Buckeyes pull away from Sparty 26-6

Ohio State scored a touchdown, field goal and a safety in a four-minute span between the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter to bust open a one-point game and pull away to a 26-6 win over the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing.

Mike Weber rushed for 104 yards and the game's final touchdown, while Dwayne Haskins threw for over 200 yards and one score.

Ohio State improved to 9-1 (6-1 Big Ten) on the season and will play their final regular season road game next week at Maryland.

Olentangy Offerings

1)  I know Michigan State offense is very weak and maybe the weakest one that Ohio State has seen since conference play started, but the defense showed up strong.
The Buckeyes held the Spartans to under 300 yards in offense and forced three turnovers, including the fumble recovery for a touchdown that essentially ended the game.
Let's see what the Buckeyes do in the next two games before saying the tide has turned for good, but this was a good start.

2) BUT, the offense reverted back to form and that's not a good thing.
Michigan State does lead the league in run defense and Mike Weber did rush for 104 yards, but much of that came when the game was decided.
The offense looks more broken than fixed.

3) J.K. Dobbins looked to have gained some confidence last week, but that had to have been hurt on Saturday as Dobbins finished with only 28 yards on 14 carries.

4) The offense looked so stunted at times that Tate Martell entered the game at quarterback to see if he could open things up a bit.
Martell ran for five yards on the first half drive that would eventually see Dwayne Haskins hit Parris Campbell for a score, but a similar second-half situation saw Martell fumble a poor snap and Michigan State recovered.
The mixed results saw the experiment to be worth the time giving Martell a few snaps next week in College Park.

5) I'm not a big fan of some of the receivers on the Buckeyes that seem to avoid contact.
 Parris Campbell is the biggest perpetrator of this.
I'm not saying that players have to put their shoulder down on every touch of the ball, but sometimes those few extra yards can make a real difference in a field goal attempt or even an easier attempt for a first down.
Just a little more physicality would be very helpful.

6) My pick for player of the game? Drue Chrisman, the punter that set a new OSU record for the shortest punt in the first quarter with a four-yard boot, but picked up his game thereafter with five punts that were downed inside the Spartans six-yard line on five different occasions.
Punters that can perform like that can be quite the valuable weapon.

7) And give plenty of credit to the coverage team on the Chrisman punts- Terry McLaurin seemed to be flying downfield on every play and the wideouts on those squads were hustling to down those kicks.
It's exactly what you hope to see from your special teams, which has upped their game in recent games.

8) The Buckeyes turned this game on two fumbles that gave them ten points and both were Spartan drives that started deep in Michigan State territory off Chrisman punts.
Considering the Ohio State offense, it was fortunate that Dre'Mont Jones beat Sparty to the ball in the end zone or who knows what would have come about other than a two-point safety?

9) Speaking of safeties, the Spartans gave two points to Ohio State with an odd play,
The Spartans lined up for a punt from their end zone late in the third quarter and what looked to be a miscommunication occurred as one of the Michigan State punters (they used two and I cannot remember which) didn't appear to be ready for the snap and the ball went sailing over his head.
On replay, it was clear that the snap was planned and after the game, Mark Dantonio was asked about it.
It turns out that Dantonio didn't trust his punt team (understandable) against the Buckeye punt rush after their recent success and using inexperienced punters didn't give him faith either.
The call didn't affect the game, but at the time, it looked huge.

10) I've complained about the tackling of late and that was much improved yesterday.
The Buckeyes were flying to the ball and seemed more aggressive with much less read and react.
Some defenses (and defensive players) just need to either have freedom or in some cases discipline to fit their skills.
Perhaps some of the Buckeyes tacklers just needed some freedom to be aggressive?

11) Tate Martell's appearance in the red zone was a move that I thought might be coming.
Urban Meyer used J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones in a similar manner in their 2015 season together at times and I thought this could add an extra wrinkle.
Here's the thing- much like the "Wildcat" dying off in the NFL simply because, without a passing threat, it's just a single wing, If Martell cannot keep defenses honest with his arm- defenses will figure the gimmick out quickly.

12) And if Martell isn't a threat to throw, what will that do to next year's offense with the expected departure of Dwayne Haskins?
I'm not saying Martell isn't capable of doing things with his arm, but he's going to have to prove that to opposing defenses.

13) Michigan State wore white helmets this week vs the Buckeyes.
I much preferred their classic green helmet look, but here is an odd take for me.
I've always been someone that likes the colored jerseys for most teams over their whites, but for the Buckeyes, I do think the white jerseys with the silver pants is my favorite look.
I like the scarlet jerseys too, but the crispness of an autumn afternoon just looks so good with the traditional look of the white road uniforms.

