Road Trip:Auburn and home..

The road trip season concluded with our trip to Auburn New York for a visit to the short season home of the Nationals.

Mike and I awoke early and began the drive to Niagara Falls for my first visit there.
I expected a kitschy souvenir-filled place and it was that, but the actual falls were anything but that.
I mean really, you could see all of the various tourist places from "scenic" overlooks, "walking" under the falls and the boats going around and under the falls (memorable to me for where Jim and Pam were married on "The Office") and it was all of that.

However, there was more to them than that. There was a lot of walking (I bet Mike and I walked at least 3 miles round trip by the time we got back to our car), but the view of the actual falls was so worth it.
I have to be honest as we walked and saw several less-than-impressive falls, I was starting to think that Niagara was way overrated, but then we reached the "real" falls and it was breathtaking!

Mike's not the greatest heights guy so he stayed way back.
I'm not that bad, but I'm not a person who likes to peer down over the side, so the above picture is as close as I am going to get to do that.
Mike and I walked and checked out a few of the shops as I looked for a souvenir for Cherie and Rachel (I would eventually go with a keychain for Rachel and a snow magnet for Cherie) and it was fun looking through those stores, even though I was concerned I was boring Mike a bit!

Mike and I had to make our way back through Niagara Falls and we had scoped out a place near our hotel to eat at-Buffalo Wing Joint and Pub.
We were the first people in the "joint" and I hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours, so I was starved.
I ordered a burger and wings, figuring that if I was full, I'd put leftovers in the cooler.
I walked around the pub while we waited and the decor was cool- This autographed jersey of longtime TRS favorite Jim Kelly was at the table across from us and they had my favorite arcade game of all time (USA vs USSR hockey) that I spent so many hours playing as a high schooler and even occasionally Cherie and later even Ryan.
I didn't play, but I had to have a picture of a game that meant so much to me years ago!
When our food came out, the wings (2nd hottest) were delicious!
Ranking among the top I've had, but I turned to the burger and Bleech!!!
Those of you who know me know I order my steaks very rarely, but my burger medium well- this was barely rare, so it had to go back.
The waiter was very apologetic and offered a new burger, but I took more wings instead-it was a great call!

We left Niagara and moved towards Auburn.
Our original thought was to do Auburn and then hit Rochester after that to mark that park off on the schedule.
However, Rochester would be an hour in the opposite direction of home, so it would be two extra hours on the road. so we stopped at Auburn early to prep team sets.
We were treated so well by Shane Truman, the assistant general manager that I remarked going to the car, that I would almost rather skip Rochester and spend extra time here all things considered and Mike jumped on that idea quickly, so we killed a little time in town before returning to Falcon Field.

Falcon Field is an old-time park that doesn't look its age.
The field is maintained incredibly well and looks much better than many fields that I've seen at higher levels.
The food is varied and reasonably priced and one can tell that the management and community care about its team and its facility.
I really liked Falcon Park and I would prefer it to our other old-school stop in Batavia.
It seemed that the people in the office and in the stands just care more, which isn't a knock on Batavia.
My only issue came in graphing-Mike graphed visiting State College, I took the home Auburn and I had asked beforehand about where I could go and where I couldn't and was told that since there was not a party I could go to an open area very near the clubhouse.

I moved to this area and immediately started knocking off cards and felt I was about to redeem myself for my poor day in Batavia!
It was too easy and I was loading when an older employee moved down and told me "This is a restricted area, you can't be here".
I tried to explain that I had been given the OK from the assistant.GM to be down here from earlier and this response was "The GM sent me here, he outranks the assistant, you have to go".
I finished the two players I was getting and followed directions.
I'm the outsider, I wasn't going to be "that guy" from out of town who acts like a jerk, I hate it when others do that on our circuit and I wasn't going to be that way.
I did ask what the problem was as I packed up and the response was great.
"Well, Jerad Head (Auburn Manager) had been complaining that kids were asking for autographs during the game".
"Well, I'm far from a kid and there are still 45 minutes before the game, so that doesn't fly"...

