mentioned Fresno State, who then lost to Wyoming.

Then we mentioned the Cowboys, who then lost to Air Force, so mentioning the Falcons would seem to be bad luck for them this Saturday as the 6-0 Falcons travel east for a non-conference tilt with 3-5 Navy.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            Maybe Michigan is a step above Penn State and/or Ohio State but do we really do know when UNLV is the best win of the year to date?

Yes, they are big, physical, and talented but until they beat someone of note (and the same can be said of the Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes) I couldn't put them above Washington in the national rankings yet.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            It's the final year of divisions in the Big Ten and the path is wide open for the perpetually offensively challenged Iowa Hawkeyes to walk through in the Big Ten West.

After their 15-6 win over Wisconsin, Iowa's stout defense and mediocre offense meet a limited remaining schedule with the next four games at Nile Kinnick Stadium against Minnesota, Northwestern, Illinois, and Rutgers before finishing at Nebraska.

Even if one of those teams trips up the Hawkeyes, the tiebreaker over Wisconsin due to their win last Saturday gives Iowa a mulligan and Wisconsin would need two of those teams to beat Iowa.

That game was crazy as Iowa completed six passes for thirty-seven yards and yet still won at Camp Randall.

Could Iowa defeat the survivor of the Eastern triad? 

I doubt it as Iowa's one shot at the three resulted in their only loss in a 31-0 whitewash at Penn State.

Buckeyes throw a Shoe, lose to Michigan 45-23

   In what was expected to be a redemption game for the Ohio State Buckeyes, Ohio State put forth the most puzzling performance from the program in years and they were manhandled by the Michigan Wolverines in a 45-23 loss at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

C.J. Stroud threw for 349 yards and two touchdowns along with two late-game interceptions for Ohio State.

Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka each finished with over 120 yards receiving yards and a touchdown reception from each player.

Ohio State finishes the season at 11-1 and 8-1 in the Big Ten and with the defeat, they will now wait to see how the conference championships play out for their postseason destination and foe.

Olentangy Offerings

1) So many negative things to say and I hate to be one of those people griping about a one loss season.

However, if you ignore the issues, one never repairs them, so please forgive what will likely read as a tantrum over one defeat.

2)  Ryan Day is receiving heavy criticisms for some of his decisions during this game but most of those decisions I was basically fine with other than one time that he chose to punt early in the second half on a fourth and five on the OSU 49 after Michigan had scored to take the lead.

Ohio State's punt bounced into the end zone and Michigan drove eighty yards for a touchdown.

I would have gone for the first down there but otherwise the decisions were understandable.

3) Day is especially receiving some heat for his decision to kick a field goal with under eight minutes to go in the game on a fourth and four from the Michigan nine yard line.

I was okay with that as well for this reason- you are running out of possession so cut the lead to eight and hope your defense can hold.

It didn't as Donovan Edwards ran for a seventy-five yard score on the first play of Michigan's drive to place the game safely in their win column but I would have kicked the field goal as well.

4) None of that is to say that I have zero criticisms of Day, who has regressed as a play caller before my eyes over the last two seasons.

It's hard to believe that the bright innovative playcalling that earned Day the head job to begin with has degraded to this screen pass/short out pattern reliance that has become so predictable.

I think Day should give serious consideration to either handing that duty to Kevin Wilson or Brian Hartline or hire someone else because much like Kevin Stefanski with the Browns, Day has become almost bland after starting as the head man.

5) Don't believe me?

C.J. Stroud will be a top ten pick in next year's NFL draft, Marvin Harrison Jr. is the best wide receiver in the nation, Emeka Egbuka is developing to the point that he is a likely 2024 first rounder, and Julian Fleming was the top rated wideout in his recruiting class and could be anything from a first to a third rounder in his eventual draft class.

And for all of that talent, J.J. McCarthy threw more times downfield than C.J. Stroud did.

Not completed ( although that applies as well), attempted.

That's not using your talent properly.

6) When Ryan Day is asked about Dallan Hayden, he always refers to Ball Security as an issue despite Hayden not fumbling in his first season in Columbus.

I know Miyan Williams was able to return to the field (thirty-four yards on eight carries) in limited action and Chip Trayanum in his first major action at running back rushed well in leading the team with eighty-three yards (Trayanum played running back for Arizona State but transferred to OSU as a linebacker) but Hayden rushed so well against Maryland and I would have thought that performance (146 yards and three touchdowns) would have earned him more than two carries.

7) And with three long touchdowns allowed from the passing arm of J.J. McCarthy (one was a short pass with some awful arm tackling and the other two appeared to be blown coverages) how much blame should fairly go to defensive coordinator Jim Knowles?

Depends on if you blame Knowles for coverages that allowed Michigan the type of passing game big plays that one expects to see from Ohio State.

Were they bad coverages called or player breakdowns?

In either case, Ohio State isn't paying Knowles almost two million dollars a year to watch a performance like that on the team's largest stage of the season.

8) And in hindsight, a backbreaker was a Michigan eighty yard drive that ate almost eight minutes and could have been a Buckeye spark in holding Michigan to a field goal after rushing J.J. McCarthy into a hurried heave to the back of the end zone.

However, Ronnie Hickman was called for pass interference and even though an argument could be made for the pass being uncatchable, Michigan was bailed out and would score a touchdown on a McCarthy rush.

9) Five touchdowns of forty-five yards or longer against a Michigan team not known for its explosiveness looks really bad and I really can't blame the front seven all that much until the final two drive of the visitors.

