I’ve been a Cleveland Brown fan my whole life and I’m tired of NEVER getting the big win. I knew that Pittsburgh was going to come down and score, I knew that we would be in a prevent defense. I knew our offense would get conservative. I knew our defense couldn’t make the interception or big play. The aggravation is getting old.
Terry Pluto has some interesting notes from the game on this subject.
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!
Thoughts on an unforgettable football weekend in Ohio:
42-39…I was confident that the Buckeyes would win, but not in a fastbreak, trackmeet, shootout! But I’m not complaining. The only ones who are hail from Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was a joy to watch in person. The atmosphere was unbelievable at “The Shoe.” Talk about living up to the hype and then some. WOW!
About those complainers from up north wanting a rematch, especially running back Mike Hart. You’re ragging on Ohio State’s defense? Look in the mirror, Mr. Hart. Your defense gave up over 500 total yards and six times the amount of rushing yards you had been averaging and you only recorded one sack. Shut up and take it like a man. They say a player and the team takes on the personality of the coach. I guess that’s definitely true here!
Michigan came in giving up only 1.6 yards per carry in the first 11 games of the season and 29 yards on the ground per game. The Buckeyes rushed for 187 yards and 2 touchdowns on 29 carries. That’s an average of 6.4 yards per carry. Mike Hart, are you paying attention? How about giving some credit to the Buckeyes’ offensive line and running backs Antonio Pittman (139 yards) and Chris Wells (56 yards).
With Troy Smith throwing for 316 yards and 4 touchdowns and running for 17 more yards against Michigan, he raised his career totals in 3 starts against the Wolverines to 1056 yards of total offense with 9 touchdowns. And he did so while posting a 3-0 record as a starter! Nobody loves hunting and killing wolverines better than Troy.
With those numbers against that team from up north, a record of 25-2 as a starter, a Heisman Trophy coming his way on December 9th, playing for a National Title, and with a win on January 8th, 2007, Troy Smith has the chance to cement himself as the greatest quarterback to ever play at THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY! He may have done so even before playing in the championship game. Not bad for a kid who was one of the final recruits in that class of 2002!
Eight different receivers caught balls from Troy Smith, while six different players scored touchdowns against Michigan. Talk about balance and depth. Nobody else in the country can match that.
Name me a better BIG GAME coach or, for that matter, a better every day coach than Jim Tressel. You can’t. He’s simply the best in college football right now. He’s now 5-1 versus Michigan and 4-1 in bowl games with a 3-0 mark in BCS bowl games. His overall career record at Ohio State is now 62-13, good for a .827 winning percentage. The man in the sweater vest has led the Buckeyes to 4 BCS Bowl games, 3 Big Ten Titles, 2 National Championship appearences and 1 National Championship and possibly a 2nd National Title to be decided on January 8th, 2007. Counting his time at Youngstown State, Jim Tressel is making his 8th appearance in a National Title game. He won 4 championships in 6 tries at YSU and is going for his 2nd in 2 tries at OSU.
Rematch, Part 2…If Ohio State has to play Michigan again, then so be it. If that’s what the pollsters and the computers say, then let’s get it on again! The Buckeyes are the best team in the country and can beat anybody, anywhere, especially in their home away from home in Arizona. Would I like to see USC or Florida as the Buckeyes’ opponent? Yes. That way they’ll have beaten the defending National Champion Texas Longhorns, the best the Big 12 has to offer, their arch-rival Michigan for the 5th time in the last 6 years, and the best that either the PAC 10 has to offer or the winner of the highly praised SEC conference.
Any way you look at it, the Buckeyes have the chance to do something that no other team, to my knowledge, has done, and that’s beat three #2 ranked teams in one season. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Lee Corso and Skip Clue-Less!
Hats off to all the policemen at the game on Saturday. I was on the field for the final five minutes of the game and they handled things as well as you possibly could. I asked one officer what the game plan was once the final gun had sounded and the Buckeyes and all of their fans wanted to celebrate. He told me we’re here to protect the goalposts and make sure nobody gets hurts. He said you’re not going to stop them from running on the field, so we’ll let them and just make sure nobody gets close to the goal posts. Well done. To my knowledge it went well and nobody was seriously hurt. Which is amazing since they had a record crowd of 105,708.
Also a tip of the cap to the fans. While it was a little crazy down on the field, the fans controlled themselves, especially around the players and The Best Damn Band In The Land. I thought to myself, how awesome is it, that not one fan ran into a band member as they were playing Carmen Ohio after arguably the greatest regular season victory in school history. Now that’s respect!
On to the other game over the weekend. We go from the Game of the Century to the Battle for the Basement. Bad teams find a way to lose and that’s exactly what the Browns did in their rivalry matchup with the Steelers…24-20. Cleveland led by 10 points on three different occasions, including a 20-10 cushion with 4:30 minutes to play and still blew it. Pittsburgh scored 21 fourth quarter points to make it 6 straight wins over the Browns and 12 wins in the last 13 meetings. The Browns may have gained some respect, but the Steelers, even in an off year, posted the victory.
The Cleveland Browns have relied on the defense to keep them in every game this year. Today, the offense gave the Browns a lead and the defense couldn’t hold it. Cleveland jumped out to an early 13- 3 lead on a rainy day in Cleveland Stadium.
