It just happened to be that a few of note all happen to have played football in the 70s or 80s, so it's a football-related post this time.
Goodbye to Willie Spencer at the age of 68.
Spencer had a strange career that saw him win "Mr.Ohio" in 1971 as a high school player, turn down all the major colleges and sign with the CFL's Ottawa Rough Riders in 1972, only to be released in training camp.
After playing minor league football in 1973, Spencer would play for the Memphis Southmen in the 1974 and 75 seasons in the World Football League, where he would rush for over 1,300 yards for the Southmen.
Spencer's five touchdowns in a 1974 game against Jacksonville set the WFL record for scores in a game and would not be broken before the league's end midway through the 1975 season.
After the demise of the WFL, Spencer would play three seasons in the NFL, one with the Vikings and two with the Giants.
The five-time Pro Bowler spent his entire career with the San Diego Chargers after being selected fourth overall in the 1968 draft.
Washington was named All-Pro twice and was the left tackle protecting Dan Fouts for the "Air Coryell" Chargers but was also memorable for his long beard on all of his 1970s football cards from Topps.
Goodbye to Bo Scott at the age of 78.
The former Buckeye and Cleveland Brown was drafted in the third round in 1965 but looked at a Cleveland running back stable of Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly, and Ernie Green and signed with the Ottawa Rough Riders and would play in Canada for three seasons including helping Ottawa win the 1968 Grey Cup before starting his Browns career in 1969.
Scott would rush for over 2,000 yards in his six seasons in Cleveland before his career ended with a release before the 1975 season.
Goodbye to Rick Arrington at the age of 74.
Arrington spent four seasons with the Eagles from 1970-73 in what might have been the worst four-season run in Eagles history as the Eagles would win only sixteen games out of a possible fifty-six.
Arrington would start five games of those games at quarterback, finishing 1-3-1 in those starts, and wouldn't have been memorable to a four-year-old TRS had he not been placed in the 1972 Sunoco Stamps set, which I collected even then.
That set made several unremarkable players memorable to me that never had cards in the Topps set.
Sidebar- I believe that the 1972 Sunoco set is the only set of the 1970s to be licensed by the NFL and the NFLPA, which makes the only release to have both the players and the team logos.
Arrington was the father of former NFL and NCAA sideline reporter Jill Arrington, who was voted sexiest female sportscaster (try pulling voting for that off today) by Playboy in 2001 but what I didn't know until compiling this post is that Arrington was the grandfather of actresses Dakota and Elle Fanning.
Goodbye to Gordon Hudson at the age of 59.
Hudson was the NCAA career leader for receiving yards for a tight end during his years at BYU from 1980-83 during the Steve Young era with the Cougars and still holds the NCAA record for yards for a tight end in a game when he finished with 259 yards receiving in a 1981 game against Utah in a game not quarterbacked by Young but by BYU senior Jim McMahon.
Hudson would sign a contract with the USFL Los Angeles Express with Young in 1984 and would be named to the all-USFL in 1985, the final season for the league, and was the first-round selection of the Seattle Seahawks in the famous USFL supplemental draft.
Injuries would plaque Hudson, who would only play one season for the Seahawks, catching only thirteen passes and one touchdown before leaving football.
And after the Vikings scored their only points on their first possession of the game, the Cleveland defense did just that by putting the screws to the Minnesota offense and allowing nothing on the scoreboard for the rest of the game.
It was that defense that allowed the Browns to survive some terrible quarterback play and questionable decision-making by Kevin Stefanski to escape with a 14-7 win.
Nick Chubb rushed for 100 yards and Kareem Hunt ran for 69 yards and the only Cleveland touchdown on the day to lead a Browns offense saddled with the albatross that wore number six on the day.
Cleveland improves to 3-1 and will travel to Los Angeles to face the Chargers, who happen to have a young quarterback that can actually hit a receiver in his hands without the receiver leaving his feet.
Brownie Bits
1) What an effort by the Browns defense in completely stopping an offense that had scored eighty-seven points in their first three games.
Defensive coordinator Joe Woods claimed last year that his defense just needed a little more talent and his scheme would be loaded for bear- on this day, Woods was correct.
2) The Browns sacked Kirk Cousins only twice but they were rushing effectively on almost every passing attempt and didn't allow the Vikings to use play-action passes as effectively as they normally are able.
3) The Browns also controlled one of the better rushing games in the league as Cleveland held Dalvin Cook to 34 yards and Alexander Mattison to twenty on a combined nineteen carries.