14) I just don't know about two weeks from now.
Michigan looks as strong as they have in years and I just don't feel good about this team right now.
Urban Meyer has often done his best work when ruled out of a game (His Florida team over OSU and OSU over Alabama) and perhaps that can happen again and the game is in Columbus.
If this game was in Ann Arbor, I'd rate the Wolverines a prohibitive favorite, instead, I'm hopeful, but not confident.

See you later with the Browns against the visiting Atlanta Falcons.

Boxing Challenge

Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

Another weekend in the Boxing Challenge as DAZN is the place to be as all four challenge encounters are on DAZN from two cities.

The biggest fight is from Manchester, England as the only unified world champion defends his four world titles for the first time.
Oleksandr Usyk didn't wait long to get back into the ring after winning the World Boxing Super Series in July and he'll be taking on an interesting customer in Tony Bellew.
Bellew held the WBC cruiserweight title before vacating in order to move to heavyweight for two lucrative fights against David Haye, in which he won both and is on a ten fight winning streak, but before that was stopped in six by Adonis Stevenson at light heavyweight.
I think this could be interesting for a bit, but in the end, Usyk is simply a higher level fighter than Bellew.
Elite beats World Class every time.

The other challenge fight is a WBA lightweight eliminator with former WBA lightweight champion Anthony Crolla against Daud Yordan, who at one time (about nine to ten years ago) was a title challenger at featherweight.
Crolla. who lost two decisions to Jorge Linares, has rebounded from those losses with wins over Ricky Burns and Edson Ramirez.
The winner becomes the mandatory contender for Vasyl Lomachenko, who would likely travel to England for a Crolla fight to spread his name recognition.

The World Boxing Super Series will conclude their quarter-final round in the cruiserweight division with two fights from Chicago.
I wasn't thrilled with the WBSS returning to the cruiserweights so soon, but it is what it is and the number one seed is back from the first tournament in former WBC champion Mairis Briedis, who was the closest fighter to defeating Oleksandr Usyk in losing a majority decision earlier this year.
I scored Usyk-Briedis a draw and wouldn't be against a rematch, but Briedis will have to win this tournament before that happens and his first opponent will be Noel Mikaelian of Germany.
Mikaelian has only fought one name that anyone would recognize in former champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk and suffered his only loss via split decision.

Former WBO champion Krzysztof Glowacki battles Maksim Vlasov in the other WBSS bout.
Glowacki, who dropped the title in his only career defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, should have been entered in the previous tournament, but for some reason was placed as the alternate behind Mike Perez.
Glowacki faces Maksim Vlasov, who has won twelve fights in a row against less than top opposition since moving up from super middleweights as he leaped over light heavyweight since a loss by decision to Gilberto Ramirez in January 2015.
Glowacki has the advantage of being the stronger fighter and the more natural fighter at the weight.
The winners of these two bouts will meet in the semi-finals next year.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 181-158

World Cruiserweight Title 12 Rds
Oleksandr Usyk vs Tony Bellew
Both: Usyk Unanimous Decision

Lightweights. 12 Rds
Anthony Crolla vs Daud Yordan
Both: Crolla Unanimous Decision

World Boxing Super Series Cruiserweight Quarter-Final 12 Rds
Mairis Briedis vs Noel Mikaelian
R.L.: Briedis Unanimous Decision
TRS: Briedis KO 10

World Boxing Super Series Cruiserweight Quarter-Final 12 Rds
Krzysztof Glowacki vs Maksim Vlasov
R.L: Glowacki KO 9
TRS: Glowacki KO 12

PPM

After a big week last time out, the PPM attempts to keep the momentum going!

Last Week: 12-1
Overall: 79-14-1

College
Boise State over Fresno State 30-24
Ohio State over Michigan State 20-14
Bowling Green over Central Michigan 38-34
Middle Tennessee over UTEP 32-21
Houston over Temple 36-29
Texas over Texas Tech 48-44

Game of the Week
Georgia over Auburn 27-21

Pro
Falcons over Browns 35-17
Saints over Bengals 38-28

Game of the Week
Rams over Seahawks 31-21

Cleaning out the inbox:Non-Sports (Mostly)

We start the cleaning with the duck to the right.
Why does it look different?
Well, it is different as it is a Mandarin Duck, which is not native to North America.
Why am I writing about the Mandarin Duck?
Because one suddenly showed up in New York City and since the Duck cannot tell us how it arrived, the questions abound.