I moved to a different spot and was able to have all the position players except one sign their Auburn cards, but I would only add one more pitcher because the access wasn't good for them.
The pitcher though was the National's number one pick, Seth Romero.
I had taken three baseballs for Fred and Michael Landucci, thinking that Romero didn't have any baseball cards.
Auburn had done such a good job with the team set (Brigham Hill was one of the NY/Penn top prospects and had left Auburn maybe 10 days before, yet the turnover time had Hill, not in the set) that Romero was included.
Normally, that would be good news, but now I suddenly had 4 cards (I was working on 4 team sets for others) and three baseballs, so I'm not especially smooth with many things, to begin with.
Seth was very nice as I explained I was from Hagerstown, getting stuff signed, etc, and said no problem as he signed he said: "I got you, no problem".
I switched from cards to baseballs along with Sharpies to pen and talked with Romero-very cool and the opposite of how he was portrayed to me, which goes to show that you really have to see for yourself about people and even then, things can vary from night to night.
Regular people like anyone else.

We watched about half the game and hit the road for home as we finished our road trip with plenty of driving.
I had a great time on all of my trips this year and I'm already beginning to look at schedules to toss around trips for next year.
Thanks to all of my friends for the great trips this year and now it's onto the offseason, lots of work and replenishing that war chest to be ready for next year... 

Road Trip: Buffalo and Batavia

We return to the road trip series after a whole bunch of Browns news and the beginning of the football season pushed the final two days of the New York portion off to the side.

We originally were going to start our day in Batavia and shoot over to Buffalo, the problem was that the rainstorm that we ran into the previous day canceled Batavia's game, but Buffalo got their game completed, so we called an audible as we figured going to Buffalo first would allow us to do Batavia in between games of the now doubleheader and then after the game....
I thought that made a lot of sense and we shuffled off to Buffalo, which was less than an hour from our hotel.

Buffalo's Coca-Cola Field is celebrating its 30th year and even though it's 30, it isn't showing its age any as it seems to have been well maintained.
We arrived early to get tickets and asked around about a local place to get lunch and the place that most recommended didn't open until 12.
A lot of places around the stadium (this happens in other urban stadiums) didn't open until 12, which I wonder about since the stadium is supposed to drive people to the surrounding areas, yet if you open at 12 for a 1 o'clock first pitch, I would think that defeats the purpose.

We ate at one of those places that doesn't look like much from the outside, but serves great food inside as we went into Washington Square, a local bar and grill.
Washington Square was exactly like one of those bars that you see on television, complete with locals with the local accent'.

Mike had the famous wings (they didn't have boneless) and I had the other local item- Beef on Weck, a roast beef on a Kimmel weck roll.
Kimmelweck is a harder, chewier roll and it's a little hard to bite off, but the sandwich was quite good-especially with a small cup of horseradish, which I love.
I really liked Washington Square, I mean how could you not like a bar with sports pictures all over the place including a team picture of the old Buffalo Braves?

Coca-Cola Field was the first of the retro parks to be built, preceding even Baltimore's Camden Yards in 1988.
Buffalo was going after a baseball expansion team and despite the dazzling stadium came up short of the more populated Miami and Denver areas.
Buffalo still is the largest minor league stadium in the country and despite other great Triple-A parks that I have visited
(Louisville, Nashville, Durham, and Columbus have great parks),Buffalo's stadium has a special spot with fans (like Baltimore in the majors) because their park was the originator of all the ones to come.

I really liked Buffalo,I liked how it was snugly placed inside the Buffalo skyline rather than the skyline being beyond the outfield.
The other thing that I liked was the northern New York thing- the farther north that you start seeing Canadian flags and in Buffalo before the game, the Canadian anthem is played as well.

Normally, the only time the Canadian anthem is played is when a Canadian team is involved, which wasn't the case on this day, unless Gwinnett, Georgia moved way north!

