The Bengals resemble someone who waited until the last minute to do their Christmas shopping
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
To make the playoffs, they have to beat the Denver Broncos on Saturday and get help that, quite honestly, probably isn’t coming.
Even if Cincinnati wins this weekend, the Bengals need the Broncos to lose again in Week 18 against a Kansas City team likely to be resting many (if not all) important players, and they need the Colts and Dolphins to each lose once despite neither of them playing a game against a team with a winning record in the final two weeks.
How did a team with Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, et al, end up in this predicament?
A few bad bounces here and there cost them in close games, but beyond that they haven’t been able to escape the damage of losing in Week 1 to a New England Patriots (3-12) team that turned out to be just as bad as expected.
Dayton isn’t ranked this week, but the Flyers accomplished a lot in nonconference play
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
The Flyers dropped out of the Associated Press top 25 after the 66-59 loss to Cincinnati, but they finished 10-3 against the most challenging nonconference schedule in years.
Picked second in the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason poll behind Virginia Commonwealth, UD has set itself up as the favorite heading into A-10 play.
The Flyers play La Salle (8-5) in the first of 18 league games at 2 p.m. Tuesday at UD Arena.
The 11-day holiday break gave most of the players a chance to go home for the holidays.
Before turning the page to the A-10, here’s a summary of Dayton’s non-conference season.
Clint Sargent described Wright State as “very average” after an 86-82 loss to Eastern Michigan
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Given the Raiders are 7-7, that makes a certain amount of sense, but the first-year head coach’s assessment was more rooted in how he saw his team playing in the last few games before the break compared to earlier in the season.
“I love these guys. I’m praying this is a low point for us. Certain lessons, I wish I could help our team avoid — it’s kind of like your kids,” said Sargent, who has four children under age 10. “You wish they could avoid some of these pitfalls, but sometimes you just have to learn from embarrassment and failure.”
Next up is a game at Cleveland State on Sunday afternoon.
The Buckeyes are preparing for the Rose Bowl and a playoff game
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Neither fact is unusual in this day and age except if you combine them.
I still vividly remember the Sports Illustrated preview of the 1998 season when Ohio State was No. 1, but the magazine had to explain to readers that goals had changed.
With the Bowl Championship Series bringing the Big Ten and Pac-10 into the fold, a final matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2 was guaranteed for the end of the year (if the proper No. 1 and 2 teams were chosen, but that’s another discussion).
That also meant instead of aiming for the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes were hoping to land in the Fiesta Bowl, the host of the first BCS Championship Game.
While that seemed like a monumental change at the time, it was really only the beginning.
Ohio State has played in three Rose Bowls since 1998, though that number could have been higher if not for quirks in the BCS and College Football Playoff rotations.
I always found it funny how often Ohio State managed to miss getting to play in the Rose Bowl even when it was one of the CFP semifinals over the last 10 years.
Matching up with the No. 1 team in the country is no laughing matter, of course, and we will have more coverage of the rematch with Oregon starting with interviews Friday and Saturday in Columbus.
About the Author
