Category: OSU Football (Page 24 of 42)

OSU line to lead the way

August 8, 2006 /

The Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked number one in the nation. The papers and talk shows continue to focus on Troy Smith and Ted Ginn Jr. The conversation is usually describing how these two superstars will lead the Buckeyes to the Championship game.

The real key to Ohio State’s success will be the experience on the offensive line. Doug Datish will be at center, with fifth year senior T.J. Downing and sophomore Alex Boone bringing experience and size to the group. This experience and size will allow Smith to run a high powered offense that will be one of the best in the country.

If Ohio State’s line plays to their potential, the Bucks should find themselves playing in the final Bowl game of the season.

OSU Football

Roda Ramblings

August 8, 2006 /

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!

Tribe woes

If you feel like you had a rough week or a not so good weekend, then this should make you feel good. Put yourself in Fausto Carmona’s shoes, or spikes in this case. The Indians’ 22-year-old closer, for now, went 0-4 with 3 blown saves and an ERA of 37.08. And three of the losses were walk-off wins for the opposition. Which was more devastating, Big Papi’s three-run walk-off homer to dead center at Fenway Park or Pudge’s two-run rocket in Detroit? After seeing Carmona’s reaction after Pudge’s ball left the yard, I would say that’s the winner. Here’s hoping this doesn’t ruin Carmona for good. And here’s hoping the Indians take him out of the closer’s role immediately so, if his head isn’t totally fried already, they can do something he couldn’t…save something. Save what is left of a career for this kid for the future!

By the way, Jason Davis should take Carmona’s place. In his last four outings, he’s picked up one win, one save (the only one the Tribe has since they traded Wickman), and hasn’t given up a run in eight innings of work. He also picked up his teammates after they made errors behind him on defense in Detroit. The 26-year-old right-hander didn’t wilt under the pressure and rose to the challenge. Unlike C.C, Cliff Lee and others on the staff, Davis made the pitch to get out of the inning and showed great emotion walking off the field. Give him the ball in the ninth!

Indians GM Mark Shapiro told me last week on my radio show that he still thinks Eric Wedge is part of the solution and not part of the problem for the Indians. Shapiro, who I respect a great deal, and I disagree on this. Maybe it’s because of the team’s slow starts over the last four years. Or their poor base running night in and night out. Or their inability to play small ball. Or, I don’t know, maybe the fact that, counting Sunday’s loss at Detroit, in the last two years the Indians are a combined 31-55 in one-run games. That’s right, a winning percentage of just .360 in tight games where a manager does make a difference!

At 47-63, the fourth place Indians are a season worst 27.5 games behind first-place Detroit in the Central Division. By the way, all three losses in the Motor City this past weekend were by one-run (7-6), (4-3) and (1-0). Last year after 110 games the Indians were 58-52, good for second place in the division, 13 games behind first-place Chicago. But only 4.5 games out of the wild card.

Wright’s new deal

A few blogs ago we told you we thought All-Star third baseman David Wright could be to the Mets what Derek Jeter is to the Yankees, both on and off the field. While Wright still has a long way to go to accomplish that, he’s off to a good start. At last check, he’s hitting .308 with 22 homers and 82 RBI. The Mets obviously agree with us about the 23-year-old stud because they just signed him to a 6-year, $55 million contract. Now with the pressure on after inking a big deal, let’s see if David can be like Derek and produce the Wright stuff!

Browns’ first preseason game

Players I’ll be watching during Thursday’s exhibition game between the Browns and Eagles in Philadelphia. Rookie linebackers Kamerion Wimbley and D’Qwell Jackson. Center Bob Hallen, if he returns in time from his back injury, and right tackle Kirk Chambers. Mr. “Even at 90% I’m still better than any tight end in the league” Kellen Winlsow Jr. It’s time to shut up and put up for him. And last but not least, quarterback Charlie Frye. It recently came out that he suffered an apparent thumb injury which was why he exited early in the scrimmage Friday night. We’ll see how it affects him Thursday night in the city of Brotherly Love as number 9 is supposed to play about one quarter.

Strong start for LBJ and the USA

LeBron and Team USA was impressive the other nite in Las Vegas as they destroyed
Puerto Rico 114-69 in an exhibition game as they’re tuning up for the World Championships and down the road for the 2008 Olympics. LBJ’s linescore: 10 pts, 5 ast, 4 rebs in limited playing time. I love the fact that he’s finally getting some good coaching (sorry Mike Brown) from Duke’s Coach K!

Tiger

Congrats to Tiger Woods, the greatest sports star on the planet. All he did was record career PGA Tour win number 50 at the Buick Open on Sunday, becoming the youngest to reach such a mark. Sam Snead holds the all-time PGA record (for now) of 82 tour wins. When it’s all said and done, Tiger will break that and the record he covets most, the 18 major wins set by Jack Nicklaus. Tiger is at 11 majors with one more to play this year after winning the British Open.

Bucks #1

No surprise here. The USA Today coaches pre-season poll has Ohio St. ranked as its #1 team. Should the Buckeyes win the national title this season, they’ll be deserving champions considering they have regular season matchups at Texas and Iowa along with home contests against Penn St. and Michigan. All four teams are pre-season top 20 teams with the defending national champion Longhorns ranked #2. This year’s title game is Ohio State’s home away from home, the Fiesta Bowl, where they won their last national title five years ago and beat Notre Dame last year.

Talledega Nights

And finally…Went to see Talledega Nights this weekend. I’m a huge Will Ferrell fan and couldn’t wait to see him as NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby. Problem is I felt like I had already seen the movie. From all of his appearances on talk shows and with the trailers being played everywhere, when I went to the theater to watch, I had already witnessed all the funny scenes. Well, with the exception of his potty-mouthed sons Walker and Texas Ranger. Don’t get me wrong, it was still funny and I enjoyed the movie, but not as much as I thought I would. Sorry, Ricky Bobby. As you like to say, “If you’re not first you’re last!” So in this case, you’re last and the checkered flag for first place goes to Ron Burgundy!

Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Chatter, Cleveland Indians, Kenny Roda, LeBron James, OSU Football

USA poll puts Bucks on top, Texas second

August 5, 2006 /

The Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked number one in the first USA Today poll. Texas is second. This is good and bad news for Ohio State. The short history of games matching number one against two, Ohio State is 2-0. The most recent match up was against The Miami Hurricanes in the Championship game.
The attention of being number one could weigh heavy against a team that has two early nationally televised night games.
The Buckeyes have never been a successful team playing when the sun goes down, but the national attention will force them to play more evening and night contests. Coach Tressel and his team will be tested early in the year; the first five weeks may determine the season.

OSU Football

Are you ready for some football?

July 25, 2006 /

Kenny Roda will be writing a weekly blog on Cleveland Scores covering the entire Cleveland sports universe. Check back often for his updates!

Baseball season is over in Cleveland…It’s time for football!

By dealing Bob Wickman last weekend the Indians put an end to a very disappointing baseball season. But then again, did we really need them to trade Wickman to tell us this season was over? But that made it official which can only mean one thing. It’s officially FOOTBALL SEASON in Ohio! With Cleveland being a football-dominant city anyway, fans can get out their Browns and Ohio St. gear and start making their Saturday and Sunday plans.

Ohio State eyeing national championship

The Buckeyes are picked by a number of publications as the preseason #1 team. The Browns, with all of their off-season moves, have fans excited about making major strides, maybe even getting back to .500 this year. And you know what, both Ohio St. and Browns fans have reason to be ecstatic.

Jim Tressel has a team that isn’t your typical Tressel team. It’s loaded with offense and has alot of holes to fill on defense. Both quarterback Troy Smith and wide receiver/kick returner Ted Ginn Jr. are Heisman Trophy candidates, and will be called upon to put up a lot of points as the defense grows from losing nine starters from last year’s squad. That means for the first time in the Tressel era at OSU, the offense will have to carry the defense, which could result in Tressel opening things up. That should make Ohio St. fans everywhere excited and thrilled. But will it win them a national title? Who knows. But I will say this of coach Tressel.

When he was at Youngstown St. and won four national titles, he didn’t win them the exact same way every time. He adapted to the players he had and made the adjustments necessary in order to win and I expect the same from him this season at Ohio State. September 9th at defending national champion Texas will give us a good idea if the Buckeyes are serious title contenders. If they can do what the Longhorns did last year, go on the road early into a hostile environment and come away with a victory, then the Buckeyes will be considered the favorites to get back to the Fiesta Bowl in January and play for the national championship.

Regardless, it should be an exciting year for Ohio St. fans all across the country.

Browns looking for improvement

As for Romeo Crennel and the Browns. There was plenty of movement this off-season and most of it was positive. The biggest and best acquisition was signing free agent center and local product, center LeCharles Bentley. He will anchor what has been the Browns biggest weakness since they returned to the NFL in 1999, the offensive line. Adding a Pro Bowl center and a new left tackle in Kevin Shaffer, to go along with the remaining vets on the O-Line, should provide young quarterback Charlie Frye with the best offensive line this team has had in eight years. Frye will be under the microscope in his second season to prove he is NFL-worthy, but more importantly, Cleveland Browns fans quarterback-worthy. Like Bentley and veteran newcomers Joe Jurevicius and punter Dave Zastudil, Frye might get a break from the fans because he’s a local product. But that honeymoon period will last only so long. He must produce or the fans will be calling for the backup QB and you really don’t want that on this team right now because Ken Dorsey is currently second in command at the quarterback position. The other option might be 92-year-old Vinny Testaverde, and you really don’t want that, do you? The one loss that hurt the Browns in the off-season was Trent Dilfer. He would have been perfect in the role as Frye’s backup, but Dilfer would not accept that role here in Cleveland, so the team had to move him.

Other moves that should help this team get closer to .500 are the additions of more veterans on defense like Willie McGinest and Ted Washington. Their veteran presence and football ability, even at their age, will upgrade a Browns defense that needs a lot of improvement. They may be short term improvements, but it is money spent wisely. Add in a healthy Gary Baxter at cornerback and rookie linebackers Kamerion Wimbley, the team’s first-round pick, and second rounder D’Qwell Jackson, and things are moving in the right direction for Romeo Crennel’s 3-4 defense.

The other two factors that will make this a better Browns football team are the returns of tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. and, eventually, wide receiver Braylon Edwards. And, if they can keep him out of jail, the return of 1,000-yard rusher Reuben Droughns. Both K2 and Edwards are coming off injuries from a year ago. Winslow should be ready from the get go, while Edwards will probably join the team at some point during the middle of the season, if not sooner. Droughns, who has had his off the field problems as of late, proved on the field he is worthy of being an every down back. These three players, along with that improved offensive line, should help take some of the pressure off Charlie Frye.

But what this season will all come down to is whether the former Akron quarterback can handle the position for 16 games at the NFL level. He won’t be called upon like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady as the focal point to win most of the games. His job will be to handle the position well, get better each week, and not try to do to much. If Charlie Frye understands that and can grow with each snap he takes in practice, in the preseason, and during the regular season, then getting close to .500 or better is a good possibility for this team. And even if he struggles, it’ll still be alot more fun than watching what we’ve had to endure at the Jake from Dolan’s Discounts this year!

Cleveland Browns, Kenny Roda, OSU Football

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