October 15, 2011

The membership in conferences resembles the social situation in a 6th grade class. The little groups seem to be different every week. The Big 12 seems to have stabilized itself for the moment by grabbing TCU, even if Missouri is attempting to leave. The Big East may be doomed as a football conference, since it is down to six football-playing members as TCU, Syracuse and Pittsburgh depart. The Big East is so desperate that it is trying to attract Air Force and Boise State. It will be interesting to see whether the Conference USA--Mountain West alliance, the 22 team super-conference, will actually come to be. At any rate, here are our games:

High School Division: The Ada Bulldogs led Allen East 48-0 at halftime and coasted through the second half to administer a 54-12 trip to the glue factory for the Mustangs. Ada QB Konnor Baker threw 4 TD passes and ran for 2 more. In Denver, Thomas Jefferson whipped George Washington 32-12.

Division III News: Ohio Northern at Baldwin Wallace. Washington & Lee at Randolph Macon. Wash U St. Louis has College of Wooster at home.

Division I-AA (FCS): #16 William and Mary entertains #6 New Hampshire.

Trophy and Rivalry Games: Ohio State took advantage of 3 turnovers to upend #16 Illinois in Champaign for the Illibuck Trophy. #23 Michigan State combined strong running with determined defense to upset #11 Michigan 28-14 to claim the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Louisville's offense struggled, and Cincinnati recovered all of its own fumbles to enable the Bearcats to take the Keg of Nails 25-16. Missouri pulverized Iowa State 52-14 to claim the Telephone Trophy. Toledo bowled over Bowling Green 28-21 in the Battle of I-75.

Are You Upset?: Virginia used its bye week to excellent advantage to upset #12 Georgia Tech 24-21.

Our Teams Triumphant: #19 Va. Tech at Wake Forest.

Ranked vs. Ranked: #21 Texas A & M shocked and awed #20 Baylor 55-24 behind 6 TD passes by quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Jeremy Smith of #6 Oklahoma State ran for 140 yards and two TDs on only seven carries as the Cowboys dominated #22 Texas 38-26.

Our Teams, Depressed: Washington scored more than 50 points for the first time in 10 years in clobbering Colorado 52-24. Vandy gave Georgia a much better game than the Bulldogs expected before succumbing . Florida State overcame its recent troubles in drubbing Duke 41-16 in Durham. Miami played a very strong first half and then held on against the North Carolina comeback to overcome the Tar Heels 30-24 in Chapel Hill. Kellen Moore threw 4 TD passes and led #5 Boise State to a 63-13 thrashing of Colorado State. The defenses controlled the game as #24 Auburn beat Florida 17-6.

Pentagon Papers: San Diego State's Ronnie Hillman ran for 172 yards as the Aztecs grounded Air Force 41-27. Rutgers used a strong defense and blocked a late Navy field goal attempt to edge the Middies 21-20.

October 8, 2011

The last two weeks have been too crowded for blogging. Sorry about that. On September 24, I was the spotter for the Colorado Buffaloes radio broadcast when they played Ohio State. (Thank you, Reid.) It was thrilling to be in the Horseshoe (Ohio Stadium) for the first time, and to see the OSU band form script Ohio live is even better than watching it on TV. Unfortunately, Colorado was not good enough to handle the Buckeyes in the game. Last weekend combined a visit from Lauren Lobenhofer to enable her to celebrate a wedding of a high school classmate of hers as well as ONU and Ada homecomings, so, again, no time for blogging. But, "I'm baaack!!"

High School Division: Ada does not seem to have as strong a team as they have had for the past few years. Last night, despite taking the ball away from the Crestview Knights six times, Ada barely escaped from lovely Convoy (home of Crestview High) with a 43-42 victory in double overtime. George Washington High (Denver) managed to defeat Montbello 13-6 to bring their the Patriots' record to 2-4.

Division III: Ohio Northern has dropped out of the top 25 after suffering consecutive defeats to Muskingum 27-7 and to #2 ranked Mt. Union 14-6 on ONU's homecoming. This Saturday, however, Tyler Rue threw four touchdown passes in leading ONU to a 38-20 victory at Capital. In a rare Friday night game, Randolph Macon outscored Catholic U 51-34 in D.C. #12 Wabash punished Washington U, St. Louis 24-3, for Wash U's 3d loss in a row.

Division I-AA (or FCS): #11 Delaware's defense stonewalled #9 William and Mary, giving the Blue Hens a 21-0 victory over the Tribe. Towson held off a determined Richmond team 31-28. Georgia State extended their losing streak to four games by succumbing to Murray State 48-24. Northern Colorado had only 72 yards of total offense, and Sacramento State did not attempt a pass in a 14-7 victory for Sacramento State. Northern Colorado has now lost six in a row.

