Posted on Monday 4 December 2006 by Kenny Roda @ 6:09 pm
Kenny Roda from WKNR SportsTalk 850 will be writing a weekly blog on Cleveland Scores covering the sports world both locally and nationally. Check back often for his updates!
BCS Surprise?
It was no surprise to me that the Ohio State Buckeyes will play the Florida Gators for the National Championship on January 8, 2007 in Glendale, Arizona. As a Harris Poll voter for the last two seasons, I’ve watched more college football than I ever have in the past and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I took my job seriously as a voter and tried to provide myself with as much information as humanly possible to help me make my decisions each week, including purchasing the college football package from DirecTV. Also attending the Ohio State-Michigan game in person gave me a better feel for those two teams and seeing Florida play at least five times on TV helped me in accessing their squad.
For me, when it was all said and done I voted this way in the final Harris Poll:
1) Ohio State 2) Florida and 3) Michigan and here’s why. Since there is no playoff system in college football (that’s a topic for another day), you have to take what you’ve watched, what you’ve read and what you’ve heard and put all that together in determining your choice. Having seen OSU and Michigan up close, to me the final score of that game (42-39) made the game seem more close than it was. Ohio State controlled the contest throughout, even though they turned the ball over three times and led by 11 late in the 4th quarter. Then the Buckeyes went into a somewhat prevent defense which allowed Michigan to score their final touchdown to make it a three point game. So to me Ohio State was more impressive than the final score indicated and the Buckeyes won the Big Ten title and Michiagn didn’t.
Florida, like Michigan, ended the season with one loss, but played in the toughest conference in the country and ended up winning their conference, the SEC. Also add in that the Gators beat nine bowl teams against the Wolverines’ six. Florida finished 3-1 versus ranked teams, while Michigan went 1-1. And throw in my gut feeling and what my brain was telling me after watching over parts of more than a hundred games this year and that’s why I voted the way I did. Florida’s total body of work over the entire season was more impressive to me than Michigan’s. One other note in case your interested, prior to this past weekend’s games I had Ohio St. #1, USC #2, Florida #3 and Michigan #4. So for me Florida didn’t have to leapfrog Michigan, they were already ahead of them in my voting, and when USC lost and Florida won that sealed the deal for me.
An Early Christmas Present For Browns Fans
While I wasn’t surprised that the Gators ended up being the Buckeyes opponent, I was surprised that the Browns rallied for an exciting 31-28 victory over the Chiefs. I thought for sure the Browns were on their way to loss #9 when they trailed Kansas City 28-14 in the 4th quarter on Sunday. With everything that transpired this past week it looked like more doom and gloom for the fans of Cleveland and then out of nowhere the Browns failed to die and came back for a much needed victory. Give credit to Romeo Crennel, his entire staff and most importantly the players for showing the guts and courage that this town has been looking for in a football team for a long time. Derek Anderson stepped in for the injured Charlie Frye and got the job done, along with the rest of his teamates on offense, defense and special teams. It was a total team victory. The big question now is, was it a one time thing, or can they actually build off of it to help turn this season around? The Browns haven’t won back-to-back games since 2003 and the opportunity presents itself this week, on Thursday night, in Pittsburgh to accomplish that feat. By Friday morning we’ll know if they’ve really made progress, or if it was just one lucky afternoon on the Lakefront.
Dolan’s Discounts are at it again
Go get your Indians playoff tickets now. Don’t wait, or you’ll get shut out. Are you kidding me with the moves the Tribe has made so far this off-season. David Delucci in left field? Forty-two year old relief pitcher Roberto Hernandez? Left-handed reliever Aaron Fultz? And maybe Joe Borowski, who flunked a physical for Philadelphia last week as the possible closer?
What a joke. The trade for 2nd baseman Josh Barfield has some promise, but these other moves are insulting to the fans of Cleveland who want and will support a winning baseballteam (455 straight sellouts-a major league record).
Also listed under: Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Kenny Roda
Kenny, love the show. I try to listen every day. I think you are wrong about Florida over Michigan. It’s great that you are an OSU die hard but the BCS is supposed to match the two best teams. Nearly every commentary I have heard or read says that Michigan is the better team but Florida deserved it more. The other cop out was that it was unfair for OSU to beat Michigan twice. The flip side to OSU’s three turnovers mentioned in your blog is that Michigan gave up three big plays which is very uncharacteristic of this year’s defense. Throw out the turnovers and the big plays and you still have a very close game. To me, it would be an even greater accomplishment for OSU to beat UM twice as they are college football’s two best teams this year. What if UM had recovered the onside kick and won 46-42? Would you still vote Florida #2? Using the same criteria from your blog, I guess you would vote for a UM/Florida national championship. We both know you would have never have voted that way. UM had it’s chance and came up short. Go Bucks! Kill the Gators and UM will keep its end of the deal against USC. Here’s to 3 Big Ten teams in the top 5 on Jan. 9th.
