Buckeyes score 76 in a row!

For ten minutes, the Miami Red Hawks controlled the Ohio State Buckeyes and led after a field goal and safety, 5-0.
For the next five minutes, the Red Hawks played it close and the score was just 7-5 Ohio State after one quarter.
Then it was over- one minute into the second quarter, it was 21-5 and the rout was on.
Rout might be kindly put as Ohio State scored 76 unanswered points in winning 76-5 in Columbus.

Justin Fields threw for four scores and ran for two others to lead too many Buckeyes to the win.
Ohio State finishes their non-conference schedule at 4-0 with a 1-0 record in the Big Ten.
Ohio State travels to 3-1 Nebraska next Saturday night in Lincoln.

Olentangy Offerings

1) About the only bad thing that I could say about this loss was the fumble in the end zone by Justin Fields that gave the first two points to Miami.
That fumble led to the punt back and Miami kicked a field goal off that possession.
That about wraps up the Red Hawks day.

2) The Buckeye offense wasn't only about Justin Fields and his six scores, Chris Chugunov threw two more and Gunnar Hoak tossed another in the second half.
Six quarterbacks, nine touchdowns with two of those rushing.

3) Of the seven touchdown receptions, six of those were caught by different receivers as only Chris Olave caught two.

4) The standout play was another terrific catch by freshman receiver Garrett Wilson, who leaped over a defender, tipped the ball to himself, and then secured it on his back.
Write it down- Barring injury, Garrett Wilson is going to be one of the best receivers in the history of the program.


5) But as they used to say in advertising- BUT that's not all!
Freshman Jameson Williams, who comes with comparisons to Buckeye great Ted Ginn, made me think of, well, Ted Ginn when he grabbed a ten-yard pass from Gunnar Hoak and ran one of those straight-line Ted Ginn dashes without cuts or moves straight to the end zone for a 61 yard score.
Williams is the fastest player on the squad and the next two years with Williams and Garrett Wilson just might be special.


6) Chase Young added two sacks to his career total and both hits caused a Miami fumble and turnover.
I was asked while watching the game, how Young, who might be the first pick in the 2020 draft, compares to the Bosa brothers.
Very well, I'd say and I might put Young as a nick more disruptive as a pass rusher, so imagine that in someone's NFL defense.
Young would likely be the top choice if the team picks first doesn't have a quarterback need and would be very unlikely to slide out of the top five.

7) Jeffrey Okudah, who could be another first-rounder in next year's draft, intercepted his first pass as a Buckeye in the victory.
Okudah might have a chance to be the top-rated corner in the draft and a few interceptions is a good thing in the eyes of draft evaluators as it shows the ability to make a play in coverage and perhaps if a team needs it, the ability to move to safety as a ballhawk.

8) The Buckeyes 42 point second quarter was the most in one quarter since an Ohio State win in 1960.

9) I really hate the recaps of these blowouts, just not enough to write about.
I'm sure playing 3-1 Nebraska in Lincoln should be a test with their talented QB Taylor Martinez, who Ohio State recruited hard coming out of high school.
Martinez threw three touchdowns and over 300 yards without an interception in Nebraska's Big Ten opening win at Illinois, but a caveat-that game went down to the wire in Champaign with the Huskers winning only 42-38.
If you allow 38 points to the Illini, the Buckeyes should do well.

Back later with either boxing or the Browns recap against the Rams.

Road Trip: Hickory

The final day of the road trip saw a return to L.P. Frans Stadium for the first time in 12 years.

I don't often get melancholy a lot when I go to ballparks, but I did for a bit going into the home of the Hickory Crawdads.

A lot had changed since that day in 2007, my travel partners had changed, Ryan had moved out of our home as a young man to a married adult and I don't see Battlin' Bob nearly as much as I used to, although it's a rare day that we aren't in touch and Bob, if you are reading this, I hope you'll consider making a trip with us in 2020!
The blog was a mere three months old in 2007 and now it's going to be turning into a teenager before the next baseball season starts.
Only three players from this game are still in the major leagues with Hickory's Jared Hughes (Phillies) and Tony Watson (Giants) along with Columbus pitcher Jeremy Hellickson (Nationals).
Columbus, Georgia no longer has a minor league team and the affiliate of the then-Catfish (Tampa Bay) is no longer in the South Atlantic League.
The technology is different too as the pictures shown in that recap were taken with this funny box looking item then known as a digital camera, where we now take photos with cameras and tablets.
It just made me think and reflect a little as I walked around and that is usually a good thing.