4) Greedy Williams made a key interception in the second half and after missing all of 2020, you had to feel good for the former second-rounder in his first start since 2019.
Playing in place of the injured Greg Newsome, Williams's interception ended the first Viking possession after the final Chase McLaughlin field goal, which was the only points by either team in the second half.
5) Back to the running game with this underrated play.
With the Browns just running out the clock in the first half, Kareem Hunt rips off a 33 yard run on third and twenty on their own 26 that allowed Cleveland to gain three points at the end of the half on a 48-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin.
Hunt's run allowed the Browns to hold a four-point lead for most of the second half rather than clinging to a one-point lead where one bad play could allow Minnesota into field goal range.
6) I'm normally a fan of Kevin Stefanski but I don't think he called a very good game in this one.
I can understand his reasoning in going for it on the Browns' first possession near the Minnesota goal line.
Stefanski stated that he thought the game would be a high-scoring affair after the initial Viking drive and getting all the points that the Browns could get was the way to go.
Minnesota stopped Cleveland on that possession and as the game moved on, the field goal that could have been scored would have been huge to calm Browns fans in the second half.
7) I also don't understand why Stefanski continued to throw the ball as often as he did in the fourth quarter considering how Baker Mayfield was playing.
Minnesota almost certainly received a final possession that they may not have gotten with Stefanski calling Mayfield passes that fell incomplete instead of Nick Chubb/Kareem Hunt running plays.
8) Still, I'm giving Stefanski a pass because of the circumstances.
Stefanski's a young coach making his return to the place that he spent most of his career and young coaches in that situation often go over the top because they want to win so badly.
Ignore the usual narrative that games all mean the same- to coaches, they don't, even if they don't admit it.
9) And now since if you are a long-time reader, you knew it was coming.
Baker Mayfield was awful.
I tweeted that Mayfield's performance ( 15 of 33 158 yards) might have been the worst performance that I have seen from a winning quarterback without an interception that I have ever seen.
Overthrowing receivers, not seeing wide-open receivers, and throwing ridiculous passes that only Lady Luck kept from being disasters were all seen from Mayfield in this game.
Just awful and it's the fact that games like these happen more than they should from Baker Mayfield may be the reason that the Browns haven't locked Mayfield up to an extension yet.
Andrew Berry may believe that he can receive similar results from a cheaper (or even younger) quarterback and wanted to see more before signing Mayfield to an extension.
I cannot blame him in the slightest.
10) The Mayfield throw that could have ended the game to a clearly open Odell Beckham has been blamed by many on the lack of chemistry between Mayfield and Beckham.
I call B.S.- I don't care who the receiver was, no one was catching that pass, and Beckham did his job by getting open.
That's on the QB.
11) Give Mayfield credit for not making excuses for a terrible outing but I don't think the most experienced political spinmeister could do much with those numbers other than he didn't turn the ball over to put the defense in a hole on a short field.
Other than that, I have nothing positive to say.
12) I am worried about Jedric Wills continuing to aggravate his injured ankle.
Wills was forced to leave the game again for the ankle and was replaced by rookie fourth-round pick James Hudson.
Chris Hubbard is expected to return against the Chargers and while Hubbard hasn't been good at tackle compared to his performance at guard and he will have to block Joey Bosa against the Chargers, I might take the hit and allow Wills to miss a week rather than have his ankle continue to be an issue throughout the season.
It's a seventeen-game season now, the Browns are good enough to be looking at the long road, not the short term and I'd think that is at least worth considering.
13) The Chargers are a fun team to watch, I know because I watch them a lot but the Chargers haven't created a home-field advantage since moving to Los Angeles.
In the Chargers' home loss to Dallas, it felt like a Dallas home game or at least a neutral site feel and I wonder if the Browns fans, who usually travel well to warm weather sites, might be able to take things over there as well.
14) Finally, 3-1 in a division with Baltimore and Cincinnati also with the same record.
3-1 is about what you could have hoped for and now with two surprising teams from the West next in line with the Chargers and then the Cardinals at home, 4-2 would put the Browns in pretty good shape against a slumping Steelers team to end the month.
I'll take it but the Browns will need more from Baker Mayfield if this team is to reach its potential.
Ohio State instead scored the first 24 points of the game and led 52-6 before a late touchdown set the final score at 52-13 for the visiting Buckeyes.
C.J. Stroud threw for five touchdowns and 330 yards in his return to the lineup while Chris Olave grabbed two of those touchdown tosses along with 119 receiving yards.