Trophy and Rivalry Games: #5 Boise State annihilated Fresno State 57-7 to claim the Milk Can Trophy on Friday night. The biggest rivalry game of the weekend is the Red River Shootout between Texas and Oklahoma, played at the Cotton Bowl at the Texas State Fair. #3 Oklahoma, led by veteran quarterback Landry Jones, took a 34-10 lead by half time against a resurgent but young #11 Texas team and won 55-17, claiming the Golden Hat, the Red River Shootout Trophy, and the Governor's' trophy. In the battle for the Leather Helmet, #8 Clemson routed Boston College 36-14 to claim the O'Rourke-McFadden Trophy.

Ranked vs. Ranked: #1 LSU wrestled #17 Florida into submission 41-11. Tyler Wilson completed 19 straight passes in leading #10 Arkansas to a 38-14 thrashing of #15 Auburn.

Our Teams, Boisterous. Indiana took an early lead over #19 Illinois, but the undefeated Illini roared back with long passes to stomp the Hoosiers 41-20. #22 Arizona State took advantage of 5 Utah turnovers to rout the Utes 35-14. #21 Virginia Tech drove 77 yards in the last 3 minutes to edge Miami at the end of a wild fourth quarter in Blacksburg. Denard Robinson threw 3 interceptions, but he also threw 2 touchdown passes and scored 2 rushing touchdowns in leading #12 Michigan over Northwestern 42-24. North Carolina overcame a slow start to defeat Louisville 14-7. #16 West Virginia barely led UConn at halftime, but dominated the second half to win 43-16.

Trail of Tears. #13 Georgia Tech edged Maryland 21-16. #2 Alabama overwhelmed Vandy 34-0. Andrew Luck had his best game of the season for #7 Stanford as the Cardinal trounced luckless Colorado 48-7. Ohio State dominated #14 Nebraska for 2 1/2 quarters, but when freshman Buckeye QB Braxton Miller left the game with a sprained ankle, the Huskers came back with a vengeance, defeating the Bucks 34-27 in Lincoln for Nebraska's first Big Ten win. Missouri had two long drives for touchdowns in the final quarter, but they could not overtake #20 Kansas State, so the Tigers lost 24-17.

Surprising: Wake Forest upended #23 Florida State 35-30. #6 Oklahoma State crushed Kansas 70-28.

Armed Forces Report: The academies suffered nothing but defeats this weekend. Notre Dame carpet-bombed Air Force 59-33 in South Bend. Zac Dysert threw four touchdown passses to lead Miami (Ohio) to a 35-28 victory over Army in Oxford. Southern Miss sank Navy 63-35.

Undefeated and Untried This Week. Virginia, after being vandalized 20-21 by Idaho last week, took the weekend off to recover. Also Peabody Conservatory and Emory.

Moment of Silence: Al Davis, who presided over the evil empire known as the Oakland (sometimes Los Angeles) Raiders since 1963, passed away today at age 82. May he rest in peace.

September 17, 2011

It's a lovely fall day in Ada. The Harvest and Herb Festival has filled Main Street with booths, and the parade begins a day of live music downtown. It's a great small-town event.

High School Dept.: Ada's rivalry with Upper Scioto Valley High in Alger, the next town south, had been discontinued when USV had trouble keeping their football program going and had to leave the Northwest Conference. The two renewed the rivalry last night, but USV probably wished they hadn't, because Ada shocked and awed the Rams 69-7 in Ada.

Division III: #12 ONU stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to edge Otterbein 34-33 in Ada, the D-III Game of the Week in Ohio. #21 Wittenberg continued its 23 game winning streak in defeating Washington U 20-17. Randolph Macon scored a touchdown and two-point conversion with less than 5 minutes to go to defeat Shenandoah 36-29.

Division FCS (I-AA): Richmond had early success against VMI and kept on the pressure to defeat the Keydets 34-19. Northern Colorado gave up over 500 passing yards to Idaho State and got bombed 50-20. #4 William and Mary may have difficulty keeping their rank after barely beating New Haven 14-10 in Williamsburg. Jacksonville State controlled the game by running the ball and trampled Georgia State 37-21.

Divided Loyalties: Illinois bent but did not break in edging #22 Arizona State 17-14. The Champaign is now open! Wyoming edged Bowling Green 28-27.

Rivalry and Trophy Games: Tyler Hansen accounted for all of Colorado's points by running for two touchdowns and throwing for the other two in a 28-14 drubbing of Colorado State for Centennial Cup. Louisville's running outpointed Kentucky's passing allowing the Cardinals to claim the Governor's Cup 24-17. #18 West Virginia took an early lead and held on against a Maryland comeback to triumph 37-31. In the South's Oldest Rivalry, Virginia outgained North Carolina but were unable to take advantage of their opportunities in a 28-17 loss to the Tar Heels. Running back Chris Rainey and a stifling defense powered #16 Florida over Tennessee 33-23 in the Swamp. Utah met BYU in the Holy War, and the winner will be in the best position to claim the Beehive Boot (for being the best division I football team in Utah).

