Cleaning out the Inbox

 The cleaning of the inbox starts with the long-overdue induction of Dick Allen into the baseball Hall of Fame.

Jayson Stark of The Athletic writes about Allen's induction and why Allen was such an important player to fans who grew up in his era.

I've always thought of Allen as a member of the White Sox more than a Phillie, despite Allen spending more seasons with Philadelphia, because Allen's best Phillies years came before I could remember, but no denying that, outside of Chicago, Allen is remembered as a Phillie.

Finally, it appears that McDonald's has come to its senses as Cherie sent me this note that McDonald's is returning its missing McDonaldland characters as part of a new meal aimed at adults.

The meals will return the classic characters that the company shelved over twenty years ago, and there will be more promotions with those characters in the future, per the company.

Hoping to see more Mayor McCheese, Officer Big Mac, and Captain Crook!

Youngstown, Ohio, will be decorating the entire side of a building with a penguin.

Youngstown State uses the Penguin as their mascot and has given permission for the Gallagher building to paint a mural of Pete the Penguin on the side of the building.

No word on what Pete's wife thinks of the exposure.

The Athletic writes about a treasured staple of my childhood and even adulthood-the preseason football preview magazines.

I collected these for years (and still do), ranging from childhood Street and Smith's to Lindy's and Athlon's regional (Big Ten) magazines, and in recent years, the massive Phil Steele versions.

Steele's college football preview is the number one selling magazine for Barnes and Noble every year, and that stat doesn't come from Steele's self-promotion; it comes from Barnes and Noble itself which has no reason to lie.

I used to buy these from all sports, but now I'm down to only college football in the internet age.

Although I do have a weakness for the seventies Street and Smith's editions, and I still collect them if the price is right.

Still, I look forward to these every year, and I devour Phil Steele's every year as a throwback to a simpler time.

Buckeyes pound Youngstown 35-7

   Kyle McCord threw three touchdown passes to lead Ohio State to a 35-7 home victory over Youngstown State.

Marvin Harrison Jr. caught seven passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns with Emeke Egbuka catching five tosses for ninety-four yards and a score to lead the offense.

Ohio State will host Western Kentucky next week in their final tuneup before Notre Dame.

This will be a little shorter than usual as I did miss some of the second half due to work issues.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Kyle McCord looked better than he did against Indiana and to me, clearly established himself as the starting quarterback.

McCord throws a pretty pass and while he still needs to show what he can do against better teams, I think McCord is the best option under center.

2) I was happy to see Devin Brown receive some playing time but Brown finished seven of thirteen passing and lost a fumble.

Brown's skills and style make me think that he might have been a better fit in an Urban Meyer offense rather than a Ryan Day version.

3) I also hate Brown being number 33.

While I like the respect for picking 33 to honor Sammy Baugh, I always think it's a trick play from the fullback when I instantly see 33.

4) Twenty-five percent of the offense moved through Marvin Harrison and Emeka Egbuka, which was a radical change from the Indiana game, but I think the Buckeyes are looking for a happy medium from the two games.

5) I expected the pass rush to explode against the Penguins and it didn't finishing with two sacks.

That will have to improve as the season progresses.

15 College Football Games that should be happening! 11-15

Today on conference championship
Saturday, I wanted to start our three-part series on games in college football that should be happening, but are not on a consistent basis.

A few parameters:
First, some of these games are actually scheduled or even have happened in the last year or so.
However, our argument is that they should be on schedules every year or at least every other year and either home and home or at a neutral site that would make sense.

Second, there are some schools that either are playing would be rivals already or simply don't have a suitable school in line to play, but some have multiples that would make sense.
For the purposes of this series, a school can be only used twice on the list.

11) Arkansas vs Arkansas State
A rivalry that has the potential to be a great one, but has never happened because of a long-standing policy by the Razorbacks to refuse to play in-state opponents in any sport.
The Red Wolves have become a perennial powerhouse in the Sun Belt with a parade of coaches that move up to the next level with success such as Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin, Hugh Freeze, and their current coach Blake Anderson is likely to join that list soon.
Arkansas is a small state that could gain by these two teams playing each other and I get the Razorbacks would have more to lose in the short term, but in the long run, this game could be a huge help to both schools.
Added bonus points, if they play the game in the above pictured (somewhat ) neutral field in Little Rock!