TreVeyon Henderson ran for 71 yards on eight carries including a forty-four yards score on the Buckeye's first possession before leaving the game with a mild injury.
Ohio State improves to 4-1 overall (2-0 Big Ten) and will host 4-1 Maryland next Saturday.
Olentangy Offerings
1) Maybe it was the shoulder that hurt C.J.Stroud because he seemed like a different passer in this one.
Now I know that it's easy to say that it's only Rutgers but it was only Tulsa when Stroud was struggling and Stroud wasn't overthrowing his receivers as he often did earlier in the season.
2) Rutgers entered the game allowing under 200 passing yards per outing but were overmatched against the Ohio State passing attack.
The receivers had no problems with the Rutgers secondary and while against Rutgers won't remind anyone of a top 25 team, they did only lose to Michigan last week by seven in Ann Arbor.
I'll be interested in seeing how the Scarlet Knights do next week against undefeated Michigan State in a game also in New Jersey.
3) TreVeyon Henderson's touchdown run immediately made me think that this game would not be a test on this day-No matter the questions about the Buckeyes entering this game, athletically Rutgers was no match and would deliver no answers.
4) Henderson left the game in the second quarter after only eight carries with an undisclosed injury that Ryan Day said he could have returned from if needed.
5) Chris Olave'a two touchdown passes moved him into a tie with Cris Carter for third in touchdown catches for a Buckeye.
David Boston holds the career Ohio State record.
6) One bright spot for the Ohio State defense has been the play of cornerback Denzel Burke and it was Burke that ended Rutgers with a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown that Burke said was his first pick-six at any level of football!
7) The defense still has some questions, but this effort that saw the first team allow only one touchdown does offer some hope.
8) Maryland will offer a different test with some very good skill players such as wideout Rahim Jarrett but Maryland was crushed at home by Iowa and look like a typical Maryland team-Soft.
9) Two Buckeye tight ends scored touchdowns as Jeremy Ruckert and Mitch Rossi each found the end zone.
The Rossi touchdown was his first at Ohio State but he was lined up at fullback when he caught his scoring pass.
10) The Big Ten East now has four unbeaten teams (in conference) with Penn State, Michigan, and Michigan State all without a loss in the league and only Ohio State's non-conference loss to Oregon marring the record at all.
Entering this season, it was easy to assume that Ohio State was going to cruise to a title again.
That could happen but only Penn State has impressed me enough that I would wonder about Ohio State's chances of winning.
Michigan has run the ball well but I'm not sure how well they will throw against Ohio State and on the athletic end, I think OSU is going to just run right by them on defense.
Mel Tucker has a done a remarkable job at Michigan State but they will have to do the same thing to OSU-keep the offense off the field and their defense isn't likely to stop the Buckeyes.
It's going to be an interesting stretch run...
I didn't watch closely Ohio State's 59-7 pasting of Akron last week which is why I didn't do a review.
I tell ya Herbie: I didn't see the surprise return to prominence of the Arkansas Razorbacks this season.
With wins over Texas and Texas A&M, Arkansas seems to be building a winner under Sam Pittman, who had his hiring questioned by just about everyone before the 2020 season.
Pittman has been a tireless recruiter and a tip that the Hogs could be improved this season could have come when looking at the results of 2020 with Arkansas losing three of their seven losses by a combined seven points.
Arkansas will be heavy underdogs at Georgia this Saturday but even with a defeat, Arkansas seems to be headed in the right direction.
I Tell Ya' Herbie: Conference realignment is always a fun topic for me to think about and discuss and I haven't written anything about the SEC gaining Texas and Oklahoma or the Big 12 responding with a raid of the AAC in adding Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Houston along with independent Brigham Young.
The SEC hasn't decided whether to shuffle their divisions a bit when the Longhorns and Sooners arrive or to go to a "pod" system, where you play the same three teams every year and the schedule changes from year to year by playing different pods to fill out the schedule remainder.
I'm not a fan of the pod system, because sooner or later you will have more than two teams that qualify for the conference title game, and chaos and unfairness ensues.
So assuming the divisional format is kept the easy fix is to move Alabama and Auburn to the East Division and add Texas and Oklahoma to the West division but in order to do that (and keep Alabama and Auburn together), one team would have to go to the West from the East.
My pick for that would be Missouri, which would add neighboring Arkansas and former Big 8/12 fellow member Oklahoma as regulars on their schedule.
That's the best fit.