We didn't have nearly as much to do on our final day and decided to start with lunch in Asheville before we would leave for Hickory.
Being that we had only stopped at Rocky's Hot Chicken, we needed to figure out what would be a good stop for lunch.
Needing local advice, that meant another stop in the morning to ask Skylar for her advice and we sifted through the three options that she graciously offered to decide.
Skylar's help was invaluable throughout this trip and hopefully, she'll be at the hotel for our 2020 trip.
She'll likely be running a hotel someday, so she could already be at another job by then!

Our first choice was extremely busy as in a wait of near an hour as told to us by the hostess, so we moved to our second.
Universal Joint had an excellent scouting report from Skylar, but we were warned about it being difficult to find parking, which with me driving again was something to keep tabs on.
It was as difficult as advertised and I parked in the bank parking lot across the street before running into Universal Joint to ask about parking there.
The person I asked said the vehicle would likely be OK but keep an eye on it, so I made sure to sit in a spot that the vehicle was in my sight range.

Universal Joint is located inside what appears to be a very old house from the '30s that has fitted a restaurant into two rooms for an inside eating area and an outdoor patio arrangement for the fresh air lover as well.
I don't mind eating outside, but it's not anything that I have to do, so I was happy to go along with Fred's hatred of alfresco dining!
I ordered their "Firecracker" burger with some tater tots with hot sauce and scallions.
It was very good, but the parking was a concern, I kept worrying about the car and couldn't quite enjoy the meal as much.
I suppose that's part of being a worrier!

The drive to Hickory is pretty uneventful, 75 miles across I-40 and after we found the stadium, we still had time to kill and no one felt like sitting in a hot car, so we drove to a Jack in the Box to sit in the AC.
I had only ever visited Jack in the Box on my other visit to Hickory and if you go back to that trip, all three of us were dealing with what was likely mild food poisoning, so it was not only hard to enjoy then, but hard to even remember!
After a small burger to try and avoid eating at the park (and the rest of the night), we returned to L.P. Frans Stadium to work on the Crawdads (Rangers) and the Charleston River Dogs (Yankees).

The autographing access isn't quite as good as twelve years ago, but it's pretty close and you can try to get players from both teams.
You can stand near the left-field clubhouse by a fence and there is plenty of space for anyone trying to autograph.
I needed very few from the Crawdads after two visits to Hagerstown, so even though I bought the team's update set, I decided to toss that in the bag and save it for next year's Down East (Rangers High A) visit to Frederick in order to concentrate on Charleston, who did not visit Hagerstown this season.
I did make an exception to add the Rangers first-round pick Josh Jung of Texas Tech on a USA card to add to the "Corey White" pile to send to Tennessee, but other than Jung- it was all Riverdogs.
I had the most for Josh Stowers and Josh Breaux, as they all had mainstream cards and I was carrying stuff for others too.
Both players had been named to the SAL all-star game, but due to injuries, neither player traveled to Charleston.
Both Stowers and Breaux signed a few and said they would finish the remainder after the game and both did indeed finish my cards postgame.
It's not always the case when you ask postgame, but I was pleased that both lived up to their word.