10) J.J. McCarthy was a Buckeye fan growing up and as a recruit was thought to be a potential commitment but Ohio State decided to move towards Kyle McCord as their preferred passer in that recruiting class and McCarthy decided to commit to Michigan.

McCord has the inside track to start next season and prove that to be the correct decision but McCarthy has the attitude that it takes to win this game.

You may not like it or him but gotta respect the passion.

11) C.J. Stroud likely has played his final game in Columbus and he will likely leave with a legacy of the most decorated quarterback that didn't win anything.

I know the Rose Bowl win over Utah is nice but that doesn't carry the weight that it used to in program importance.

Stroud is rattled by a good pass rush and he's not the most mobile guy in the pocket.

I understand the financial aspect for Stroud and I can't blame him for leaving with the money involved for his draft projection but he needs another year of development in my opinion.

12) The worst part of this?

Ohio State will enter next year with another first year starting quarterback in either Kyle McCord or Devin Brown and will play the 2023 game in Ann Arbor, which is really a tough out and why winning this game was so important.

13) Because one loss can be explained as an aberration, two is a pattern, and the potential for three is there, Ryan Day thinks he will have heat on him for this year?

Try losing next year's game and fans will tag him with the hyphenated name of Ryan Cooper-Day.

14) This is also a tough loss for recruiting as recruits won't remember all the dominance of Ohio State in the series, they will only remember 2-0 and with the Covid year, next year's recruits would have been high school freshmen when Ohio State last defeated Michigan and the recruits that will be worked out for the following class would have been in middle school for the last Buckeye win.

The players want to win and play on the biggest stage possible and this isn't a problem for Ohio State yet but another loss or two and it could become one.

15) As for the playoff hopes, I really don't think that they deserve to after this but they are still alive with losses by LSU and Clemson on Saturday as well.

I think Ohio State may get in should TCU or USC lose their title games (TCU vs Kansas State, USC vs Utah) and almost definitely should both teams lose.

No one has a better loss of the one loss teams and Ohio State brings the two things that shouldn't count so much but do- Traveling fans and eyeballs on TV.

I think it would be very tough to take Ohio State over an undefeated TCU and maybe even over a one loss USC but from what I saw against Michigan, and while I want the Buckeyes to be successful, I'm not sure it matters if Ohio State would slide in at the fourth seed and play Georgia for the right to have the fact that Ohio State has become a finesse' program slammed into my face.

Again.

Ohio State run over in the Snow-Lose to Michigan

     Ohio State had everything they needed to take their rightful place in the Big Ten title game and a step closer to the final four.

Until they didn't.

The Michigan Wolverines pounded the Buckeye defense again and again on the ground, took their first win over Ohio State since 2011, and for the first time over a good Ohio State team since 2003.

C.J. Stroud threw for 394 yards and two touchdowns and both Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Garrett Wilson caught double-digit passes and finished with over one hundred receiving yards.

The disappointing loss means that Ohio State finished 10-2, 8-1 in the Big Ten which gives them co-champion status with Michigan with the Wolverines winning the head-to-head tiebreaker and the resulting trip to Indianapolis.

Ohio State will likely wind in the Rose Bowl against the winner of the Pac 12 championship game between Oregon and Utah.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Michigan ran for almost three hundred yards (297) and ran for each of their six touchdowns, so it doesn't take very much to circle the key stat in the upset win.

2) Give Jim Harbaugh credit for having his team ready to play and even had a few wrinkles in his fairly staid offense.

Harbaugh had been criticized for not focusing enough on this game and he vowed that this year would be different and for one year- it was.

3) I as almost everyone did, picked Ohio State to win but one thing that I mentioned when asked about the game was my concern about C.J. Stroud.

Despite Stroud's numbers this season, the best team that Ohio State had played on the road in front of a hostile crowd was Minnesota and how would the redshirt freshman react?

4) Stroud didn't throw any interceptions but he resembled another Ohio quarterback a few hours north up I-71 with many missed passes going high.

Stroud didn't play badly but he didn't dazzle in defeat either.

5) One reason that the crowd may have become a factor?

Ohio State didn't take nearly as many deep shots down the field to Chris Olave or Garrett Wilson and as a result, the crossing and curl patterns that the Buckeyes often turn a twelve-yard gain into a sixty-five-yard move were stifled by very few yards after the catch.

Was this on Stroud's being bothered by the Michigan pass rush and wanted to get the ball out fast? Or was Ryan Day being overly safe under the circumstances?

6) The other main worry of mine entering the game was the Michigan defensive ends, Aiden Hutchinson and Ojabo and both were a handful with four sacks, three of those by Hutchinson.

Ohio State has had the dominant pass rushers in this rivalry for years but they didn't have them on Saturday.

7) Is that a long-term issue for the Buckeyes?

I doubt it- remember Ohio State nabbed both of the top two defensive linemen in last year's recruiting in J.T, Tuimoloau, and Jack Sawyer and while neither had huge impacts this season both should take huge jumps next season.

8) The first half touchdown catch by Garrett Wilson was out of this world and while players like Chris Olave and Wilson will be hard to replace the Buckeyes are more than equipped to do so (remember this is a team so deep in wideouts that Jameson Williams transferred to Alabama, of all places, to make the field regularly.

9) I would think both Olave and Wilson will be first-rounders and guarantee that at least one of them will be.

The fact that with three receivers like Ohio State has and does not have a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award is a joke.