It wasn't perfect, the concourse is a little cramped for a stadium of its size and the two gift shops were downright claustrophobic and that is from someone that generally isn't bothered by such problems.

We left Buffalo to go to Batavia, basically going from the hardest level of graphing (AAA) to the easiest (short season).
Even though we didn't graph Buffalo, since there was really no one that I needed for my sets, and decided to save the AAA aggravation, I was looking forward to bringing the briefcase out and working on the Williamsport Crosscutters.
The short-season affiliate of the Phillies, Williamsport was the visiting team and I would do them, while Mike did the home Muckdogs.

I didn't have to learn the layout as I had been to Dwyer Stadium last summer, so when we arrived in the middle of the 5th inning of game one, we were able to settle in.
My problems started at the end of game one, when the Crosscutters rallied to force extra innings, but then blew the game with defensive mistakes.
This meant the Cutters were not in the best moods as they entered the clubhouse, so I only got a few, but the top prospect-outfielder Jhailyn Ortiz signed two of eleven.
Ortiz was aggravated, but his family was there, watching his father, you could clearly see the pride that he had in his son.
I did get another player or two as they came onto the field for game two, but the biggest catch was former World Series hero and Williamsport manager Pat Borders, who joked about the shape of Bowman Field (who was hosting the Pirates-Cardinals game that night) when they returned to town

In between games, we decided to eat a small dinner and we planned on my return to Bourbon and Burgers, which I loved last year with Doug Hopkins.
We were disappointed to see that they were closed on Sundays, so we needed to find someplace that we wanted to try and reasonably quickly.
Around a corner, we found a small Irish pub called O'Lacy's that we decided to give a try.
I had a sandwich called the Harold that was on "weck" again with roast beef and ham with another cup of horseradish.
I enjoyed it, although if I had to choose between Washington Square and O'Lacy's, I'd go with the Buffalo pub, but not by much.

Williamsport controlled the second game and held a 3-0 lead entering the final inning and I felt like I was able to get some cards signed after a disappointing start.
That thought disappeared when Batavia scored four runs and won the second game that they should have lost on this day.
The Crosscutters were leaving town, so they just wanted to get on the bus and I was only able to get a few more players in one of the worst days graphing that I can remember -And it was in the New York/Penn League, which I usually do well in!

Disappointed (especially next to Mike's haul, where he did massive numbers with the happy pack of Muckdogs), we began to drive to Niagara Falls, which neither of us had ever seen, but wanted to.
Really, if you get this close, you should go see the Falls!

We drove to our hotel and expected to watch the Pirates and Cardinals play at Williamsport's Bowman Field, but there was a television reception problem with the hotel and ESPN wasn't on our television, due to some sort of issue!

The really odd thing was ESPN 2 and ESPN News were fine.
Mike and I watched the game on my laptop, prepped cards for the final day, and planned just how we wanted to allow the final day to play out.

While Mike went to bed, I did what I often do on the road- watch local TV.
I've written before on how I like to watch different market news people when I am on the road and remember them for future reference (remember this post and I'll be doing another one over the winter), just see how things progress.
I don't always find people that I look at and they stand out, but I saw a commercial for a new upcoming local show (a preview of the Now Buffalo show can be found here) in Buffalo and decided to watch to see if I could see more.
I only saw the same commercial another time or two, but I looked this person up on YouTube and her video work screams potential star in the news "biz".

'
Hannah Buehler was her name and I bet that eventually, we'll see her in the cable news arena- if she wants it and at minimum, she'll be the top local star in Buffalo, where she was born and raised.
Bet on Hannah making an appearance in the "If I ran a network" bi-annual post later this year...

I found myself pulling for the Bills ( and the Sabres too) a little more now since I've been there.
It reminded me a lot of Cleveland a sports-crazy "Rust Belt" town that deserves a break.
It's hard to believe since the Browns have been so terrible, but it's the Bills that currently hold the longest streak of not reaching the playoffs.

