It's a bad day to be a Cincinnati Bengal.
Paul Brown's flunkies are somehow one of the NFL's best teams, and the Cleveland Browns are, well, the opposite of that. (NFL Network, 8:25 p.m. ET.)
I don't care how bad the Browns have been since 1999. We Cleveland fans take our victories in the smallest of doses; we can subsist through the winter on one hit of that victory rock.
Dumping the undefeated Bengals in Cincinnati on national television with a backup QB and a depleted secondary would be akin to an AFC Championship for me. The Brownies always sucker punch one unsuspecting favorite every year. Cincinnati: You're on notice.
ICYMI:
- Franklin County pushed J.T. Barrett's O.V.I arraignment to Tuesday.
- The No. 18 men's soccer team whipped Michigan 3-1 and won the program's third regular season Big Ten title and first since 2009. Here's the team singing "We Are the Champions" at Fourth Street last night:
Congratulations to the @OhioState_MSOC for winning the #bigten championship! Sing your hearts out boys. pic.twitter.com/f4eizZiZfw
— Fourth Street Bar (@fourthstreetbar) November 5, 2015
BRAXTON MILLER'S NEXT MOVE. It's Thanksgiving season, so I'd like to go on the record as being thankful for Braxton Miller's switch to WR. There's been a learning curve, and he's far from a finished product, but to say it's gone swimmingly would be an understatement.
That's even before considering where Ohio State's wide receiving corps would be if Miller hadn't made the switch.
Still, the best is yet to come.
From ESPN.com:
Then the former quarterback, and one of the most decorated athletes in Big Ten history, starts digging deeper, and it quickly becomes apparent that despite all those touchdowns and highlight-reel moments already documented throughout his career, Miller has even more in his arsenal that hasn’t been unleashed yet in a game.
A stiff arm like his wideout buddy Michael Thomas uses, perhaps?
“I haven’t really ever done it in a game, because I didn’t really need to,” Miller jokingly said. “I use my feet better than my arms.”
Braxton Miller will be Ohio State's No. 2 QB against Minnesota. People are wondering when we'll see Braxton throw, and I think that's coming this weekend.
Pat Elflein on Braxton Miller's role Saturday, potentially as backup QB: "You'll see. That's all I'll say. You'll see." Smart fella.
— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) November 4, 2015
My take? This offense is going to be fun to watch as it opens up the throttle down the stretch.
RESPECT TO MINNESOTA. I respect the Gophers, even before they hired Jerry Kill, the man we all love to know. They're the perfect conference foe. They're amicable people who know their place at the table, take their annual ass-whipping with an "aw shucks!" attitude, and they don't embarrass the Big Ten like Rutgers or Purdue Nebraska.
From Dispatch.com:
After a bye week, Ohio State will return to action on Saturday night against visiting Minnesota. This will be the Golden Gophers' first appearance in Columbus since Oct. 24, 2009, when OSU posted a 38-7 homecoming victory.
Saturday’s matchup will be the 52nd in the series. The Buckeyes have faced Minnesota fewer times than any other Big Ten opponent except for Chicago, which dropped out of the conference in 1939; Michigan State, which joined in 1953; and the four most recent newcomers: Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers. Ohio State played only 10 games against the Golden Gophers during its first 52 seasons in the Big Ten, from 1913 to 1964.
Ohio State is 44-7 against Minnesota for a winning percentage of .863. The victories include a 52-10 decision in Minneapolis in 2010 that later was vacated as part of NCAA sanctions. Ohio State is 23-3 in Columbus and 21-4 in Minneapolis. The Buckeyes have won 37 of the past 39 and have lost at home only once since 1949 (29-17 in 2000).
OSU is 37 of 39 vs. Minnesota! Only lost at home once since 1949! At this point, I'd get more offended about somebody talking smack about the Gophers than I would the Buckeyes.