10) The Buckeye defense let them down on the biggest stage and makes me wonder what would have happened against a higher-powered offense but there were a few bright spots.

Steele Chambers seemed to be all over the field and Bryson Shaw made a very good interception in the first quarter in the end zone to kill a Michigan scoring drive,

11) The win snapped an eight-game losing streak for Michigan against Ohio State and the first win for Michigan in ten years, since Michigan skipped last year's game due to issues with Covid-19.

12) It wouldn't be Jim Harbaugh, a guy that took seven years to win this game, without being able to be a sore winner as after the game Harbaugh referred to Ryan Day as a guy that "was born on third base and thought he hit a triple".

The observation of Day as a coach that won immediately with a team built by Urban Meyer isn't completely unfair ( the term for that is called pulling a Mike Tomlin) but in typical fashion came off as a smug jackass.

13) As for Ryan Day, the next two games against Michigan could set his legacy at Ohio State after such a stunning loss.

Next year's game will be key in Columbus as in taking their measure for this loss and Jim Harbaugh's smack talk to show it was the rare win in the series and not allow Michigan to set the narrative that the tide had turned.

14) However, even with a 2022 win for the Buckeyes in Columbus, the pressure will not truly be relieved until a 2023 win in Ann Arbor for a second win in a row and a road win.

That is how important regaining control of this series rather than allow Michigan to think of themselves as equals.

Dominance cannot be taken for granted.

15) Wrapping up with this hot take- Is it possible that C.J. Stroud has made his first and last start in a game against Michigan?

After all, Ohio State signed not just the number one quarterback in the nation, but the number one PLAYER in the nation in Quinn Evers, and would Ryan Day take the chance of losing a talent like Evers to keep Stroud?

I might wonder if in this loss if it isn't possible that one of the many things that were lost in Ann Arbor in this game, one may have been C.J.Stroud moving from Heisman finalist to possibly not even starting the game in 2022? 

Buckeyes Whoop Wolverines 56-27

The Ohio State offense rolled up huge numbers on the Michigan Wolverines defense with J.K Dobbins rushing for four touchdowns and Justin Fields throwing for four additional scores as Ohio State finished an undefeated regular season with a 56-27 win in Ann Arbor.

Justin Fields threw for 301 yards and J.K Dobbins ran for 211 to lead a Buckeye offense that finished with almost six hundred (577) yards in total offense against a Wolverine team that stayed reasonably close on the scoreboard, but wasn't able to find a way to score when they had the chance to really tighten the game.

Ohio State improved to 12-0 (9-0 Big Ten) with the victory and will now travel to Indianapolis for a rematch with the Wisconsin Badgers, who regained the Paul Bunyan Axe and won the Big Ten West yesterday with a snowy victory on the road over the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
I would suspect that this win would clinch a playoff spot no matter the result against the Badgers, but to have a chance at the top overall seed in the final four, a victory is mandatory,


Olentangy Offerings

1) Have to admit when I saw Justin Fields clutching his knee in the third quarter, I saw the entire season going up in smoke.
Fields, who after the game, admitted that he has a strained MCL and will play through it for the remainder of the season.
Fields was wearing a small brace before the third quarter hit and missed a handful of plays while team doctors outfitted the knee with a larger brace.
Fields returned during the same possession and on his first play fired a 30 yard knife into the guts of the Wolverine with a touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson that took any real hope of victory out of the Ann Arbor crowd.

2) Underrated portion of the victory?
The job that was done by Ryan Day, backup quarterback Chris Chugunov and second team running back Master Teague on the drive that partially lost Fields at the helm.
Day played the drive like an undermanned gamer playing a video game by winding the play clock down before the snap, Chugunov was perfect under center in pulling the plan off without error, including a key third down conversion on an eleven yard pass to Garrett Wilson and Teague ran hard and gave the drive a chance to continue by making the conversions reasonable enough to convert.

3) Chase Young didn't finish with a sack and likely cost himself a realistic chance at the Heisman, but he was double and triple teamed all day, being held up and chip-blocked and by the pressure that the Michigan offensive line felt in having to address Young with two and three blockers, other Buckeyes were able to provide a pass rush on Shea Patterson.
Young showed that he was still in the game as twice Michigan gambled on tackle Jon Jansen blocking Young on his own and on both occasions it was Young blowing by Jansen and narrowly missing the sack.

4) Garrett Wilson caught the aforementioned touchdown pass and finished with over one hundred yards receiving on three catches, but he did muff a punt in special teams, so he's not perfect.
However, the skills that Wilson possesses and when you look at the receivers that the Buckeyes have committed in the next recruiting classes, the Ohio State passing game is only going to get better.

5) The defense did show an occasional hole in the first half as the Wolverines gained far too much yardage on short passes.
The biggest issue? Missed tackles and bad angles combined for a pretty good yards after catch average for Michigan and although this was shored up some in the second half, the bigger and more physical Wisconsin players could take advantage of similar sloppiness in Indianapolis, if it occurs.

6) Can we please retire the talk of the "legendary" Don Brown "defensive wizard" now?
Brown's an excellent defensive coordinator, but no Buddy Ryan is he and Ohio State has proved that to the tune of 111 points and over 1,100 yards in eight quarters of play.
Brown bragged before the game that he "had something special for Ohio State".
I'll take 56 points of special everytime!
Brown either refuses to change what he does with his defense or his players cannot execute outside of the "Brown Way", but it is crystal clear that Ryan Day has found the cracks in the foundation of the Don Brown System.

