Put Up or Shut Up

This weekend while I was in church with my family, I noticed an old friend of mine that I went to grade school with. She was looking as lovely as ever and I thought back to those familiar days of my youth and the huge crush that I had on her that extended all the way into high school. This comes less than 24 hours after I missed out on interacting with someone that my friends now refer to as my soul mate. I don’t know who she was or what her situation in life would present to me, but she was very attractive and was wearing an Elder hat! (Proud Elder grad Class of ’04) Now the point of me telling you this isn’t to make you feel sorry for me and realize my lack of prowess with the ladies, but it got me thinking about missed opportunities.

So Saturday led into Sunday and the upstart Bengals had a big opportunity to make a statement about their rightful place amongst the NFL’s elite. Fueled by the memory of Vikki Zimmer, the late wife of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, the Bengals pulled off one of their greatest victories in recent memory. The win firmly got the Bengals in the conversation as a team that can contend with anyone in the league and now would be extremely disappointed with anything other than the AFC North crown. As the national accolades kept pouring in, Tri-State area became as Bengals-crazed at a pitch I haven’t seen since late in 2005, the Bengals’ last playoff appearance.

But wait, isn’t there a pretty good college football team here in town? That’s right the #8 ranked Bearcats are gearing up for their biggest game of the season so far. Maybe they were hurt by the fact that the Bengals were overachieving and that they had a bye after playing a Miami (OH) squad that looks abysmal. Mo Egger, heard afternoons 3-6 on 1530 Homer, was able to keep the UC game in the back of everyone’s mind, but other than the most hardcore UC fans, weren’t thinking of this game until today. Even the national media has been pumping up this game more than the residents of the Queen City, that still have yet to embrace Brian Kelly’s Bearcats as the true champions that they have been over the past few seasons. They have been a beacon of consistency and excellence in an otherwise unstable Cincinnati sports scene.

The theme of this post is about not missing out on opportunities and we’ve been awfully loose in throwing around superlative phrases to describe UC football the past few years, but I’m going to say that this is the biggest game in UC football history to date. I say that for this reason: this is the greatest chance for UC to make an impression on the nation and legitimately get into the National Championship talk. Think about it, it’s the Thursday Night Game on ESPN, no one else is playing and everyone in the country will be watching. Fans, experts, and talking heads everywhere want to see if the Bearcats can handle a talented USF team that has lots of talent, speed, and a hostile environment on the road. Tony Pike can also use this game to get one step closer to being a Heisman Trophy finalist by having another strong outing.

If there isn’t enough pressure to win already, you can look to the Bearcats’ opponent to see how a loss on this stage can change one’s fortunes for the rest of the season. In 2007, USF started the year unranked and went on a meteoric rise all the way to #2 in the nation. But a Thursday night loss to Rutgers sent the Bulls into a tail spin that had them going to the Sun Bowl at year’s end. In this writer’s eyes, the Bearcats of 2009 could be walking into the same trap because Thursday night games are always havens for upsets and crazy occurrences.

So what it boils down to is this: win convincingly as they did at Rutgers earlier this year, and the Bearcats should jump right into the Top 5 and cement themselves in legitimate National Championship conversation for the better part of the next month. Lose, and the season isn’t over by a long shot, but the critics of the Big East will be out in full force talking about how this conference doesn’t deserve an automatic BCS bid. Right now it’s all on the Bearcats, they need to come out of Tampa victorious and they need to show everyone that they looked good doing so, not relying on USF playing poorly. They need to do everything possible to silence the Big East bashers who will say that a 12-0 UC team is not as worthy as a 1-loss team from the SEC, Big 12, USC or Ohio State. As the Bearcats continue to rack up the wins, their fans almost need to be cheerleaders for their fallen opponents to make their schedule look as strong as possible. Every little bit will count as they need to change the hearts and minds of those around the country if they want to have a real chance of being one of the best two teams in the country at season’s end. Can it happen? Sure, but take it one game at a time, just like this coaching staff has been preaching. Win at USF and the sky might just be the limit, without a Boise State-like glass ceiling. Who knows? If UC football can be relevant amongst the royalty of college football, maybe I can even get a date in the near future. One can only hope… And since I live vicariously through my teams, perhaps a Bearcats win can give me the confidence I need to ask out that girl next time I see her at church...

Football Overload

Sorry for the lack of updates the past couple days. I’m still adjusting to life at home and all that comes with it. That and having to work nights isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to deal with. Today I’m going to talk about something that probably will come up a lot over the next few months: the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN. This weekend ESPN will be televising high school football from Elder as the Panthers host rival Colerain on Sunday afternoon at 12:00. For years I’ve been saying that ESPN has often disrespected Cincinnati as a second-rate pro sports town and overlooked for our passionate college athletics. To a certain extent this criticism is warranted, the Reds and Bengals have been nothing to write home about for the better part of this decade and UC football is just coming around. XU basketball has maintained a consistent level of success, but at the end of the day they’re still just an A-10 school that, like it or not, will continue to be dwarfed by UC’s tradition and Big East affiliation. Given the state of our professional teams and if our college teams continue to improve and win, I fully expect Cincinnati to shift to being a college town. But that’s for another time. This Sunday, ESPN has a chance to show one of Cincinnati’s greatest traditions at its absolute best, high school football. Most would say, “Who cares? I stopped following high school sports when I graduated.” For most of the country this is a legitimate point, but Cincinnati has always been just a little bit different. With no NFL football, and college matchups in primetime, many should be tuning in to get their football fix live from The Pit. Whether you like or dislike Elder and Colerain, you have to respect the successes they’re able to have each and every year. In addition, the atmosphere for this game will be unparalleled, and if you’ve ever had the pleasure to attend an Elder home game you know that it will be even better than usual. Some posters on chat boards have called The Pit a “dump” or “overrated.” And yes, the fact that we have a 10,000 seat stadium built of concrete and tradition is really cool, but what makes The Pit such a special place is the people that fill the stands every week. If this game is as good as advertised, the crowds will speak for themselves and the atmosphere will come flooding through everyone’s TVs. But what I’m interested in will be the background stories that they tell, the pieces they pre-produce, and how much ESPN will talk about Cincinnati high school football during the telecast. For all the things that ESPN could malign us or ignore us for here in the Queen City, high school football is something that we get right more often than not. It’ll be interesting to see if they bring this to the forefront or if they continue to push their “ESPN agenda” on us.