I Tell Ya Herbie: As for the Big 12, I've heard different rumors for their move from ten to twelve teams which have mentioned a return to divisional play or using a mini-pod system that would see teams play the same six teams every year and the other five would rotate in and out off a schedule.
My guess for divisional play would likely see things break down in this manner:
Division One: Cincinnati, West Virginia, Central Florida, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State.
Division Two: Oklahoma State, Baylor, Houston, TCU, Texas Tech, Brigham Young,
But there are rumors that the Big 12 may not stop at the four schools that they have added and could add two or even four more schools within the next year in an attempt to shore up the conference before the next round of conference checkers.
I will mention a few possibilities in the next edition of "Herbie"
I Tell Ya' Herbie; This is a year that may be looked back at as an aberration.
Powerhouses such as Clemson, Ohio State, and even Oklahoma, although the Sooners are still unbeaten, are struggling while other schools are surprising with their starts such as Wake Forest, Michigan State, and Arkansas.
One reason that this could be happening is that powerhouse teams lost players to the NFL as usual but the middle-of-the-pack teams has been able to improve this season with players gaining an extra year of eligibility due to the Covid crisis.
It'll be interesting to see if things level back to normal next season.
I Tell Ya' Herbie: Here is our inaugural Top Ten, which is based on who you beat and how you are playing not on reputation.
Myles Garrett finished with a team-record four and a half sacks to lead a pass rush that sacked Chicago's rookie quarterback Justin Fields nine times.
Baker Mayfield threw a touchdown and for 246 yards with both Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt finishing with over eighty rushing yards for the game.
The now 2-1 Browns will travel to Minnesota next week for the Kevin Stefanski Bowl against the Vikings.
Brownie Bits
1) The big story was the suddenly awakened pass rush that dumped Justin Fields nine times and just missed against the somewhat elusive Fields several others.
Myles Garrett's four and a half sacks set a new team record and his opposite end Jadeveon Clowney added two more sacks.
Considering the Browns issues with the rush in the first two games, this is a huge positive going forward.
2) The Chicago offensive line is terrible and as bad as they were in protecting Justin Fields, they weren't any better in their attempts to run the football as David Montgomery ran for 34 carries on ten carries, numbers that seem worse when you consider sixteen of those yards came on one carry.
3) The Browns offensive line wasn't spectacular in protecting Baker Mayfield, who was sacked five times in the win.
Khalil Mack reached Mayfield twice in the game and Mack missed most of the first half with a sprained foot and the Browns might have given the Bears a few more sacks had a healthy Mack played the entire game.
4) I know the offensive line is beaten up a bit right now and they still opened up huge holes in the running game but the five sacks are concerning and something to wonder about when the opposition improves.
5) Baker Mayfield did receive plenty of pressure from the Bear defense and he did manage to avoid an interception but in this game, I saw many of his passes go high.
Mayfield completed 19 of 31 for the game so he was still effective but this has always been a concern of mine with Mayfield's accuracy and I'll keeping an eye on this as the season moves on.
6) Odell Beckham's return to the field was not spectacular but solid with five catches for seventy-seven yards on nine targets.
Mayfield and Beckham's chemistry has been discussed often since Beckham's arrival in Cleveland but i didn't see many signs of that on Sunday.
7) Kevin Stefanski decided to go for it on fourth down on the first two possessions of the game and failed both times.
One was on a busted play and a bad snap foiled the other but I like the aggressiveness if not the execution.
8) Chase McLaughlin's win over Cody Parkey for the Browns placekicking job has begun to pay dividends.
The Browns thought that in picking McLaughlin they were selecting the kicker with longer range and with that range would add scoring chances that Parkey would not be able to take advantage of.
McLaughlin's four field goals included two of over fifty yards with one coming from 57 yards.
9) Kareem Hunt is clearly the backup to Nick Chubb but on almost any other team Hunt would be their ground game superstar.
Hunt averaged eight yards a carry on his ten totes and Hunt runs with a nastiness that reminds one of runners from a different era.
10) This game was the coming-out party for Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah as JOK began to see more snaps and finished with four solo tackles, half a sack, and another tackle for loss.
I have a feeling that the production has only just started for the versatile rookie from Notre Dame.
11) The Browns are 2-1.
They should be Chicago and Houston aren't very good teams and with both of those games at home, those wins should have been reliably figured in the win column before the season.
Now the season really begins with road games at Minnesota and the Los Angeles Chargers that cannot be counted on for relatively easy wins, it'll be interesting to see how the Browns react after the loss in Kansas City.
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