7) What a game for J.K. Dobbins as he bullied Michigan for 6.8 yards every time that he carried the football.
Dobbins also passed both Eddie George and Ezekiel Elliott to move into second place on the all-time Ohio State rushing list and might have staked his claim for the Doak Walker Award for the top running back in the nation.
I'm doubtful that Dobbins returns for his senior season, but with at least two and possibly three more game this season, should he decide to return, Archie Griffin's spot at the top is likely to fall.

8) Senior defensive end Jonathan Cooper announced in the week leading up to the season that he was going to redshirt and return next season, but he had one game remaining to play before the redshirt.
Cooper could play in the game of his choice and he chose this one.
Ohio State is dominating the rivalry, but with championship games arriving and yet Cooper chose this one to finish his season.
That says all that you need to know about this rivalry-lopsided or not.

9) Jim Harbaugh made a few questionable decisions in this games when it came to fourth down attempts.
Twice, I would have thought that Michigan would have tried to go for it and instead kicked field goals in the second and third quarters.
The second quarter one really made me wonder as it was close to halftime and the Buckeyes would receive the kickoff to start the second half.
Harbaugh then went for it twice in the fourth quarter deep inside their own territory in situations that were better suited for going for it in video games.
After being summarily dismissed, the Buckeyes scored two touchdowns on the very short field and blew the score out of proportion a bit.

10) Michigan scored their share (27) and that was more than any other opponent, but they were only able to kick two second half field goals against the Buckeye defensive adjustments.
The defense was missing starting defensive back Shaun Wade and that didn't help, but Amir Riep played well in his place with an interception and a deflection in the second half.

11) Perhaps the biggest play in the game happened in the first half when the teams were trading scores and Michigan looking as if it was their turn to answer on the Ohio State 12 facing a third and nine to trim a 21-13 Buckeye lead.
Shea Patterson fumbled, Robert Landers recovered for OSU and then Ohio State crunched any momentum with a 84 yard touchdown drive to move the lead to 28-13.

12) Now it's a Wisconsin rematch.
The Badgers played the Buckeyes tough into the third quarter in a downpour in Columbus before Ohio State landed a flurry filled with touchdowns in a 38-7 win.
This one will be played on a fast track inside Lucas Oil Stadium, which is an advantage to the more physically talented Buckeyes, but Wisconsin, who made up two games on Minnesota in the waning weeks of the regular season, is a physical team and they usually play the Bucks tough, with the exception of their first meeting in Indy in 2014, which saw the future national champions roll to a 59-0 win.
Their second meeting in 2017 was a closer game that Ohio State won 27-21 and is best remembered for the large chunk of field turf that was missing and needed to be repaired in the middle of the game.


13) Ohio State is likely in the playoff with a win or loss against Wisconsin, but a win might get them the top seed, while a loss could drop them to third or fourth.
In most seasons, the seeding doesn't matter as much but this season the top seed would get either Oklahoma, Utah or Baylor as the likely opponent and the second seed will play undefeated and generally untested Clemson.
There is an advantage to being number one, hopefully Ohio State can land that spot.

Back next with either Browns vs Steelers or the boxing weekend.

I tell ya' Herbie

Things I think, our weekly column on college football has been proven to be popular thus far (OK, one person has mentioned it) and I'm enjoying it, so it stays for at least as long as I remember to write it. that is!

Why the new name?
Well, Ryan and I often break into full Brent Musberger mode and usually use the phrase most often associated with Brent and his former boothmate Kirk Herbstreit- "I tell ya, Herbie", so being that college football should be in full Musberger I thought the phrase was a perfect fit.
Even if Musberger never actually said it that way (Keith Jackson never actually uttered Whoa, Nellie, you know) it sounds like Brent and what better way to salute one of the announcers that make college football great as well as my son, with whom I've shared so much in sports.

I tell ya, Herbie:
                           Jim Harbaugh's gimmick has once again worn out its welcome at a coaching stop and even though it's not a firm conclusion, Michigan and its fans are at least thinking about life after Jimbo following the Wolverines dismal effort in a 35-14 loss to Wisconsin that was not as close as the final score indicates.
It's more than Harbaugh though, as his Alabama import for offensive coordinator Josh Gattis has had his bumpy spots this season and the once renowned defensive coordinator Don Brown has never recovered after Ohio State slapped 62 points on his defense last November.
Entering this season, most figured that this was Michigan's year to beat Ohio State with OSU using a new head coach, a freshman quarterback and getting the Buckeyes in Ann Arbor with the notion that if they couldn't do it under those conditions, when would they?
Suddenly, that looks less likely a month into the season than when it started and Harbaugh could need that game to keep his job, should this season continue to spiral downward.

I tell ya, Herbie,
                          I'm not sure where Michigan goes, should they decide to part ways with Mr. Harbaugh.
The last three hires have been an "Offensive Guru" (Rich Rodriguez), "Old School Michigan Man"  (Brady Hoke) and now the "Michigan Man Savior" in Harbaugh and even though Michigan hasn't become Minnesota under any of these coaches, none of them have brought the program to what it once was.
Put Harbaugh's hefty salary (7.5 million a year, second only to Nick Saban) aside and the cost of buying him out of his contract at the end of this season would be a heavy fifteen million more off the grid and ask-Just where do they go?
A big name coach might be leery after watching Harbaugh and a smaller level coach might cost the school donations, so I'm not sure what would make the fan base happy unless they try what they did in basketball (hiring Juwan Howard without head coaching experience) and throw the hail mary with a former big-name star off television like Charles Woodson and pray for the best.
I don't like saying this, but keeping Harbaugh around might be their only hope.
Who has it better than them, indeed?