12) Cincinnati vs Louisville
These two schools have played each other often through the years, 53 times in fact, and played for a trophy as well- the Keg of Nails.
These teams moved together through four conferences through the years, building a great rivalry with the cities connected by I-71 and it ended by one thing-conference realignment.
Both the Bearcats and Cardinals tried to get into the ACC after the Big East breakup (the football schools formed the American Athletic with the basketball schools staying in the Big East), but only Louisville managed to get there and the series was last played in 2013 in the last season before the Cardinals joined the ACC.
I know Louisville has one rivalry in non-conference play (Kentucky), but Cincinnati doesn't- this one really needs to return...

13) Akron-Youngstown State
The only all smaller school game on the list, these teams used to be heated rivals from nearby cities and also played for a trophy- the Steel Tire incorporating the two manufacturing items that the cities were known for.
There is, even more reason for heat between the schools dating back to the late '90s (the last game between the two was 1995) when Youngstown State applied for MAC membership and was denied in favor of Marshall ( who left after a few years) and Buffalo.
Perception is that Akron and Kent State were involved to keep 1-AA Youngstown State from moving to D-I for recruiting reasons adds to the discontent and the resulting decision by the MAC to refuse to have their schools play road games at 1-AA schools to keep 1-AA schools from appearing to be at the same level killed the series.
Either with YSU in Division One or not (and there really isn't a lot of difference between the MAC and the better 1-AA schools other than depth), these teams should be playing each other.

14) Arizona-New Mexico
The neighboring Wildcats and the Lobos hooked it up every year for the Kit Carson Rifle from 1920-77 until Arizona joined the then Pac 10.
The two have played just six times (two of the six were bowl games) since then, most recently a 45-37 Arizona win in the 2015 New Mexico Bowl, haven't played in the regular season since 2008 and neither appear on each other's schedule in the future.
This article tells more about the history of the rivalry that was and should be again.
Each though has options for a cool non-conference rivalry if they REALLY don't want to play each other.
Arizona could establish a series against San Diego State (recruiting hotbed) or UNLV (neighboring state), while New Mexico could try Arizona State or go to their state to the east and try Texas Tech or even better- former WAC rival UTEP in what could be a fun series of games.

15) Tennessee-Virginia Tech
The Vols and the Hokies played just last year inside the Bristol Motor Speedway and it was a huge success.
I'm not sure if the speedway would want to make this an annual thing, but it would be a great thing to have these two play a schedule where every three years, each team gets a home game and Bristol gets the third game.
Bristol is halfway between both schools, neither has a non-conference rival (VT had rivals become conference games when they joined the ACC and they do have a game with West Virginia, but I have other plans for the Mountaineers later), it boosts the power rating with a Power five team every year.
This works all the way around...

These games just missed, so here are some honorable mention games in no particular order
Miami vs Florida- They do play each other every few years and it seems possible they could play even more in the future.

Nebraska-Colorado- Former Big 8/12 rivals renew a rivalry that was quite torrid in the Bill McCartney years in Boulder.

Notre Dame-Purdue- The battle for the Shillelagh Trophy was a casualty of the Irish's deal with the ACC to play five ACC opponents a year.

California-San Jose State or Fresno State-  Cal played San Jose all the time from 1962-1996, but the northern California schools haven't played since despite being just 45 minutes away from each other.
Fresno State is under three hours away, but yet have only played the Golden Bears three times and if they played now, it would be quite interesting with former Cal coach Jeff Tedford turning the Bulldog program around.

Houston-TCU- Former SWC rivals and former group of five bullies (TCU formerly, Houston currently) from the two biggest cities in Texas (TCU is in Fort Worth, but I'll still count it!) would make an interesting series and could incorporate their games against SMU into some type of three-game series for a trophy...

I'll have the Big Ten title game coverage later and look for part two of this later this week!