This weekend of football wasn't bad, though I remain mystified how a game delayed by lightning for an hour went smoother than the Bowling Green game.
Observations:
- Malik Hooker, Marshon Lattimore, and Gareon Conley would start for the Cleveland Browns.
- Bert mustering Arkansas into the Top 25 puts a damper on my dream of him coaching Iowa.
- Unsure if Pittsburgh's ground game is dominant or the Nittany Lion D is that bad. (Probably both.)
- Michigan fans will be on their high horse like it's 1997 when Mark Dantonio hits them in the back of the head with a brick.
- The Wolverines can't run the ball.
- Props to Tennessee. I thought Virginia Tech would smack them, but the Volunteers did what they came to do (link NSFW).
- I'm not worried about my Clemson playoff pick... yet.
ICYMI: 11W's coverage of Ohio State's victory over Tulsa.
THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY. Back in May, South Point Casino listed Ohio State as a nine-point underdog against Oklahoma in Norman. Props to anyone who threw thousands of dollars at that line, because it's looking like a steal.
Shortly after Ohio State and Oklahoma downed Tulsa and Louisiana-Monroe, the rest of Vegas caught up. Oklahoma opened as one-point favorites, but bettors moved the line to Ohio State (-3) within hours.
Vegas Insider currently has Ohio State as a 3-point favorite over Oklahoma. Line opened as Sooners -1. https://t.co/q6sXi64V2s
— Tim Shoemaker (@TimShoemaker) September 11, 2016
If Ohio State wins, it will be by much more than three points.
Over the summer, I was okay with Ohio State losing this game. The Big Ten schedule is tough enough where the Buckeyes could run the table to win the conference and be a shoe-in come December.
That's still true, but now I'll be shocked if Ohio State loses. Questions remain about the passing game, but it won't need a high-octane passing attack in Norman as long as it runs the ball and plays defense like the past two weeks.
WAIT DID TULSA REALLY DO THAT? Much hype will be paid to Oklahoma this week. Rightfully so, we trudged a hellacious offseason hellscape to arrive at the premier game of the 2016 out-of-conference schedule.
But whatever comes of Saturday night (and this season) let us never forget the stupidity of Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery electing to throw the ball in a monsoon a series after his QB threw a pick-six (and a play before he almost threw another one).
From dispatch.com:
Question: If a coach inexplicably calls a pass in a "Caddyshack" downpour, and most of the 105,000 are not there to see it because they are crammed into the concourses, did it really happen? Yes. Fortunately for the Buckeyes.
Tulsa trailed 13-3 with 48 seconds left in the half — well within sniffing distance of a potential upset — when the firmament doubled down on its deluge. As rain fell in sheets, Tulsa surely would not attempt a pass, would it? It would. Not once, but twice. And the second one buried the Oklahomans. Instead of running the clock, punting and heading to halftime trailing by just 10, Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans threw a sideline pass that squirted through the slippery hands of Nigel Carter. Incomplete. It should have served as a warning. It did not. Evans’ next pass sailed to Ohio State cornerback Marshon Lattimore, who returned the interception 40 yards for a touchdown that never should have happened.
Just like that it became Ohio State 20, Tulsa 3.
Not only did Montgomery watch his chance go up in smoke, a lightning delay forced him to sit in a visitor's locker room for an hour as retribution.
It wasn't the only reason for Tula's second-half destruction, but it played a key role.
BIG GAME BOB UNREADY FOR BIG GAME. People call Bob Stoops "Big Game Bob," but I think he's overrated.
Don't get me wrong. I respect anyone raised by the streets of Youngstown, but I wouldn't want him anywhere near Ohio State.
Allow this one quote to illustrate why.
From dallasnews.com:
Stoops on preparedness for Ohio State:
"It's a little bit unknown in that we made far too many mistakes and really didn't play well enough a week ago. This time, we did but I understand the level of competition's quite different."
Notice how Stoops losing to an American Athletic Conference team is because his players didn't play well and not because he didn't coach well.
He's also the kinda guy that orders a bunch of fancy shit at a restaurant and makes others pay for it.
From campusrush.com:
To show how far the Cougars and their coach have come, Herman tells a story about recruiting in Dallas as an assistant at Texas State in 2006. He got an invitation to have dinner at Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse with a group that included Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. Herman, who made about $42,000 at the time, couldn't afford the meal, so he ordered a cheeseburger and drank water while, as he recalls, Stoops and his crew ate lobster tails and filets and drank $200 bottles of red wine. At the end, Stoops suggested everyone throw down a credit card to split the bill. Herman chipped in an equal share, $150, before calling his wife to apologize. "There's no way," Herman says, "I could be that guy [splitting the check] in front of Bob Stoops."
Ten years later Herman found himself across the table from Stoops again, and he gave Sports Illustratedfull game-week access to see how the world has already changed.
Not to pick bones with the man who founded MENSA, the organization for geniuses, but if Stoops tried to hustle me like that I wouldn't be known as the guy who tried splitting a check.
I'd be known as the guy who tried fighting Oklahoma's championship coach in the V.I.P. room of a Red Lobster in Texas.
MEANWHILE... Michigan rolled Central Florida, 51-14, on Saturday. Headlines included UCF rushing for over 300 yards, Jim Harbaugh picking his nose and eating a booger, and Jabrill Peppers wanting "Suckeye" fans to quit "sucking him."
Nothing was worse, however, than this postgame take from salaried troll Mike Bianchi.
From @Fouad_Egbaria:
"This might have been the most encouraging 37-point loss in the history of college football."
The NCAA should tack on another 14 points for that sentence alone.
MYERS ROLLS OUT. There's a reason why scouting services rank 2017 OL Ohio State commit Josh Myers as a five-star talent. He is a rare blend of size and athleticism.
Here he is dump-trucking some poor #teen 60 yards from the line of scrimmage:
@Birm Josh Myers 60 yards downfield burying people last night! pic.twitter.com/1F4dfLjaSD
— Pat Castoe (@PatCastoe) September 10, 2016
Hot take: Myers, Wyatt Davis, and Michael Jordan will make for a helluva offensive line.
THOSE WMDs. Good family fun at Marion Popcorn Festival... Still Life... My mother's last receipt... Heart in Norwalk field baffles police... Chart: The time it took to write popular novels... 17 lighthearted death threat t-shirts for dads contemplating murder.