I tell ya, Herbie,
                           The transfer portal with its accompanying new rules isn't working either and needs to be tuned up or rehauled completely.
I'm not against players being allowed to play four games without it counting against a players eligibility and a resulting redshirt, but we have moved from a system that was totally controlled by the schools (forcing players to sit out a year and controlling what schools the player could transfer to) to one totally controlled by the players.
Let's take the case of D'Eriq King, the quarterback for Houston, who recently announced his intention to redshirt as a senior after the Cougars stumbled to a 1-3 start under new coach Dana Holgorsen.
King stated that he will return to the Cougars for next season, but there is nothing to hold him to that decision and should we continue to travel down the road of players cashing in seasons because the team is not playing well?
If Houston signs off on this and King does return, I suppose it wouldn't be totally bad, but still, I wonder how fair it is to the seniors that aren't the marquee players that have to trudge through a bad final season without that option?
When you add the issues of players in the transfer portal that get approved for transfer to avoid sitting a season that doesn't seem to be always viable reasons for immediate eligibility, you have a system broken differently than the previous one.
Ohio State profited from this as much as anyone in enabling Justin Fields to eligible for this season, but that still doesn't make it the right thing.
The NCAA really needs to do some corrections for next season or for 2021 at worst.

I tell ya, Herbie
                          Bowling Green for years has been one of the better teams in the MAC along with Northern Illinois and rival Toledo, but at the group of five level, if you make one poor decision in coaching as Billy Beane said in "Moneyball" you hit the floor with a thud and not a bounce.
After two successful seasons under Dino Babers throwing the football using his version of the Air Raid, the Falcons hired Mike Jinks, who was an assistant at Texas Tech but had never been either head coach or coordinator at the college level.
MAC schools often have to hire first-time head coaches, but the coaches are usually from the midwest where MAC schools have to thrive in recruiting, so relationships and connections with high school coaches, etc are perhaps more important than in any conference in the country.
Jinks lacked all of those with his entire coaching career being spent in Texas and it's going to be a tough sell for Texas high schoolers to play for any Ohio school that isn't named Ohio State.
Jinks was fired midway through last season with a record of 7-24 and the Falcons with new coach Scott Loeffler are still paying for the hiring and mistakes of the Jinks era.
BG whipped I-AA Morgan State in their opener, but since was shutout at Kansas State 52-0, came home to face Louisiana Tech for a 35-7 homecoming loss and a humiliating 62-20 loss to Kent State, who entered the game with one win- an overtime win at home over Kennesaw State.
And who waits next for Loeffler's Falcons- Notre Dame in South Bend on national television.
Bowling Green will cash the check and pray Irish coach Brian Kelly is merciful as after all if you give up 62 to Kent State what will you allow to Notre Dame?
It will take time for Loeffler to turn things around and if he can't, it could be quite a while before the Falcons return to MAC prominence- A thud, not with a bounce.

I tell ya, Herbie,
                          And then there's Arkansas.
A once-proud program that looked to have a good hire before 2018 with Chad Morris.
Well, the Morris era isn't looking too hefty right now as his Hogs lost to another Mountain West team in San Jose State at home.
Arkansas fell behind 24-7 before rallying to tie the game and then allowing the Spartans to march down the field for the winning score with less than two minutes to play.
Arkansas was a 21 point favorite and one final kicker?
Arkansas paid San Jose State 1.5 million to come to Fayetteville and beat them.
Arkansas always says they have nothing to gain in playing Arkansas State, they could have played them and kept that 1.5 million in-state.

I tell ya, Herbie,
                           I ripped the ACC last week for being weak and Pittsburgh did give the ACC a big win with their late one-point victory over Central Florida but ranked Virginia struggled with Old Dominion, Boston College didn't dominate Big 10 doormat Rutgers and once-powerful Miami wobbled to a 17-12 win at home over Central Michigan.
At least those teams won though, as Mack Brown's Tar Heels lost to Appalachian State 34-31 in Chapel Hill.
Appalachian State is the perennial bully of the Sun Belt and looks to be a school that will likely be a possible chip that moves to a higher conference (still group of five) when the next shuffle of realignment occurs, but still, Appalachian State shouldn't be defeating North Carolina at home.



                         

Buckeyes cancel Revenge Tour- Wallop Michigan 62-39!

Jim Harbaugh brought what was said to be Michigan's best team in years if not ever to Columbus and was favored to defeat Ohio State even in their own "Horseshoe".

What seemed like a cast of thousands ranging from Urban Meyer to Dwayne Haskins to Chris Olave and more ranging all the way to Brutus Buckeye slammed the Wolverines without mercy until the kneeldowns inside the Michigan 10  at game's end as the Buckeyes crushed the hope of the blue with a record performance of 62 scored points in a 62-39 victory!
Dwayne Haskins fired five touchdowns, two of those to Chris Olave, Olave also blocked a punt that was scooped and scored by Sevyn Banks and Parris Campbell scored on a rush of 78 yards and caught a touchdown pass as well to pace what seemed to be even more than 62 points scored.