A good day, although I was mad at myself for not doing better with cards in Batavia.
Mike and I are almost planning on making Batavia (and Auburn more on that next time) an every-year stop.
Those parks are old-school baseball and (usually) easy to graph.
One day to go on the road trip, which I'll try to fit in during a busy week...

Browns claim Kasen Williams,four others

The Cleveland Browns were expected to be active as they panned the waiver wire for gold after the big cutdown day and the Browns claimed five players.

This of course meant that five players that made the "final" roster would have to go and we'll discuss that along with a few Browns released on Saturday that found new life in new places the day after leaving Cleveland.

I'll begin with the five new players that arrived in Cleveland with the biggest name and flashiest claim was Kasen Williams,a wide receiver from Seattle.
Williams exploded on the scene this preseason with spectacular catches and led the NFC in receiving in the preseason,but has just one catch in regular season.
There is more to Williams though as I really liked him at Washington with the Huskies,where he was dynamite before breaking his leg as a junior and he never recovered in his senior season,which was less than sterling.
Seattle's Richard Sherman was furious on Twitter after Williams was released,so I think there could be something to that as well in grading Williams as a possible upgrade.
Williams was one of the two receivers that I really wanted to claim (the other was Austin Carr was claimed by the Saints,where I'll still get to see a lot with Drew Brees),so I'm pretty happy about the addition,although it's tempered a little because only occasionally do these additions really turn out to be a steal.

I might have been able to hide some disappointment in not claiming Austin Carr,if the Browns had not claimed any other receivers,but they did in Reggie Davis from the Falcons.
Davis wasn't great at Georgia (38 catches in 48 games as a Bulldog) and wasn't drafted,but has plus speed and can return kicks,so that must have been the attraction...

To my surprise,the Browns claimed a quarterback as Josh Woodrum was added after a preseason in Baltimore that saw him throw for 321 yards,two touchdowns and no interceptions.
The former Liberty passer has bounced through camps over the last two seasons,so I'm not sure that Woodrum makes it through the week as I just don't see the Browns carrying four quarterbacks.
This seems to me to be a case of looking at a guy to see if he might be better than either Cody Kessler or Kevin Hogan and if not,he'll be gone as soon as next weeks end as I cannot believe the Browns will keep all four passers.

I was hoping that the Browns would keep one of the players below,but the defensive lineman brought in is intriguing as T.Y,McGill was claimed from the Colts.
McGill played the last two years there and had five sacks (one for a safety) with 15 quarterback pressures-In other words,McGill provides that rarest of talent from a defensive lineman-A tackle that possesses the ability to push the pocket back up the middle.

The final addition is former Rams cornerback Michael Jordan,who started a few games late season under Gregg Williams after being signed as an undrafted free agent.
Jordan has nice size at 6'1 and knows the defense,so perhaps he can help the Browns secondary...

The waived players have various degrees of interest to me and a few are mild losses.
The top loss to me was defensive end Tyrone Holmes,who was claimed last season around the same time.
Holmes had one sack in 2016,but had two sacks in preseason and I think that Holmes can provide some pass rush as a 4-3 end.

I also also liked wide receiver Rashard Higgins when he was a fifth rounder from Colorado State last season,but I never felt that he was given a fair shot to get on the field with six catches last season.
I think Higgins could have been a solid possession receiver,but it's unlikely to be as a Brown unless he clears waivers where he is likely to be added to the practice squad.

Three players left from the secondary as corners Darius Hillary and Marcus Burley and rookie safety Kai Nacua were waived.
Nacua played well as a rookie from BYU and I wish that he would have made the team,but I can understand why he was waived with the Browns keeping four other safeties (Derrick Kindred,Calvin Pryor,Jabrill Peppers and Ibrahiem Campbell).