Kenny,
Who exactly are you so upset about the Indians not having signed? This is one of the worst free agent classes ever. It’s easy to whine about the moves they’ve made — but a lot harder to come up with a better plan.
And what the heck is wrong with David Dellucci for $4 million/season? Not only does he represent a significant upgrade over a full season of Jason Michaels, he’s also, incidentally, leaps and bounds ahead of a certain Corelli Crisp in terms of both his ability to get on base and his power. So settle down.
Dean
1. Ohio State should be playing Boise State, not Florida. Michigan was not screwed. If they beat OSU, they would be in the national championship. What was the slogan?, “win and you’re in.” If the shoe was on the other foot, OSU would probably be #4 or #5. For some strange reason, I think that there is a conspiracy against teams from Ohio.
2. The Browns, even the sun shines on a dogs ass every once in a while. If they can put together a competitive finish, I might devote more time to this subject.
3. The Indians, I look for another disappointing year from the boys of summer. Major League 2 has been playing quite often on HBO recently. Is that the only I’ll ever see the Indians win? When will Dolan understand that in order to win, he has to open up and spend some money. Why no interest in Soriano? Manny’s on the trading block. What about Barry Bonds? The future looks bleek.
The Tribe is not willing to overspend some & most other teams are!! That’s the difference!! Every year they always underestimate value on the market!! Don’t worry I’m sure we’ll sign some guy coming off a major injury who use to be a good player!! Or we’ll get some washed up guy to be our power bat. Maybe we’ll bring Cecil Fielder or Bobby Bonilla outta retirement to be our # 3 hitter!!!
First of all, the point of the BCS national championship game is to decide which is the best team in the nation, not to pit the two best teams against eachother. Through conference play and the actual game, we already know tOSU is better than UM. We don’t know if tOSU is better than Florida.
Secondly, I have the perfect solution to the BCS problem. The BCS could easily solve all of its problems without using a playoff system that detracts from conference play and the rivalry game. The solution is to have a variable 6-8 team playoff with the 6 BCS conference champions getting automatic bids, and the final two spots reserved for non-BCS D-IA conference schools that break the top 12 in the final BCS rankings. Lastly, no conference could have more than one representative allowed into the playoffs.
If there are two non BCS conference schools in the top 12, then there would be an 8 team playoff. If there are no non-BCS conference schools in the top 12, it would be a 6 team playoff with the top two teams getting a bye. If there was one non-BCS conference school in the top 12, it would be a 7 team playoff with the top ranked team getting a bye the first week.
This way teams like ND and Boise state can make it into the playoffs and have their shot, but it also accounts for years when there are no good teams from outside the BCS conferences.
The two weeks of playoffs could be tacked onto the end of the season, and the Championship game could be played as a bowl game. The teams that lose in the playoffs would still be available for bowl selection as well.
This method solves everyone’s problems. It adds two more weeks of football, which means more money for the conferences. It doesn’t detract from conference play or rivalry week because only conference champs can make it into the playoffs. It also keeps the current bowl system intact, but it eliminates the polls in determining the champion. Every conference gets a shot, so all the talk about which conference is tougher, and how the media is biased, wouldn’t matter. And it also gives non-BCS conferences a shot, so teams from non-BCS conferences can’t complain about how they could have cut it in a BCS conference and deserve a shot.
This seems like the best and most obvious solution, but I haven’t heard anyone other than myself bring it up.
Kenny,
I agree with Florida. I am actually surprised that Michigan did not drop below them after the loss to OSU. After that weekend I would have made OSU #1, USC #2 FlA #3 and UM #4. That might have ended all the arguments. There are two reasons for this. The first is that UM did NOT with it’s conference, and second that the 3 turnovers lead to 10 points and therefore the final score would have been 42-29, about the margin every one expected. I do like Jeff’s playoff idea and would use that 12th game as a possible date for this game.
The Browns showed some offense and I hope it stays. This is the first 400 yrd game since 99 I believe they said. I hope it can continue. I would like to see Anderson for the entire game. He did look poised and my favorite was he did not have “happy feet” like Charlie does at times. He did not “lock” on receivers and he did not throw late over the middle. However it was only one half a game, so I am not ready to call him the answer yet.
I agree with Dean about baseball’s free agents, they are crap. I disagree with Rich, they do spend money, just on the wrong players. David Delucci for $4 mil when he made 950K last year. Come on Shapiro, this is not rocket science. That $4 mil should have been used to sign Howry last year and you know it. We got the second baseman that we need and hopefully the bullpen help can be obtained through trades of our crap like Jmike, Delucci, Blake, Peralta, Choo and just about anyone from our bullpen.
Dean - check your stats! Delucci batting 185 with runners in scoring position, 045 with two outs, and 060 with a 3-2 count. He is a journeyman backup for a reason.