The victory gives the Big Ten Eastern Division title to the now 11-1 (8-1 Big Ten) Buckeyes and a trip to Indianapolis for the second year in a row to play the West champions, with a new defender of the West as its Pat Fitzgerald's Northwestern Wildcats winning the title for the first time.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Honestly, NO ONE saw this coming.
Now, when I was asked about the game this week, I thought it was a pick 'em game and that home field for Ohio State made it that way with home field being worth three points to the oddsmakers.
Still, I picked Ohio State because I thought that Ohio Stadium would be a help after two weeks on the road and because when Urban Meyer's teams (at Florida and Ohio State) are thought to be the underdog, that's when Meyer has performed best.

2) Of all the boxes to check as when you evaluate the reasons for this win- number one goes to the work of the offensive line.
Against Chase Winovich and Rashan Gary, the often-maligned offensive line came through with its best game of the season as the vaunted Wolverine defense came up empty in rushing Dwayne Haskins as they finished the game without sacking Haskins and rarely putting pressure on Haskins to rush his passes.

3) Dwayne Haskins threw short, medium, deep with accuracy against the nation's top-rated defenses (by the numbers anyway) and it seemed like no matter where he wanted to throw, he hit his man.
19 of 30 seemed to be worse than I would have thought as it seemed that Haskins completed more passes than that.
Still, the coolness of Haskins set the tone to keep the Buckeyes at an emotional peak without being so hyped that they are making mistakes by being out of control.

4) Parris Campbell is the game breaker that might make an NFL team very happy as one of those "Swiss Army Knife" type players that is the rage when describing a versatile player.
Campbell doesn't get caught from behind and when he took a short pitch around the tackle and sprinted 78 yards for a score, mere seconds after Michigan cut the lead to 16 and had mild hopes of a comeback- that was the pin that popped the Wolverine balloon.
Campbell might not be a day one pick and we'll see if he is a day two, but he is going to be a player that can make a real impact if used properly in special situations.

5) Freshman Chris Olave has been a player that has been discussed by Urban Meyer, the coaching staff and some media as a player that is sitting on a breakout.
That breakout came on Saturday with not only the game's first touchdown and another later in the game, but in the second half when Olave burst through the Michigan punting unit to reject the boot of Will Hart, sending the ball careening toward Sevyn Banks who cruised into the end zone for six OSU points.
Olave's talents as a receiver have been often noted, but plays such as his block have been characteristic of the Buckeye receiver this season on special teams with Terry McLaurin and Johnnie Dixon often making big plays with the coverage units.

6) There really was just one time that I wondered about this game- the DeMario McCall muff of a kickoff after a Michigan score with under a minute to play in the half.
Michigan quickly scored and went for two points afterward for the tie, which failed.
Michigan had cut the lead from 21-6 to 21-19 within seconds.
They would never be that close again.

7) Michigan runner Karan Higdon had promised a victory but wasn't a factor in finishing with 78 yards rushing.
Now some of those numbers could be waved off as Michigan needing to throw the football for most of the second half, if not the game, but other than one run of 24 yards, Higdon was unable to make a real impact.

8) Now, even in defeat, I have to say Michigan has two excellent pass catchers in Nico Collins and Donovan Peoples-Jones.
Both of these sophomores are going to be top notch players next year (they already are) and I'm not looking forward to watching the Buckeyes corners cover them next year in Ann Arbor.

9) One of the main points made by so many this week for a Michigan win was the defense and its coordinator Don Brown.
Brown had been seemingly crowned as the best defensive mind since Buddy Ryan, with his unit allowing only 13 points a game and 238 yards of offenses, but his team and Michigan's recruiting learned very quickly that the difference between these two teams is speed.
Ohio State was simply faster and no matter what one thinks of Brown, it's that speed that overmatched his defense.

10) Urban Meyer is now 7-0 vs Michigan.
Add to that Jim Tressel's 8-1 and the loss by the 6-6 team by interim coach Luke Fickel in 2011 and the Buckeyes have lost two times (with one being a flukey year in 2011 and still almost won before losing 40-34 in Ann Arbor) since 2001.
15-2 is the greatest run in the modern history of this series.
I don't take this for granted, things don't last forever, but this game had the feeling going into it for Michigan supporters that "if we don't get them this year, when will we"?
They didn't and I'm not sure that malaise is not beginning to set into their program.
A loss in Ann Arbor next year might truly signal a resignation of "We just aren't at that level anymore".

11) The difference between the Buckeyes since Urban Meyer's arrival-Speed.
As mentioned above Ohio State was simply faster than Michigan and when Meyer's Florida Gators ran past Jim Tressel's Buckeyes for a national title- Urban Meter noticed and remembered that needed upgrading in recruiting.
That is typical of almost every Buckeye recruit and slow turtles may not apply.

12) What a game by the Buckeye linebackers, who have been wondered about all season under Bill Davis.
Malik Harrison and Tuf Borland seemed to be in on every play, made plays upon impact and weren't dragged for extra yardage- the type of linebacker that I complain about often with the Browns.

13) I made a statement a week or two ago that if the Buckeyes beat Michigan and won in the Big 10 title game, I would not complain if they didn't get into to the playoff.
I won't, if the 4th team is Oklahoma, I'll live with it.
Some one-loss team has to sit out, Oklahoma's loss to Texas is certainly more excusable than the Buckeyes loss to a 6-6 Purdue team and against Oklahoma, OK.
However, if Georgia upsets Alabama and the SEC gets two teams in again, I think this sets the stage for the needed move to a eight-team playoff.
No one can argue against undefeated Alabama, Clemson, and Notre Dame getting in, but IF both Oklahoma AND Ohio State miss out for two SEC teams for the second year in a row- the snowball for eight begins to roll.