Roansey Contreras was the top pitching prospect for the Riverdogs (in record anyway) was a player I had plenty for in Charleston and SAL prospect cards, well I had only one of each and the others were for others.
Contreras signed one and handed the rest back, I asked if he could hit one more (so I had the SAL and Charleston wiped out), he did but seemed less than pleased.
I don't like to do that and rarely do, but the Yankees High A team is in Florida and by the time I'll see them again in AA Trenton, the signing habits are even worse, so I occasionally make an exception.
I added Brandon Lockridge on a few cards and talked to him about the Home Run Derby in Charleston WV that he finished second place to Hickory's Curtis Terry.
Lockridge discussed that the event took so long, yet was cut shorter than expected and still took a physical toll on him after participating.
I still had plenty of team set cards to work on (as well as Stowers and Breaux) as did Lefty, so postgame graphing was an easy sell to make.
Fred was invaluable to Lefty and I post-game as he asked players for their name and we did very well in getting players- except one.
Luis Medina had a Topps Heritage card among others and was the only RiverDog that walked by during pregame without stopping, so he was the main player that I really needed.
Fred asked Medina for his name (It was very dark and hard to see faces) and Medina walked by, said Medina as Fred then asked him to stop.
Medina then pointed somewhere and kept moving- I won't be looking forward to seeing Medina in Trenton.
Oh, well this happens at times.
The drive home was quick and after checking back at the hotel, it didn't take long to hit the bed after packing all my things for the drive home.

The final day was leisurely paced with stops in Bristol Tennessee for lunch at the Mad Greek, where they would redeem themselves with Fred for their problems last year and dessert at Cootie Brown's for their vaunted Key Lime Pie, which was beyond words as always!
We would return to Pulaski on the way home, where with a home game for the Yankees that evening, we were able to buy the team sets that eluded us on the first day.
We didn't stick around for the game because we would be getting home late and with the new setup at Calfee Field, working on the team set would mean staying after the game and that was just too much time to drive after a long day.

What a great trip!
Great company and lots of fun equaled a very successful trip.
Thanks to Fred Landucci and Lefty Koch for going along and helping to make it such a terrific week.
I take these things one year at a time for financial reasons and every year I'm able to do it, I'm grateful for the chances to see different things and do them with my friends.

Only one more road trip left to write about and I'll try to do that soon on a slow day!
Back later with the Buckeyes against Miami Ohio from the Big Horseshoe!

Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge is a bit light with top fights this weekend, but there are cards on Showtime, FS1, and Facebook to choose from, so even though the challenge doesn't have what it usually does, there is still boxing to peruse around the college football weekend.

Friday night on Showtime will bring the return of the ShoBox series and their prospects meeting prospects composition for the series.
The main event from Midland, Texas will be a challenge match with promising California lightweight Michael Dutchover facing Cleveland's Thomas Mattice in a ten rounder that will be the first scheduled at that distance for both prospects.
I've very impressed with Dutchover's appearances on the Facebook cards by Thompson boxing and on ShoBox and I think he is definitely a prospect to keep tabs on.
Mattice was thought to have high-level potential as well, but his split decision "win" on ShoBox last year over Zhora Hamazaryan was perhaps the worst decision of the year and even though I thought he might have edged Hamazaryan in their rematch, it was scored a draw and the bout that followed, Mattice lost a close decision to Will Madera.

Saturday's main event on Fox Sports One might have been a big deal five or six years ago and a division ago, but none the less, it'll be former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin against former junior middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo in a twelve rounder.
Quillin has fought only twenty rounds in the almost four years since his first-round knockout loss to Daniel Jacobs, but still has a name, while the badly faded Angulo is a late replacement for Caleb Truax, who was injured while training for a rematch with Quillin after their first fight was ruled a no-contest in the second round after cuts stopped the fight following a clash of heads.
A Quillin win would likely earn him a title shot against IBF champion Caleb Plant and while Quillin wouldn't exactly be deserving of such a fight under normal conditions, a cursory scan of the weak 168-pound division shows few fighters that would be more deserving of a title challenge.

Saturday on Facebook, Golden Boy's slate will see match former featherweight title challenger and current junior lightweight contender Joseph Diaz against Jesus Cuadro.
Diaz, who lost to Gary Russell in a featherweight title try in his only loss, holds several quality wins, including one over minor junior lightweight beltholder Andrew Cancio by knockout.
A Diaz win over Cuadro, a journeyman that has lost each time the opposition improved, could position him for a chance at IBF champion Tevin Farmer, who has had several confrontations with Diaz both in person and on social media.