As for the game itself, I would like to see a close one, but from what I’ve seen Elder’s offense can’t be stopped. The defense needs to play better but there won’t be many teams this year that can hold Elder under 30 points.
My pick: Elder 38 – Colerain 16.

Last night was also the official start of college football, with the marquee matchup being Oregon travelling to Boise State. Boise State came away with an ugly win, a win that no one will remember is ugly when Boise State is going to the BCS come January. However the storyline that everyone will remember is Oregon starting running back LeGarrette Blount landing a punch on the face of Boise State linebacker Byron Holt. Here’s the video:

We all know Holt said something to Blount to get his engine going, but that is no excuse for punching someone in the face. Then as he was leaving the stadium, Blount went after some fans that were taunting him. This kid obviously has some screws loose and needs to get help right away. New head coach Chip Kelly has some difficult days ahead of him. His team plays pretty poorly and now his star running back is attacking opposing players and even fans. If I was the coach this player would be immediately dismissed from my program. However, I highly doubt the coach will be able to justify releasing such a talented player and Blount will most likely get off relatively easy. It’s a shame to see this kind of thing happen because it was a black eye for the start of the college football season, but I’m still looking forward to a full slate of action over the next 4 days. Here are my picks for some of this weekend’s biggest matchups.

#13 Georgia @ #9 Oklahoma State – This is a chance for Oklahoma State to live up to their Top 10 preseason hype. If they can win convincingly, I’ll be a believer that they can contend for the Big 12 South title. Georgia did lose a lot to the draft, but Coach Mark Richt reloads down there. I think Oklahoma State wins a close one at home.

#20 BYU @ #3 Oklahoma – This may be the best matchup of the weekend. Oklahoma returns Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford but has to replace 4 starters on the offensive line. I think Oklahoma is a great team, but is pretty overrated at #3. That being said, BYU is no slouch, but they just don’t have enough weapons to get this one done on the road.

#5 Alabama vs. #7 Virginia Tech – Everyone is talking about the possibilities of the winner of this game being on the fast track to the National Championship. It certainly will help but Alabama would have to dethrone Florida in the SEC Championship game and Virginia Tech would need to run the table and have other teams like USC, Texas, Oklahoma, and Ohio State all lose in order to be able to move on. I think Alabama’s defense is able to shut down Virginia Tech QB Tyrod Taylor and wins this one relatively easily.

I’ll have more on Monday’s big matchups later this weekend. Have a SAFE and fun holiday weekend!

College Football Practice Time

As allegations of Rich Rodriguez overworking his Michigan football team keep pouring in, it made me wonder what the big deal was. The obvious answers are that those in charge don't want the players becoming exhausted and that they need time to study for class. The fact is no players from Michigan's team have reported any signs of injury in relation to being overworked. In addition, I don't buy the whole "they're student-athletes and need to study" card that the NCAA tries to play every now and then. First of all, most student-athletes aren't taking the hardest classes during their season, that's not being lazy or cheating the system, that's just smart. All college majors will have you take plenty of unnecessary fluff courses and it only makes sense to get those out of the way when you have the least amount of free time. Secondly, student-athletes don't have to go out and have a part-time job while in college so they will have much more free time than the average college student. There's also the number of staff members that are looking over their shoulders at all times to make sure that they're keeping up on their studies. There is no excuse as to why teams can't practice more than the current regulated time and be successful in the classroom. I'm not saying these kids should be treated like pros who have nothing else to do but play football, but for all of the perks that come with being an athlete in a big money sport like football, at big time colleges, they can afford to spend some more time on the field than current rules allow. In the end, Rich Rodriguez will be fired or retained at Michigan based on his team's wins and losses. Another season like last year's 3-win debacle and he won't be in Ann Arbor much longer.

On to other thoughts, I'm sick and tired of hearing about the college football season in all of these preseason shows and whatnot. I just want them to start playing, and fortunately this weekend is the kickoff of my favorite sport. Monday at 4:00 the Cincinnati Bearcats start defending their Big East Championship at the state university of New Jersey. I understand the marketing that the Big East Conference is trying to do here, but I really don't like the idea of making the defending champ go on the road to start the year. If they want to create a first week conference matchup to draw some ratings, why not pick 2 of the top teams from the previous season like the #2 or #3 teams or at least let the champs celebrate their first game at home, similar to how the NFL has the Super Bowl Champion host the Thursday night kickoff game. Anyways, it's going to be a great holiday weekend for football. Saturday will be filled with college football, Sunday Elder hosts Colerain on ESPN so the whole world can experience the greatness of The Pit, and Monday the Bearcats look to start strong and take control of the Big East race. To get you in the mood for Bearcats football, enjoy the following.