My best guesses would involve an escape from a zoo or a release from someone's private collection, although I cannot imagine there exists a massive amount of duck collectors in the greater New York City area.
The Duck does have a band on its leg, but it is not from a zoo in the area.
I'm dubious of a miracle arrival from East Asia, but if that was how it got here, I suppose it could have been a stowaway on a ship with NYC being a major port.
The duck is said to be able to adjust to the weather, but I do worry that someone will do something stupid to it, as it only takes one idiot to ruin the whole thing.
The Duck has been away for a bit on occasion, but thus far has always returned!

Our only sports note comes from the Athletic as the article writes about the 100 years of Ohio State refusing to play Cincinnati in basketball.
Under second-year coach Chris Holtmann, the Buckeyes have finally decided to play the Bearcats and perhaps even Xavier and Dayton in the future.
I've long been a proponent of the Buckeyes playing the two Cincinnati schools and even other Ohio schools on a rotating basis.
Dayton would be the best of those, but with the Ohio MAC schools and Cleveland State all in line, there are plenty of games that could be played in-state.
The home and home with UC was supposed to begin this season in Columbus, but the Bearcats are opening their renovated arena this season and they asked if the order could be reversed to open the arena with the Buckeyes, who graciously agreed.
Holtmann was not only the presenter of the idea to play, but he also thinks there could be an event down the road with Ohio State playing Cincinnati and Xavier on a rotating basis with Dayton playing Cincinnati on Xavier's year with Ohio State and another school playing Xavier when it's Cincinnati's turn with OSU in order to keep Xavier's annual game with Dayton special..
As for the actual game?
Holtmann's great work with the Buckeyes continued as the underdog pulled a 64-56 upset.

National Geographic writes about the continued search for the identity of Jack the Ripper from the famous murder spree from 1888.
There have been so many programs and articles claiming to have figured this out and this one does not try that, but it's still an interesting article about the victims, mode of killing and the hardcore bunch that enjoys trying to figure out just who the Ripper was.

We wrap with the number one invasive species-Cats!
The common cat is an invasive species that hunts, kills birds and other small animals, breeds at six months old, can produce 12 kittens a year and feral cats can transmit rabies!
No wonder I'm a dog person!!

Back later tonight with the PPM and the Boxing Challenge

Cleaning out the inbox: Goodbyes

The inbox cleaning has four recent passings from the sports world with two of the four members of the Hall of Fame from their respective sports.

Goodbye to Baseball Hall of Famer Willie McCovey, who passed away at the age 80 from what the press release labeled "Ongoing health issues".
McCovey had been confined to a wheelchair in recent years and had a few health scares over the last ten years.
McCovey spent all but three of his twenty-two years in the major leagues with the Giants over two San Francisco stints.
The big left-handed swinger known as "Stretch" hit 521 homers over his career and might have easily hit 600, had he not played in such a power sapping stadium in Candlestick Park.
McCovey won the Rookie of the Year for 1959 and was the National League MVP in 1969, but might be best remembered for his vicious line drive smashed right at second baseman Bobby Richardson with runners at second and third in a 1-0 game for the Giants in game seven of the 1962 World Series.
McCovey would later say that ball was the hardest ball that he ever hit, but the ball was hit directly to Richardson, who grabbed it to end the series, which would be the only time that McCovey would play in a World Series. although he would play in the 1971 NLCS with the Giants losing to Pittsburgh.
McCovey entered the Hall in 1986.

My other McCovey memory comes from 1974, when McCovey was traded from the Giants to the Padres.
Topps baseball cards being unable to produce a Padres card in time, did one of their less than
wonderful airbrushing jobs on his cap with a crude SD design for his card, but there was more than just that for this card because this was the off-season that the Padres looked to be sold at press time and moved to Washington.
Topps tried to stem the tide a bit by releasing some of the Padres cards with the tag "Washington Nat'l Lea" and McCovey was one of those cards.
The 1974 McCovey "Nat'l Lea" card is a short print and is the one that has the most value due to his HOF status.
As for me in 1974, I spent a lot of time in Kindergarten, trying to figure out just what the hell "Washington Nat'l Lea" meant when by the time the cards were released, McDonald's owner Ray Kroc had bought the Padres, kept them in San Diego and made the Washington move one that wouldn't remembered hardly at all, if not for your friends at Topps.