Lightweights. 10 Rds
Michael Dutchover vs Thomas Mattice
R.L: Mattice Unanimous Decision
TRS: Dutchover KO 6

Super Middleweights. 12 Rds
Peter Quillin vs Alfredo Angulo
R.L: Quillin KO 7
TRS: Quillin KO 5

Junior Lightweights. 10 Rds
Joseph Diaz vs Jesus Cuadro
Both: Diaz Unanimous Decision

PPM

A huge week in college football and with several games with top teams against each other, I am adding extra contests to the game of the week.

Last Week:10-4
Overall: 31-7

College
Ohio State over Miami Ohio 53-3
Houston over Tulane 34-24
Boise State over Air Force 30-20
N.C State over Ball State 40-14
LSU over Vanderbilt 42-14
Washington over BYU 27-20
Bowling Green over Kent State 28-25

Games of the Week
Wisconsin over Michigan 24-19
Georgia over Notre Dame 30-17
Auburn over Texas A&M 28-20

Pro
Rams over Browns 28-17
Seahawks over Saints 31-21

Game of the Week
Chiefs over Ravens 35-21

Things I think: College Football

Time for the weekly thoughts on college football and even though it seems like even when I try to get away from Fred Landucci's beloved Tennessee Vols, I just can't after this excellent ESPN article looking back at Lane Kiffin's one year in Knoxville.

1) The ESPN article on the crazy one season spent by Lane Kiffin was not only excellent, but it also made me think about what could have happened had Kiffin remained as the coach of the Volunteers.
Looking at the various messes since with Derek Dooley, Butch Jones and currently Jeremy Pruitt, I'm not sure that things could have been worse for Big Orange. but I'm not sure that they would have been much better either.
Kiffin was only 34/35 years of age as head coach of the Vols and I'm not sure he was mature enough to be a top-notch head coach.
Tennessee would have likely recruited well under Kiffin and that would have helped give them a chance at success, but could they continue to recruit well if the drop off in record occurred?
My guess as to the most likely result? Tennessee wins some games that they likely would have been the underdog in, lost others to teams of lesser talent and would have had lots of entertaining media events and clashes with other teams.
I would think that Lane Kiffin would have a shorter shelf life even with success and he would be unlikely to still reside in Knoxville.

2) The Arizona State-Michigan State game from East Lansing (10-7 ASU ) was a snoozer until the last three minutes or so, but two notes on the contest.
Mark Dantonio might need to either accept that offensive schemes for Sparty need to be updated because what the Spartans have been doing over the last three seasons just isn't getting the job done.
Dantonio might be so stuck in his Jim Tressel-like ways that he may not be able to make the changes that need to be completed, but Michigan State needs to at least talk to him about those potential moves.
The officials botched the final field goal attempt after Michigan State seemed to have tied the game at 10, a review saw Sparty called for 12 men on the field and another field goal try to tie the game.
On that kick, the kick drifted wide, but Arizona State had a player that should have been called for leaping, which would have given Michigan State another chance to force overtime.
The visiting team's conference provides the officials, so the mistake was by Pac 12 officials and an apology issued, which as always is too late.

3) The big run by Maryland sputtered to a stop after a 20-17 loss in Philadelphia to Temple.
It's not only the loss to a group of five school, but it is also that after showing a great deal of offense against Syracuse, the Terrapins had multiple chances to win this game.
Temple slammed the door twice on Maryland back Anthony McFarland from the one-yard line with three and a half minutes to go and again stopped Maryland at the ten with seconds remaining.
Now the conference schedule starts for Maryland against Penn State this Saturday and even though Maryland's four games that follow Penn State are all possible victories (at Rutgers, Indiana, at Purdue and Minnesota), the end of the season is brutal as they finish up with Michigan, at Ohio State, Nebraska, and at Michigan State.
The season's not lost, but it feels like a missed opportunity for Mike Locksley's first Terrapin team.

4) And there is the ACC, who deservedly pats itself on the back for the number one rated team in the nation in Clemson, but collectively appears to be about as competitive as the Washington Generals against the Harlem Globetrotters.
Other than 25th ranked Virginia (3-0) the conference doesn't have another ranked team and other than Wake Forest, doesn't have another undefeated team, which is pretty sad only three weeks into the season.
Last Saturday saw N.C. State lose at West Virginia by 17, which isn't a terrible loss, but also saw Virginia Tech need a rally in the fourth quarter to defeat 1-AA Furman, Pitt throw away a chance to upset Penn State and the two worst losses of the day with I-AA Citadel defeating Georgia Tech at home and Kansas, who hadn't won a road game against a power five team in eleven seasons, crunching Boston College by 24 in Boston!
I would say it is very likely to that the Clemson opponent in the ACC title game will have three losses and possibly four.
Not a great matchup to attract fans to your title game.