Three former Browns were claimed/signed as Brock Osweiler returned to the Broncos as a free agent,defensive tackle Xavier Cooper was claimed by the 49ers and kicker Cody Parkey was claimed by the Dolphins.
Osweiler knows the Broncos and their system,so if he can be rehabilitated,its in Denver.
Cooper might help the San Francisco D-line as he ran into the numbers game in Cleveland.
Cody Parkey is a solid kicker and his battle with Zane Gonzalez for the kicking job was so close that I think that had the Browns kept Parkey instead of Gonzalez,very few would have had anything to say about that decision...

Editors Note:Tackle Rod Johnson was placed on injured reserve.
The fifth round selection from Florida State was injured in the final preseason game against the Bears.
Cleveland claimed tackle Zach Barron off waivers from the Colts to replace Johnson on the roster.
Barron was taken by Indianapolis in the fourth round this draft and is a 6'8 360 pound tackle from USC....

Browns make cuts to 53-For Now!

The Cleveland Browns completed their mandatory cuts to get to the limit of 53 players,but I wouldn't sleep too soundly if I were some players on the roster as the Browns still have the top waiver claim until the end of week three due to their 1-15 record last season and they will be actively scanning the waiver wire.
For the purposes of this,I'll be including the players that the Browns released on Friday as well with the Saturday cuts.

Sashi Brown's bunch made a commitment that they are going to believe in their draft picks and give them every chance to succeed,which I have no problem with in most cases-IF this is a case of thinking their pick is a equal or better player currently or even projected a bit.
However,if this is a case of ego in keeping the lesser player in order to cover their rear for the time being (as in not wanting to take heat for draftees being released),then that is a character flaw that will be soon shown....

Quarterback Brock Osweiler was the biggest name released and I think much of the reason that Osweiler was released was because of the decision to start DeShone Kizer.
The Browns saw how Osweiler had issues sitting on the bench in Houston last season and with two (now three ) young quarterbacks in-house,wanted to avoid such poisoning in the locker room.
I don't think the Browns are thrilled with three quarterbacks on their roster that have never won a NFL start and would have liked a veteran around,but it doesn't appear that one is going to fall into their lap and Osweiler wasn't going to be the mentoring type that they preferred...
On this decision,I'm OK...

I thought John Greco was the biggest mistake that the Browns made,which is why I used Greco's picture.
Sidebar-Have you noticed that I use the old uniform pictures as much as possible and the amount of players in the old uniforms are dwindling quickly.
Greco is 32,so he isn't the type of guy that might be around when this turns around,but still he can play all three positions on the line and brings some veteran moxie.
I like Spencer Drango,who the Browns kept and I see why they kept the younger player,but I would have found a way to keep Greco in town.'

I thought that the Browns had two good young kickers in incumbent Cody Parkey,who rallied with a strong year after a first game that was terrible, and seventh rounder Zane Gonzalez from Arizona State.
I thought the Browns would keep Gonzalez in a pickem battle and they did so.
I'm fine with that choice and I would have given Gonzalez the close nod,if I were making the choices.

The Browns released Jordan Leslie,who played well in preseason and 2016 fifth rounder Jordan Payton to keep other 2016 draftees Ricardo Louis (who has tools,but not hands) and Rashard Higgins (who has hands,but never seems to get a chance to play).
I liked what I saw from Leslie,but I bet that either Louis or Higgins or possibly even both will be gone as two players that looked terrific in preseason elsewhere were surprisingly cut and I hope the Browns claim both.
I've watched Austin Carr (with a name like that doesn't he have to be in Cleveland?) play for years with Northwestern and he's the type of tough little receiver in the slot that does nothing but produce that good teams need and bad teams usually lack.
I would love to see Carr claimed and Kasen Williams had a tremendous preseason in Seattle and looks to have put injuries from his Washington Huskies days behind him.
Plus Richard Sherman was furious about his release and since Sherman spends his time in practice covering wide receivers,I think Williams is definitely a must have.