Goodbye to another Hall of Famer, this time from the Football Hall as former Packers fullback Jim Taylor passed at the age of 83.
Taylor, who was the first of the Lombardi Packers to make the Hall in 1976, rushed for over 1,000 yards in five straight seasons from 1960-64 and won the league MVP in 1962 for the World Champion Packers.
Taylor was the pounding fullback in a backfield with finesse halfback Paul Hornung and was the runner that moved the chain as he averaged well over 200 carries a season for seven years.
Taylor was a member of the Packers first Super Bowl winning team, but not the second, as he used the seldom used "Option Rule" to become a free agent at the end of the 1966 season.
Taylor, who played his college football at LSU, signed with the brand new New Orleans Saints with four one year contracts,but would only play one less than productive season there.
The Packers received the Saints first round pick in 1968 as "compensation" and began the long road of the Saints trading high draft picks for washed up veterans which continued well in the 1980's.

Goodbye to Jack Patera, former NFL linebacker and the first coach of the Seattle Seahawks at the age of 85.
Patera, who played for the Colts, Chicago Cardinals and the expansion Dallas Cowboys in a seven year career, built his coaching resume by coaching two of the most famous defensive lines in NFL history in the Rams "Fearsome Foursome" and the Vikings "Purple People Eaters" before being hired to lead the expansion Seahawks.
Patera coached Seattle for their first six seasons before being fired two games into the 1982 season and had winning seasons in 1978 and 1979, but those teams were known best for the trick plays called by Patera and the scrambling and wild ways of left-handed quarterback Jim Zorn.
Patera never coached again after leaving Seattle.
Patera was also the older brother of 1972 Olympic weightlifter and pro wrestler Ken Patera.

Goodbye to "Doctor Z", Paul Zimmerman at the age of 86.
Zimmerman had struggled with health over the last ten years after a 2008 stroke that left him unable to speak and unable to continue writing for Sports Illustrated.
Zimmerman's writing for SI was way ahead of its time and he spent a few years on ESPN's early NFL Draft coverage.
Zimmerman was profiled by us as a Forgotten Superstar in 2013

I'm planning on a profile on a slow day for another recent passing- Wrestling's "Mr. Unpredictable" Dick Slater, who passed at 67 last month.

Now the countdown starts.

It's all over now.

Oh, just the 2018 election, I give this about a week and the words will change from looking back at 2018 and looking forward to several issues.

The clock now begins on looking down the Mall (Washington reference) on the 2020 Presidential election, does the current office-holder make it to 2020, just what does Robert Mueller have on said officeholder and assuming that he does, who will he run against?
Also with the Democrats winning the House, just what's going to come out of that?
Will we finally see those elusive and long-promised tax returns? Will the Democrats go after impeachment or will they decide that a politically damaged Trump would be easier to deal with and defeat?
How will the President handle a body that isn't inclined to give him what he wants and send any agendas of his back to the beginning?
How will he handle any truly devastating news from the investigation of him?
Will the noted "counterpuncher" fight back and if so, will any of it be based in reality?
Or will he do what I have suspected that he would do all along if faced with any type of opposition to what he wants to do and do what bullies do- take his ball and go home?

All interesting questions and the next year to eighteen months will be extremely interesting to watch, but I'm not going to write about those or any predictions.
One thing that Donald Trump has been able to do is to give me an awful record in trying to figure out what his successes will be and just when he crosses that line of "OK, enough is enough" for people predisposed to back him up.
I keep thinking that time is close and he keeps whipping me to death, so I'll refrain from jumping off that cliff again.

No, for this time, I'm going to keep the President on the periphery, you should know if you've been here my feelings on him (soon to be 35 years and counting, folks!), so let's put him aside for the most part.
Instead, I'm going to say something that few may agree with.
Divided Government can be good.

Gridlock isn't all bad.
I know, I know, it often seems that things don't flow through as most of us would wish, but bear with me.
Gridlock means that one party or the other cannot slam a slanted agenda through, just because they can.
I hated the Democrats for changing the 60 vote rule in the Senate to a simple majority and it wasn't over policy.
I thought it set a bad precedent, no one keeps power forever and it could haunt you eventually.
It was short-sighted thinking and it didn't look at the larger picture.
The Republicans took advantage of that opening, like Ezekiel Elliott running through Alabama, enabling their projects to get through without opposition and left a helpless opposition gasping for air and fuming in frustration, much like the Crimson Tide defense on that night now that I think about it.

Our country is divided politically and that is caused by so many on each side relentlessly culling reasonable people that are willing to work together for what's best for the entire country, not a modified version that suits only their agenda.
I've never been able to understand when compromise became such a bad thing, I was always raised to believe that if two sides walk away from a deal and neither are completely happy, then the deal was likely one that was fair and reasonable.
Divided government forces people to work together, divided government fleshes out ideas and divided government may take time to produce a result, but like making sausage, it may not be fun to watch being made, but the final product is often well worth the wait.