5) The hottest coaching seat has to be occupied by USC's Clay Helton after the Trojans road loss to BYU in overtime.
It's not just the loss to the Cougars, it's the next three games, all against ranked teams (Utah, Washington, and Notre Dame) that they will be underdogs against and two on the road.
A 2-4 start isn't out of the question for Helton and with a new AD to be hired soon after the resignation of Lynn Swann, Helton is more likely to be shown the door than stay around for 2020.

6) I found it interesting that former Northern Illinois and Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill has been brought on staff at Virginia Tech as a special assistant to Justin Fuente.
Kill was forced from the Gophers head job after 2015 by doctors that recommended he leave coaching to avoid neurological damage from epileptic attacks.
Fuente's Hokies finished 6-7 last season and their 2-1 record is less than impressive with a near loss to Furman and a road loss at Boston College, who as mentioned earlier was blasted by hapless Kansas at the same stadium.

Cleaning out the inbox

The inbox cleaning begins with a great article from the Athletic on the original 2000 coaching staff with the always interesting Mike Leach at Texas Tech.
That squad between the players and the coaching staff includes eight coaches that would be head coaches, eight more that would be coordinators at the D-I level and seven besides that would become coaches at various smaller levels.
It is really a fascinating look into the world of Leach at Tech and how his influence on those coaches affects the college football world 19 years later.

ESPN writes of the story of the network's first live event and why their broadcast library had no such record of the broadcast.
The slow-pitch softball game between the Kentucky Bourbons and the Milwaukee Schlitz was the first game telecast from ESPN in September of 1979 and the tape from that game had been missing for years.
The article has a companion piece from the E 60 program, which I'm sure you can find with a short Google search.

Back to the Athletic with the story of the first game between Boise State and Marshall from 1994.
That game was the 1-AA national semi-final with the winner playing for the national championship and Marshall was the more established of the two, making trips to the previous three title games, winning one of the three games, all against Youngstown State.
Youngstown was waiting for the winner of this one as well and while being more of a Boise State story, there is plenty of 1-AA history and Marshall as well.
Hard to believe twenty-five years later that Boise State is the national brand and the football power of the Mountain West, while Marshall is probably the choice for the traditional kingpin of Conference USA, which didn't even exist in 1994!

Politico writes of the "culture of fear and self-dealing" at Liberty University in Lynchburg Va.
Liberty is the university that seems to run and own the area and is now led by Jerry Falwell, Jr, who you may have heard his name in the news of late.
The article covers many problems with the school and the Falwell family and what I was surprised about was the sources that were spoken to that seemed to have a real love for the university and even the family, but feel that something needed to be done in order to 'save' it.
I found that quite interesting and having been to Lynchburg, the power that the Falwell's possess, I can completely understand the sources reluctance to go against the family.

Finally, Ramon Malpica invited me to guest on his new venture and I was happy to do so.
Ramon asked me questions about myself, favorite things, opinions on gun laws, the USFL and at the end of course-Boxing.
Please give it a listen and rate and subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice.

Garrett Grounds Jets-Browns win first 23-3

Myles Garrett sacked New York Jets quarterbacks three times and Odell Beckham grabbed a Baker Mayfield pass and ran 89 yards for a score as the Cleveland Browns improved to 1-1 with a 23-3 win in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Baker Mayfield threw for over 300 yards, Nick Chubb ran for 62 yards including a 19-yard touchdown and Odell Beckham finished the night with six catches for 161 yards to pace the Browns offense.
Cleveland will host the St.Louis Rams on Sunday night on national television.

Brownie Bits

1) Myles Garrett just destroyed the New Jets quarterbacks with three sacks and two other hits to clearly be the most dominant player on the field.
Garrett's physical ability may be unmatched by any defensive lineman in football and few are in his class as a pass rusher.
Any offense that has the Browns on their schedule had better scheme to figure out how to at least try to keep their quarterback away from Myles Garrett.