The only other player that didn't make the team that might have caught eyebrows was defensive tackle Xavier Cooper,a 3rd round pick from the Ray Farmer era.
Cooper isn't a bad player,but the defensive line is the group that has the most depth and to be honest,I don't really see a player at defensive tackle that I'd keep Cooper over and I'd rather keep Nate Orchard and hope his pass rushing skills come around at defensive end.

It'll be interesting to see just how active the Browns are in claiming players and how many players that are still less than comfortable tonight...

Browns trade for Sammie Coates

With the cut deadline looming (25 minutes as I begin this),the Cleveland Browns worked a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers before their game next Sunday as the Browns obtained wide receiver Sammie Coates from Pittsburgh in exchange for a 2017 sixth round draft pick.
Cleveland also added the Steelers 2019 seventh round pick in the deal as well as the Browns are already are accumulating 2019 draft choices.
The sixth rounder in the 2018 draft actually returns the Steelers sixth rounder to them as Pittsburgh had traded that choice to the Browns last season for since waived and former Browns first round cornerback Justin Gilbert.

As for Sammie Coates,he was the Steelers third rounder out of Auburn in 2015 and was erratic to say the least.
Coates caught just one pass as a rookie,but was being counted on to help replace the suspended Martavis Bryant last season.
Coates got off to a good start as the Steelers deep threat in 2016 notching catches of 41,42,47,53 and 72 yards with two of those going for scores.
Coates had a huge game against the New York Jets with six catches for 139 yards and two scores,but in that game,injured his finger that caused him to miss time and upon his return would catch just two passes for 14 yards,which resulted in other players passing him on the depth chart.
Coates also had knee and groin surgery in the off season,so perhaps those injuries contributed to the lack of production in the second half of the season.
Minor knee surgery kept Coates from being ready for the start of camp and any time that a team with depth has a chance to look at one player and not another,the person that misses time is at a major disadvantage.

Coates was applauded by Steeler fans for his deep speed and ability to get downfield,but he did have issues with drops and the Steelers had enough receivers that they could have possibly released Coates despite his still high upside,so Pittsburgh did well in getting something for a player that they may have released anyway.

For the Browns,it makes sense.
You aren't losing your six,which will be very high in the round,you are returning Pittsburgh's six,which will likely be closer to a seven,when you think the Steelers should be the favorites to win the division and contend in the AFC.
The deep speed of Coates alone should instantly make him the third wideout and one that makes an interesting pairing with speedy Corey Coleman,although both burners have had issues staying on the field.
Kenny Britt,who I think the Browns overpaid in free agency,will be the starter on the other side of Coleman.

In the end,it was a low cost for a young player with talent,but needs work in consistency.
Coates has shown flashes of big play ability and now will have the chance to be on the field more often than in Pittsburgh.
Lets see if Coates can make the best of it.

I still will be doing a Browns cutdown day post later and I'm sure the final roster is still far from set!

The Return of the PPM!!

The PPM returns with a slate of college football.
Finally,football is back and the college game starts us off.
This year's face of the PPM is actress Amy Acker of the new show on Fox "The Gifted" and formerly of TRS favorite "Person of Interest".
Amy is our 5th face of the PPM following Heather Cox (ESPN then,now NBC sports),Jessica Korda (LPGA Golfer),Christi Paul (CNN) and last year we made a mid-season switch away from Molly McGrath (ESPN/ABC)...

On to this weeks slate of all college games
Ohio State's game will be over by the time that this goes up,so that game will be included with these.

Ohio State over Indiana 37-20
Washington over Rutgers 50-15
Michigan State over Bowling Green 40-23
Boise State over Troy 34-24
Texas Tech over Eastern Washington 63-45

TWO Games of the Week (since no NFL)
Alabama over Florida State 28-17
Virginia Tech over West Virginia 35-29

Buckeyes handle Indiana in opener 49-21

For one half,the underdog Indiana Hoosiers had the Ohio State Buckeyes on their heels and in a tough battle.
However,the always important adjustments were made on both sides of the ball and the Buckeyes controlled the second half on their way to a 49-21 win in Bloomington.
The offensive star was true freshman
J.K.Dobbins,who set an Ohio State record for most rushing yards in a debut performance with 181 yards.
J.T.Barrett threw three second half touchdown passes and finished with over three hundred yards passing.
Ohio State (1-0 1-0 Big 10) hosts Oklahoma next Saturday night in Columbus....