14) So, what do we know about Northwestern?
The Wildcats might have completed the strangest path to a major conference title game ever.
8-4 Northwestern won each of their eight games in conference, went winless out of conference and one of those losses came to an eventual likely 4-8 (they play at South Carolina next weekend) Akron team at home in Ryan Field!
Northwestern started 1-3, but have won seven of their last eight and their only loss was by ten points to undefeated Notre Dame.
The numbers and the visuals favor Ohio State, but I am a big fan of Pat Fitzgerald, he knows Northwestern will have very few chances to win the Big Ten and the Wildcats will be well prepared.
Don't take them lightly.

15) What a win.
Every time OSU wins this game, my weekend is a good one, but this one is really special because for one of the few times over the streak, I wondered about this one.
I just want to hear from Desmond Howard, noted Wolverine, COUGH, impartial football observer, who picks Michigan to win this game every year and every year proclaims Michigan is back.
Wonder what that homer, ERR impartial football observer has to say?

See you from Indianapolis and later tonight with Browns and Boxing Challenge!

Ohio State-Michigan Memories

It's The Game morning and there still is no morning like this one.

I've seen every Ohio State-Michigan game since 1973 when I was five, so I have quite a few memories that stand out..

In that 1973 game that saw both teams enter the game undefeated and finish in a 10-10 tie, my big memory was that I instantly became a Buckeye for life when the team came up and tore down the M club banner (Hey, they shouldn't have put the damn thing in front of the Buckeye entrance)
The 10-10 game that I didn't see for years until my friend Brandon Siefken sent me a copy wasn't all that exciting, but it featured all the physical smash mouth football you can take.
This is the game that gave us Bo Schembechler's whining about being "Bitterly Bitterly Disappointed" when his 10-0-1 Wolverines lost the Big 10 vote to go to the Rose Bowl to the 10-0-1 Buckeyes in the days of only one team making a bowl.

The 1974 game was memorable for Tom Klaban's four field goals in a 12-10 OSU win, but I remember the 1975 game more for the pair of late interceptions by Ray Griffin and Craig Cassady of Michigan quarterback and future major league baseball player Rick Leach to preserve the win.
That win in Ann Arbor would be the final time that the Buckeyes would win this game under Woody Hayes as Michigan under Leach would win next three years.

The 1979 game saw Ohio State win and move to the Rose Bowl off of what Sports Illustrated called the Buckeye Block Party with Todd Bell recovering a blocked punt for what proved to be the winning score in an 18-15 win.
I had the SI picture of Bell celebrating the score on the wall for years after that.
The win under Earle Bruce in his first season seemed to show things were on the way up, but under Bruce, the series trended pretty evenly.
Bruce, however, became noted as 9-3 Earle and was fired before the Michigan game in 1987.
Bruce poked fun at his image of being a rumpled coach with a suit and fedora for the game and was rewarded by his players when he was carried off the field after a Buckeye team that was a strong underdog pulled off the upset.

The John Cooper years were noted for their Michigan failures more than their successes.
Few memories stand out more than All-American corner Shawn Springs slipping to the grass out of his break resulting in a long touchdown pass to Michigan's Tai Streets in a 13-9 loss that was the only loss of the season for the second-ranked Buckeyes.

Cooper also gave us losses from an then unknown runner named Tim Biakabutuka and a 28-0 shellacking in Ann Arbor entering both games undefeated and leaving Buckeye fans deflated beyond belief, but besides the Springs slip, the Cooper era brought us more grief.
That Desmond Howard Heisman pose that we see constantly during the season?
Against Cooper's Buckeyes.

It was under Cooper that I know exactly how Michigan has felt against OSU (Michigan has won just twice since 2001, one of those a meaningless win over interim coach Luke Fickel)  because that's how inept Cooper teams was against Michigan and his 2-10-1 was worse because unlike the Wolverines of late, Cooper most of the time had the better team and still lost.
I know the feeling and I don't want it again.
When I hear about the rivalry being better when the teams are equal, I'm OK with that-a win means that much more!

I planned on more memories, but an unexpected issue at the road office has made time short.
I'll look at the good times of the Tressel/Meyer years before next years game!

15 College Football Games that should be Happening! 6-10

We now move to the middle point of our series of college football games that should be happening, but aren't.
The first part of the series can be found here.

6) West Virginia vs Marshall
This is one that almost made into our top five.
Marshall has only been D-I for twenty years, but being the only other D-I school in the state, they should be playing the flagship school in the Mountaineers.
The Thundering Herd has never beaten WVU in their eight modern meetings and went zero for seven in their series that ran from 2006-20012, but still, it makes sense for this series to be played.
The issue appears to be that Marshall wants the series to alternate between Huntington and Morgantown, while the Mountaineers want two home games for them for every trip to Marshall.
It's too bad that the state capital in Charleston doesn't have a suitable stadium to hold the game or that would be the perfect compromise for the third game.
Those that say there is no rivalry between the schools, well my response to that is-Wait until Marshall wins one ( and they will) and then watch it thrive.