I'm a centrist, I believe both sides have some ideas and agendas that I believe in.
I don't think either side is entirely right and I think both sides nominated simply awful candidates for 2016, which helped lead us to the messy crossroad that we are currently at.
Divided government isn't all bad and it might be arriving at just the time when we need it the most.

That ends my political talk for a year or so.
Hope I didn't make too many of you angry.
Back later tonight with something new!

Emanuel Steward and Kronk

Recently, the sixth anniversary of Emanuel Steward's passing arrived and I was surprised to see that I didn't write a full post when the master of the Kronk dynasty.

This wasn't surprising for boxing reasons but for personal reasons.
I never met the late Emanuel Steward, but I was likely the biggest "mark" for the Kronk team outside of Detroit and I'd wager that had I met him as an adult, I'd be more likely to be more of a star-struck 12 or 13-year-old than an adult boxing fan.

In the early 80s, I had almost an entire wall filled with the centerfolds that were in each month's issue of KO Magazine (Steve Farhood of Showtime boxing was the editor and since Fightheads were fortunate enough to have Al Bernstein and Steve Kim sit in for past shows, Farhood would be the one person that I would want to sit and talk with most) and in the most prominent spot was reserved for the Kronk team- Milton McCrory, Mike McCallum, Jimmy Paul and the kingpin of all- Thomas "the Hitman" Hearns.
I had other Kronk fighters too like Duane Thomas, Steve McCrory, David Braxton, and more from pictures cut from magazines in collages that I made.
Weekend boxing was the highlight of my week and I was such a fan that in the days before VCRs, I would lug a small black and white TV to my spring/summer job announcing baseball games to watch the network fights while I called the games!
I remember one time when in a rain delay, I sat the PA microphone beside the TV for a "live network audio" call of the Milton McCrory-Roger Stafford fight!


I remember when Steward was attempting a satellite training center in Phoenix "Kronk West" and the team was selling shirts and things like that from an ad in Ring Magazine.
I quickly bought one (I would have loved a Kronk jacket, but that was WAY out of what I could afford) and wore the shirt a lot, before losing it in gym class when I forgot it.
It had to stand out in rural Western Maryland to have a kid wearing an inner-city boxing team shirt and I did receive plenty of comments.
Usually, it was either "Where did you get THAT?" from boxing fans (much larger in number then ) or "What is a Kronk"? (Non-Boxing Fans).

While, I rooted passionately for Kronk Boxing, which to this day is the only boxing "stable" that really embraced the team concept (PBC tries, but really cannot totally use it because they eventually will have to fight each other), I rooted for other fighters as well and that occasionally led to problems.
Most notably Thomas Hearns-Roberto Duran, but also Milton McCrory-Donald Curry and others.
I was a big fan of the team, especially Emanuel Steward, who trained and managed the team.

Steward seemed to be a thoughtful person who looked into character (or in some cases, rehabilitating some 'characters') yet was street-smart enough not to be fooled.
A boxing person who remembered and used the past yet embraced the future, I always wished that I could have just sat down and listened to him talk about the game.

Steward was also one of the best commentators in the game for HBO as a semi-regular filling in on an as-needed basis.
Far superior to George Foreman, Roy Jones or whomever he was replacing, Steward not only brought an "in the corner" perspective, but Steward also related to the boxing fan with an enthusiasm for the fight that the fan watching at home could "feel" like it was one of them watching the bout.
I know most fans remember Steward's memorable call during Mickey Ward-Arturo Gatti, Ramon used Steward's call of that round nine as part of the lead-in to "FightHeads" for years, but for me, Steward's call of the final round of the Vassily Jirov-James Toney cruiserweight battle was just as good.
Both fighters need a big final and Toney seems to need a knockdown to pull the fight out on the cards (the fight was much closer than the ridiculously lopsided scores), Steward's passion for the game (and perhaps with some extra for knowing Toney well personally) jumped through the screen and into the viewer.
Steward's excitement wasn't the same as Mauro Ranallo's excitement which often seems like he did plenty of research and wanted to make sure he slams it into the broadcast, it was coming from a passion for the game and flowed naturally through the fight.
I always left watching Steward's HBO appearances feeling like I knew more than when I started, which is what you should hope to feel every time that you watch a broadcast, but seldom actually do.

Emanuel Steward is missed in the boxing game by those who were fortunate enough to know him, but from his commentary and frankness, he might be missed just as much by those who didn't.
In a time that boxing is growing again, yet filled with fractures from various promoters and television platforms that seem more interested in being on their own than making the best fights, Emanuel
Steward's voice would have been a major help in building a bridge to enable the best to fight the best.