2) However, Garrett knocked Jets quarterback Trevor Siemian from the game with one of two roughing the passer penalties and two other offsides calls (one was declined), so it's not like Garrett doesn't have some things to work on.
The question isn't that Garrett needs to work avoiding late hits- he does.
The question is with the constantly evolving standard on what roughing is and isn't, how can any player know what is and isn't and how does it affect their play?
Garrett doesn't seem to be a dirty player, he isn't a Suh-type player, but eventually, he's going to slow a step to avoid a penalty possibility and that will come at a cost of effectiveness.
Look at the difference in the career slope of Clay Matthews Jr, who became a different player after these rule changes, moving from a player that could have potentially received Hall of Fame consideration to one that is now a completely different level of player.

3) Odell Beckham showed just what he can bring to an offense.
Beckham's one-handed catch in the first quarter was the type of catch that just amazes me and his ability to take a ten-yard pass and go 89 yards with the acceleration shown usually by track stars in shorter distance races.
Odell Beckham will always bring difficulties (off the field issues and constantly worries about his health), but what talent and what he brings to an offense when he is on the field.

4) I know the NFL has their rules on uniforms, helmets, visors etc, but removing a player from the field on a third and goal play because his visor was the wrong color is ridiculous.
In those situations, the proper move should be to tell the player that it needs to be changed during the next change of possession and the player would not be allowed to play after that until the equipment was changed.
Forcing Odell Beckham to leave at that point in the possession was ridiculous and needs to be addressed with the league's policy.

5) It was nice to see Austin Seibert connect on all three of his field goal attempts with two of them over forty yards.
The rookie missed an extra point in the loss to Tennessee and the Browns kicking situation has had its share of questions over the last few seasons.
Seibert took a small step forward with his performance in New York.

6) Baker Mayfield was OK in the win.
Mayfield is still learning and dealing with the adjustments that defenses make for a young quarterback and did make some nice throws.
However, he's beginning to show a disturbing tendency to hang some of his throws high and leaving his receivers very vulnerable.
David Njoku took a hit that resulted in a concussion that finished his evening on a high Mayfield throw and both Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham took unneeded shots as they leaped to catch Mayfield passes that were less than accurate.
I'm not saying that it is a problem yet, but it is something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

7) Some of the inaccurate tosses weren't Mayfield's fault as he was often forced out of the pocket and was sacked three times by the Jets front, which won't make you recall any great pass rushes of the past.
The offensive line is a major concern other than Joel Bitonio and J.C. Tretter and I wonder if the Browns would be willing to send a 1 to Washington for Trent Williams, who would instantly upgrade the line, but would mean the Browns would have sent two first-rounders in a row away.
If I could get Washington down to a 2 and maybe another pick, I would think John Dorsey would almost have to do it.

8) Morgan Burnett left the game early with an injury and no word on its seriousness.
With Demetrius Randall missing this game and uncertain for the Rams game, the loss of Burnett would leave the Browns very vulnerable against the Rams passing game down the middle.

9) The Browns could have had some of their offensive struggles against Gregg Williams' defense because he knows most of the Cleveland personnel so well.
The Browns certainly had their successes, but Williams managed to keep an overmatched team in a game that with average quarterbacking could have been won.
Give Williams his share of credit for keeping it this close.

10) The enigmatic David Njoku hasn't been proven to be able to be counted on, but if his concussion causes him to miss time, the Browns will lose an element of their offense that the backups cannot provide- the pass-catching threat.
None of the current three backups are more than blocking tight end and the only player that could have filled the role as a receiving tight end was released in the final cutdown in Seth DeValve.
I'm not sure how this can be plugged if Njoku misses serious time.

11)  A win is a win and even though it was the hapless Jets using their third-string. quarterback for most of the game, they do all count the same.
Was this a great performance? No, and the Browns will have to improve with the tougher stretch coming next over the next month (Rams, Ravens, 49ers, and Seahawks).
However, they did what they needed to do against a bad team- a small step forward.