7) Notre Dame vs Michigan
Longtime readers may be surprised since I don't like either of these teams and usually try to avoid this September game like the plague.
However, that game was usually a close affair, exciting and with two schools with deep tradition, this game needs to be played every year.
Like the Notre Dame-Purdue series, this series was one that was stopped by the Irish light affiliation with the ACC, which means that the Irish will play five ACC opponents a year.
Notre Dame being an independent meant they could have a lot of rivals with games with Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Navy, USC, Stanford etc and something had to give with their ACC agreement.
The two teams will play home and home in 2018 and 2019 and hopefully there can be a way to bring this back to every year status.

8) Texas vs Arkansas
This rivalry dating back to the days of the old SWC with Darryl Royal (Texas) and Frank Broyles (Arkansas) battling for SWC titles and occasionally even national championships.
The 1969 "Game of the Century" (Just watched this today on Longhorn Network,- BOOM, TV upgrade today) saw number one Texas nip number two Arkansas 15-14 and is still remembered to this day.
It just wasn't an SWC game in those days of one or two games a week without it involving one of these teams and their encounter usually had a national television audience
The teams have played five times since the Razorbacks left for the SEC (two of those bowl games), but not since 2008 in the regular season and have no future games scheduled.

9) Kentucky vs Indiana
The former battle for the Bourbon Barrel (both schools eliminated the trophy after an alcohol-related death in 1999, although they could have changed the name to Bronze Barrel, I guess) saw the Wildcats and Hoosiers play almost every year (a few gaps in the early 80's) from 1979 to 2005, but haven't played since.
Neighboring states with a big rivalry in basketball along with both usually being among the weaker football programs in their respective conferences make this a series that would be worth renewing.

10) Maryland vs Virginia
The Terrapins and Cavaliers were longtime conference rivals as the two most northern teams in the ACC (until expansion), they were the closest to each other and battled often for the same recruits.
A trophy was never involved between these schools and despite teams having other rivals (Maryland had various rivalries with other ACC schools, depending on who was strong during in a particular era while Virginia played Virginia Tech every year before VT joined the ACC), their conference rival was consistently each other.
The conference changes saw each add a "rival" in conference (Maryland with Penn State, who doesn't look at them as such and Virginia with Virginia Tech) and could use a non-conference rival currently.
The two will play home and home in 2023 and 2024, so maybe there is hope for reviving this rivalry.

Look for the top five sometime soon!

Cleaning out the inbox:College Football

Cleaning out the inbox returns with another college football edition.

First, I have a series coming on college football that I think you'll enjoy.
If you listened to FightHeads on Monday, you know what it will be about and if not, you'll have to wait!

Also, I'm planning a podcast over the weekend on college football with all of these crazy movements and in one case that seems very close to happening- ridiculous hirings...


I'm firmly a Big 10 fan and the SEC isn't always my brand of fish, but I watch the Paul Finebaum Show all the time and learn a lot about the southern conference because of the show.
As much as I am a Big 10 fan, the Big 10 network hasn't managed to produce a program anywhere nearly as interesting as the Finebaum show or I'd be watching it!
Much of that is likely because of the length of time Finebaum has had to refine the show through the years on radio, but give all of his supporting cast credit-it's a smooth-running machine and is an entertaining few hours (unless you are Rachel, who doesn't find it such as all) each day.
John Crist of Saturday's Down South does a tremendous job for that site (I read his work almost every day) and Crist writes of his day spent behind the scenes with the Finebaum show with Finebaum, part-time co-host Laura Rutledge and producers John Hayes and Mark Kubiak here.
It's a great look at Finebaum, the show, and Rutledge, who you might remember from our recent Confessions as our pick for the next breakout star on ESPN.
Give John Crist a Twitter follow, even if you like college football and not the SEC, and try the Finebaum show on ESPN2, which is a one-hour preamble to the main course on the SEC Network.

Bill Landis of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has a great idea for the Ohio State-Michigan game and it would hopefully mean the end of these alternate uniforms in the game for the Buckeyes.
Have each team wear their home uniforms like both teams do in the UCLA-USC game with their red and blue.
The two teams apparently did this until the mid-'50s and haven't done it since,
It's a great idea to add to the rivalry by adding a throwback aspect to it-I'm all for it!

Michael Weinreb of the Athletic discusses undefeated Central Florida, their league-the AAC, and how the system is truly rigged against the Group of Five schools.
I've always thought the best system is an eight-team tournament-five conference champions, one from the group of five and two at-large selections.
I also wouldn't be against the group of five setting up an eight-team bracket from their schools as a "group of five" championship.
I think that might be even more fun to watch than the actual current championship!

Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes of the Ashland Eagles of my old hometown and their budding Division II powerhouse in the D-II football tournament.
Of course in the classic sense, right after getting some publicity, coach Lee Owens team was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Owens has been at Ashland for 14 years after being fired by Akron and even though I have read nothing about Owens being a contender or even mentioned for their opening, I wonder if Kent State would be interested in Owens and if offered the job would he take it??
Chris Vannini of The Athletic discusses the pros and cons of the Kent State job here.

I'm just beyond words at the seemingly about to happen hiring of Herm Edwards at Arizona State.
Edwards hasn't coached for ten years (2008, but it'll be ten years when ASU next plays a game) and hasn't coached college football since 1989 and never has been a head coach there.
Considering all of that, Edwards age (63) and that Edwards has never been considered a great X and O guy-college football hasn't seen a disaster like this since Lovie Smith with his current struggles at Illinois and there are tons of parallels- Older NFL coach that hasn't coached in college in years, looking to cash in with one more big retirement check and schools that are often thought of as "sleeping giants" as in schools that should be so much better than they are and are desperate enough to move up the chain to make a hire such as this.
Unreal...