FREE D'ANGELO RUSSELL IMMEDIATELY. How bad are the Lakers? They're 0-4 and Magic Johnson is already waiving the white flag:
Laker Nation: After the loss to Denver last night, I think we have to come to grips that it's going to be another long season.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) November 4, 2015
There's a better chance of me saying something negative about Magic Johnson (the greatest basketball player in history) than Johnson saying something negative about his former teammate/current bad coach Byron Scott.
The Lakers' attempts to compete (to placate that irascible geezer Kobe Bryant) while developing its young core was always going to be a disaster. But it's such a disaster they're failing at both goals.
From ESPN.com:
Instead, Russell rode the pine and was left to face a scrum of reporters in a lonely locker room, and his answers were far from encouraging, especially as Tuesday marked another fourth quarter that he spent on the bench, the second in four games.
What can he do to stay out there?
"I have no idea," Russell said.
Is this frustrating?
"It’s something I’ve got to deal with," Russell said.
To make matters worse for Silk: Denver guard Emmanuel Mudiay, whom the Nuggets selected with the No. 7 pick in the 2015 draft, dropped 12 points 10 assists and two rebounds in 31 minutes of action on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.
Washed-up Kobe Bryant is jacking up terrible shots. Byron Scott says he's fine with Kobe's selection, because he's an awful coach. Meanwhile, he's already shot the confidence of the team's No. 2 overall pick, and Lakers fans are already calling him a bust.
Jim Buss, take a bow!
THEY CAME TO PLAY SCHOOL. Ohio State student-athletes are coming to Columbus and leaving with a fancy piece of paper (a vast majority of the time).
From OhioStateBuckeyes.com:
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In graduation data released by the NCAA Wednesday, Ohio State student-athletes have a four-class average (2005-08) of 89 percent in the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and, in the 2008-09 cohort, have a Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) of 75 percent.
“This set of graduation statistics underscores the extent to which our programs foster the all-around success of our student-athletes,” John Davidson, Ohio State Faculty Athletic Representative and Professor in Germanic Languages and Literatures, said. “Regardless of whether one looks at the GSR or the FGR, one finds that the overwhelming majority of Ohio State student-athletes graduate. The data also shows that students from this cohort who transferred to other institutions, or who left because professional opportunities presented themselves, were on track to graduate. This is indicative of the culture valuing meaningful academic success that pervades athletics at Ohio State.”
The GSR and FGR metrics provide slightly different perspectives on graduation. The FGR assesses only first-time full-time freshmen in a given cohort and only counts them as academic successes if they graduate from their institution of initial enrollment within a six-year period. It makes no accommodation for transfers into or out of an institution. The rate is limited because it ignores the large number of transfer students in higher education, but it is still the only rate that allows a direct comparison between student-athletes and the general student body. GSR begins with the federal cohort, and adds transfer students, mid-year enrollees and certain non-scholarship students to the sample. Student-athletes who leave an institution while in good academic standing before exhausting athletics eligibility are removed from the cohort of their initial institution.
In other Ohio State academic news, the average ACT score of freshmen is 28.9.
DREAM BIG, GOLDEN FLASHES. Kent State (3-5) plays host to Buffalo (4-4) in a Thursday night #MACtion banger at 7 p.m. ET. It's also passing out free future championship merchandise to select students:
Can't wait to be back on the field tomorrow! First 250 students get an official 2045 Championship shirt! #GoFlashes pic.twitter.com/ofLrQqsSpd
— Flash (@KentStateMascot) November 4, 2015
While that shirt did make me chuckle, I must deliver the bad news to Kent State fans: Urban Meyer will be a spry 81 years old in 2045 — the prime of his career, really — and the "East of the Mississippi" championship will still run through Columbus.
THOSE WMDs. Unraveling a 1985 college romance that led to a double murder... The infamous Columbus police shootout of 1938... Cold medicine is apparently mumbo jumbo... Kenton, get your boy: Bar confrontation led to season-long suspension of Mizzou QB Maty Mauk... Fake KFC gets shut down in Tehran... Specific shoutout to Bobby for this hustle.