How can anyone compare Delucci to Crisp? Are you serious? Delucci is Jason Michaels, p.ii. And I think what the Roadman is getting at by compalinign about these signings is the signings in general. There is no one out there. Which is why we shouldn’t have signed any of these. Why worry about Delucci when you can stick with the platoon (Michaels, Blake, Choo) anyway and let Garko try his hand at first? What is the problem with letting these young guys play?
Look, Cleveland has had a problem for years and I can’t take it anymore. It’s called “not filling the glaring hole”-itis:
-The Indians are famous for it, first in the 90s, missing two golden World Series opps by not signing/trading for an ace and now by trying to fill two glaring holes with scrap heap specials (power bat; closer).
-The Browns have been dealing with it for years a la the offensive line.
-And now the Cavs, in the LeBron era are following suit by not giving him a point guard. There’s all this talk about which Cleveland team will be the first to win the big one. My answer? The first to get some common sense and fill the glaring hole to help the team win!
I’m wondering why no one is complaining about Rome calling out Tressel, calling him Senator Sweatervest? This criticism is unecessary. Tressel did the right thing here. Look who is calling him out: Carr, which makes this even better, and the Texas Tech coach (do they even have a football team?).
Speaking of other KNR shows, can someone tell me why Mike and Mike was replaced with Zaban? What the heck? Listening to Zaban is like listening to WTAM. Uhh, can we talk some sports please? They look at their time like bits; not sportstalk. Who allowed this to happen?
One more complaint, while I’m at it. Can someone tell me why Carr is color-analyzing all the Cavs home games? Williams is tons better. This has to stop. I can’t stand it. And i’m really starting to wonder why Reghi was replaced….for someone who basically spends his time doing a poor impersanation of him.
Help me understand these things, Kenny.
Kenny,
You are one of a very small number of professional sports writers or talk show hosts that beleive Florida is better then Michigan. I do agree that they had their shot on the 18th and blew it. I think the game was closer then what you are saying. The BCS is suppose to put the two best teams together for the championship. I don’t is has happened. Go Big Ten in the bowl games.
Is Charlie Frye really an NFL quarterback? I’m sorry Kenny I know you like him and have confidence in him, but come on. What has he showed us. Ok a few times he has looked good, but even a blind squirrel will find a nut now and then. Can Crennel get more control on Edwards. Are they to close together. If the story I heard is true about Edwards at the Ohio State game being the reason being late for a team meeting. Come on Edwards there is no I in “TEAM”.
The Indians are going no where this year I see. Get moves Shapiro. Way to bring glory back to the city.
Bring Mike & Mike back.
To my understanding, Mike and Mike is ESPN programing, these other guys are FOX. ESPN wanted to replace our local programing, like the Roadman’s show, with their own. I like ESPN, but when Roadman went off the air, I listened to the shows up the dial, because they had more of a emphesis on Cleveland sports. With the exception of Mike and Mike, I don’t really know the difference, nor do I care. As long as I can listen to the Dean, Rome, and the cleanup hitter, the Roadman, I’m happy.
Daniel Gilbert may be turning into a stud. If Hughes can’t stay healthy, I’m looking for Shannon Brown to do the same. As I stated earlier, the Cavs may be a year from the finals, but they definately will make the playoffs this year. They might surprise me.
Not sure if you saw Buster Olney’s blog today, but he has some pretty nice things to say about the Indians. I pulled the Indians portion and referenced on my blog if you want to take a look:
http://tastyburger.wordpress.com
Like I say there; I’m not sure I agree…as much as I love Olney. I hope I’m wrong!
Another bad day of Browns football. It is time for a coaching change and a General Manager change. What a sorry display of football. We need to stop the madness. No playoffs this year. Kenny can you take over the team? We need some leadership in the front office and on the sidelines. Kenny you can do it.
That was my first look at the NFL Network, and given what I saw last night, I would not pay for that. What a poor production! And, Bryant Gumbel calling the game is just awful. I mean, does he even know football terms? On Big Ben’s touchdown run he kept saying ‘it’s a QB keeper; he just ran it in!’ Hey, it’s called a bootleg. And if you want to get technical, it was a naked bootleg. It wasn’t until the third replay where Collinsworth finally said ‘bootleg’. The production was as bad as the Browns play.
Hey, loser Browns fans, can someone tell Winslow to shut up? When are he and Edwards going to realize you have to do something before you can run your mouth?
One glimmer of hope…DA must be the only Brown with brains because he seems to be the only that knows Jerivicious exists. This is a clutch third down, touchdown receiver and you’ve only started going to him the last two weeks. Meanwhile, the Steelers hang you out with their THIRD and FOURTH option receivers. Way to go Brownies. I wonder if Crennel will actually call this game a loss since he called the last Steelers loss an ‘almost-win’.
Losers.
Hey Burger. The only poor production last night came from the Browns offense and defense!