The Steelers went to a no-huddle offense in the fourth quarter and scored twice to beat the Browns 24-20. Pittsburgh overcame turnovers, a loud crowd and terrible weather to beat the Browns in a rivalry that is losing interest each year. Romeo Crennel is making progress, but it’s at a very slow pace.
Charlie Frye and the Browns started out hot by opening up a 14-0 lead in the second quarter and held Michael Vick in check enough to preserve their 17-13 victory.
The offense may not have looked pretty at times, but they did just enough to win as the Browns’ defense was very impressive in their efforts to contain the dangerous Falcon offense. Browns touchdowns were scored by Rueben Droughns on a 1-yard run on fourth down in the first quarter and a Braylon Edwards 19-yard pass from Charlie Frye in the second quarter. Kellen Winslow, who led the team with 90 yards on 5 catches, had a couple of outstanding grabs on sideline streaks.
It was the defense which did a nice job of controlling the Falcons when the Browns sputtered offensively in the second half and Sean Jones picked off yet another pass for his fifth INT of the season.
Just what we needed heading into next week’s home battle with Pittsburgh!
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!
Cavs
What a great win for LeBron and the gang at San Antonio on Friday night, ending a 16-game losing streak in the Alamo city. James was fabulous, finishing with 35 points and 10 rebounds and one spectacular, high flying jam over Tim Duncan in the first quarter. That is how you posterize someone. If Nike or the Cavaliers don’t do something with that dunk in the very near future, they’re both stupid. It was legendary, just like Dr. J’s windmill over Michael Cooper or M.J.’s baseline throwdown over Patrick Ewing.
But as great as the win was at San Antonio, the loss at Charlotte was just as horrible. If the Cavs expect to be considered with the elite teams in this league, they can’t lose games like they did Saturday night against the Bobcats, 92-88. It was a back-to-back for both teams and the Cavs jumped out early with a big lead and thought they could just coast to a victory. You have to put teams like that away to be considered one of the best. And I was a little surprised that LeBron didn’t take over a game like that. Are you kidding me, three field goal attempts in the 4th quarter? Michael Jordan would never have let the Bulls lose a game like that. LeBron needed to be more of a leader and take charge in that game. Let’s hope he and the Cavs learn something from that loss.
Browns
Cleveland played a better game than I thought they would in the 32-25 loss at San Diego. I thought for sure they would get blown out. In the end, had they been able to score a touchdown or two instead of kicking 6 field goals, they actually might have been able to pull off the upset. Instead they’re where a lot of us thought they would be at this point with a record of 2-6. But they did manage to score 25 points, and that makes two games in a row they have scored at least 20 points under new offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson. So some progress is being made.
Charlie Frye is still a huge question mark for me. It’s tough to judge his performance because of the horrendous offensive line he’s playing behind. There are times where I say to myself, “that was a heck of a play and if he only had more time, he could be a very good QB in this league.” Then there are times when I’m thinking out loud, “What the hell was he trying to do there? Throw the damn ball away or don’t force it!” The announcers made some good points yesterday based on what San Diego players had told them, Frye does have a case of Kelly Holcomb-iduss. He locks onto his receivers from the get go and allows the defensive backs to break quicker on the ball to break up the pass or pick it off. Frye was lucky he had only one interception on Sunday as the Chargers dropped at least three of his passes.
Kamerion Wimbley is the best #1 draft pick the Browns have made since they returned in 1999. Learning a new position and doing so at the NFL level in your rookie season and registering 4 sacks already and numerous other pressures and tackles for losses makes him a future stud in my eyes.
Ohio State
They won on the road at Illlinois, but by a lot closer score then most of us predicted, 17-10. It almost looked like after they jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead Jim Tressel went into the prevent offense. He just wanted to run the ball, chew up clock and count on his defense to pitch another shutout. It almost backfired. Did they use any 5 wide receiver sets at all? Nobody can stop that. When you up by 17, put your foot on their throat and don’t let them breath. Go for the jugular and put them out of their misery. Don’t let them hang around and think they still have a shot. But as they say, a win is a win and the Buckeyes are still undefeated and ranked #1 in all the polls. But they’re going to have to play better next week at Northwestern to make sure they’re 11-0 going into the November 18th game against Michigan in Columbus.
Did Troy Smith hurt his Heisman chances with a 13-23 day for 108 yards, 1 interception and no touchdowns? A little, but even with Brady Quinn putting up huge numbers at Notre Dame against high school teams, it’s still Smith’s award to win. Play well next week at Northwestern and then put the finishing touches on a perfect regular season against Michigan, and the hardware is his!
Surprised or not that the Ohio State offense struggled without Alex Boone in the lineup? The starting left tackle sat out the game at Illinois on Saturday due to a knee injury and procedure. He protects the blind side for Smith and often opens up huge holes for Antonio Pittman on the left side. Without the 6’8″, 325 pound sophomore on the field Saturday, Smith was sacked 3 times and Pittman ran for only 58 yards on 32 carries. Here’s hoping Boone is 100 percent for the Michigan game in 2 weeks!
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