The Buckeyes go to Oregon for a top 3 showdown
Credit: Jay LaPrete
Credit: Jay LaPrete
This is certainly the type of game Big Ten brass were envisioning when they swiped the Ducks, USC, UCLA and Washington from the Pac 12 last summer.
With the new Big Ten Championship Game format (the top two in the standings will play at the end of the year) and the expanded College Football Playoff, the main thing on the line could simply be pride, but both teams likely would benefit from proof of concept heading into the second half of the regular season.
They look fairly evenly matched across the board, so this should be a great game even with Ohio State having to travel across the country for it.
Francona hiring a home run
Terry Francona has said a lot of the things fans should want to hear since becoming the new manager of the Reds.
The club also fired their infield coach and all of their many hitting coaches, which makes sense because the team was very bad at both hitting and playing the infield last season.
While I’ve always believed David Bell was hired to be the human face of a computer making all the decisions behind the scenes — he certainly managed that way — Francona has way too much gravitas for that.
Presumably that was among the biggest appeals both for management and fans — assuming they can find the game on local TV.
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He told WLW he believes in analytics, but they are not the final word in his decision making. That is the right way to approach that topic.
He’s also big on fundamentals and accountability, the two things most lacking for the Reds under Bell, so if you are already starting to anticipate spring training even though it is four months away, you’re not the only one.
This Reds team has the potential for an insane rotation and the building blocks for a team that is great at the plate and athletic enough to be good in the field, too.
When was the last time the Reds were more interesting in October than the Bengals?
That might be overstating what happened over the past seven days…. But maybe not.
Sure, the Bengals could still turn it around, but Zac Taylor and Lou Anarumo have made following this season already seem like a chore.
I think that is primarily because not only are they 1-4, but the way they got to such a dismal place was not hard to see coming.
Taylor has made a mockery of the offseason his entire time in Cincinnati, and he has already promised not to change his ways so get ready for another poor September next year.
Anarumo has coordinated below-average units more often than not since Taylor brought him to Cincinnati, so there is not much reason to expect that unit to be decent by the end of the year, let alone good.
Yes, these Bengals are a couple of plays away from being 3-2 even with the embarrassing displays against New England and Washington (who it turns out might be good?), but that is how it works in the NFL. Even very bad teams play more close games than blowouts, but the good ones find a way to make the breaks work in their favor — or maybe it’s more a matter of taking advantage of opportunities.
I never expected this defense to be championship-caliber, especially with the rash of injuries up front, but it’s a shame they have been so bad the season already feels lost.
On the bright side, the defensive line is getting healthier, the offense has been cooking and the next four games look winnable.
Sunday night against the New York Giants could be a nice opportunity to start the climb back to .500 in front of a huge national TV audience if the defense can show a pulse.
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