Olentangy Offerings

1) OK,the Buckeyes didn't impress in the first half,but give credit to both coordinators,Kevin Wilson and Greg Schiano for developing plans to deal with what Indiana was doing (especially Schiano) and generally dominating the second half.

2) Those adjustments on defense were as simple as not giving the Hoosiers,who were using a speeded up offense, as many checkdowns and short passes.
When the Hoosiers were shown some different looks,they didn't make the proper adjustment to those and the game swung the Buckeyes way for good.

3) On offense,the adjustments were made to use running back J.K.Dobbins more and to allow J.T. Barrett to do what he does best-run and occasionally throw on the run.
Using that strategy,the smaller Hoosiers were outpowered and the Buckeyes slowly pulled away.

4) Indiana's final touchdown late in the third quarter gave them a 21-20 lead and the stadium was smelling a close finish.
To the point of Hoosier fans beginning a chant of "Overrated".
J.T.Barrett then hit Parris Campbell on a short pass that Campbell turned into a 74 yard touchdown to regain the lead.
After the Overrated chant,Ohio State outscored Indiana 29-0,so thanks.

5) Parris Campbell redeemed himself with his long touchdown catch after earlier in the game dropping probably the best pass that J.T. Barrett threw all day..
Campbell is explosive,but his hands still have questions to me...

6) J.T. Barrett's numbers look nice,but the issues with accuracy that have followed his career are still there.
Barrett just doesn't throw the deep ball or even the medium ball well and its been proven that Barrett's passing stats are completely reliant on getting the ball out and allowing his receivers to make plays in space.

7) Mike Weber missed the game with an injury and I wrote in the Buckeye preview that the coaches were pleased with J.K. Dobbins.
Buckeye fans were as well with his record setting evening.
Robbins runs hard and has breakaway speed.
To be honest and it's only from one game-Mike Weber is a very nice back,J.K.Dobbins has the ability to be the next Buckeye great running back.

8) Indiana wide receiver Simmie Cobbs had a huge game (11 for 149 and a score) against Denzel Ward,but Ward won his battles as well.
It seems a little silly to say that Ward played well with the numbers that Cobbs put up,but he broke up some passes and yes,I'd say he played well.

9) Indiana quarterback Richard Lagow played well (especially in the first half),but few teams are going to beat Ohio State throwing the ball 68 times (65 from Lagow).
Inexperienced secondary or not,that isn't happening.but give Indiana credit-they were playing for the win.
I've commented often that big underdogs have two choices to play for the win-throw caution to the wind or play very safe and hope to play perfectly.

10) I thought Indiana lost some momentum in the first half when they replaced Richard Lagow with their running QB Peyton Ramsey.
I hate when teams use their quarterback that way-it just advertises what play calling is going to be coming.
Might as well put a board on :RUNNING QB NOW IN GAME-HE CANNOT PASS!!!

11) I really like Binjimen Victor as the red zone receiver.
Victor caught just one ball,but it was for a score-I think it'll be Victor that becomes the end zone target as the season goes by..

12) Next week against Oklahoma looks like a tough game.
You have to think that the Sooners were watching and Baker Mayfield and company aren't afraid to throw the ball around against the OSU secondary..
The advantage is that this will be new head coach Lincoln Riley's first road game and the Sooners looked to be stronger last year in Norman with the Buckeyes winning anyway.
Ohio State might be able to take advantage of the Sooners defense,which isn't exactly sturdy playing in the porous Big 12,which is the football equivalent of Loyola Marymount basketball under Paul Westhead...