Our Teams Triumphant: After a scoreless first quarter, Vandy scored 3 TDs in the second quarter including an interception return for a TD and defeated Ole Miss 30-7 at Nashville. Vandy intercepted five Rebel passes. Duke QB Sean Renfree completed 40 passes and led the Dukies to a 20-19 squeaker over Boston College. Notre Dame finally held a halftime lead, and they upended #15 Michigan State 31-13 in South Bend.

Bridge of Sighs: Minnesota coach Jerry Kill had suffered a seizure near the end of last week's game, but he returned to the sideline, and Minnesota returned to the winning column in defeating Miami (Ohio) 29-23. Zac Dysert threw for 325 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.

Ranked Teams: #4 Boise State snuffed the Toledo Rockets 40-15. #3 LSU outlasted #25 Mississippi State 19-6 on Thursday night. #1 Oklahoma vs. #5 Florida State.

Prison Riot: #17 Ohio State's quarterback problems and offensive deficiencies were on full display as the Hurricanes of Miami blew over the Buckeyes 17-6.

Washtenaw County Championship: Michigan defeated Eastern Michigan 31-3 to establish themselves as the county champions.

Eating Cupcakes: #13 Virginia Tech played only well enough to slip past Arkansas State 26-7. Missouri dominated Western Illinois in all phases and pummeled them 69-0. Purdue 59 South East Missouri State 0.

Upsets, Anyone?: Clemson gained over 600 yards and upended defending national champion and #21 ranked Auburn 38-24.

Pentagon Papers: Army rolled over Northwestern 21-14 at West Point. Marcus Lattimore of #10 South Carolina ran for 246 yards against Navy, and Navy's wishbone only produced 275 yards rushing. Lattimore enabled the Gamecocks to overcome the Middies 24-21.

Undefeated and Untried This Week: Peabody Conservatory, Emory, Air Force.

September 10, 2011

This weekend is full of memories of ten years ago, and also memories of the consequences of that fateful day. May we remember to mourn the victims and celebrate the many heroes of those days.

High School Division: Ada and Columbus both showed the tenacity of their bulldog mascots in a 34-33 thriller won by Columbus Grove. Three players for Columbus Grove each rushed for 100 yards. CG won the game by being able to make conversions after touchdowns and by intercepting Konnor Baker with about 1 minute to go to clinch the victory.

Division III: Randolph Macon used a strong defensive effort to come from behind to defeat Averett 15-7. Washington U St. Louis clobbered visiting Rhodes 48-21. Apparently, Rhodes is not a colossus this year.

Which One Do I Root For Again? Homestanding Arizona State led #21 Mizzou 30-16 early in the 4th quarter, but Mizzou came roaring back to tie the game with 2:50 left and force overtime. Arizona State then scored a touchdown in the overtime and held Mizzou scoreless to clinch the win.

What a Battle: Notre Dame scored a TD to take a 3 point lead with 30 seconds to go, but Michigan scored a TD to win the game with 8 seconds to go in a 35-31 barn burner. #12 South Carolina barely beat a determined Georgia team 45-42 in a game that went back and forth all afternoon. #24 Texas edged BYU 17-16.

Our Teams Victorious: #11 Virginia Tech used strangling defense to edge East Carolina 17-10. North Carolina had to stop a determined Rutgers comeback to top the Scarlet Knights 24-22. #5 ranked (in I-AA) William and Mary used a strong defense and powerful running to trample the Keydets of VMI 24-7. Virginia trailed Indiana 31-23 with 6 1/2 minutes to go, but the Cavaliers scored a touchdown and two-point conversion with a minute and a half to go and a field goal at the whistle for a 34-31 victory. Vandy made five sacks and took the ball away four times on the way to a 24-21 come from behind victory over U Conn. Vandy is now 2-0! Richmond stung the Seahawks of Wagner 21-6.

Eating Cupcakes: Illinois rolled over the Jackrabbits of I-AA South Dakota State 56-3. #19 West Virginia pulverized I-AA Norfolk State 55-12. Florida shut out Alabama-Birmingham 39-0.

Ranked vs. Ranked: #23 Penn State used 2 quarterbacks at home, but neither could make much of a dent in the defense of #3 Alabama as the Tide rolled over the Nittany Lions 27-11 in Happy Valley, PA.

Trophy Games: In a hard fought battle for the Cy-Hawk Trophy, Iowa State (of the incredible shrinking conference) defeated Iowa 44-41.

Sighing: Colorado outgained Cal by 200 yards and forced Cal into overtime before losing 36-33 in a matchup of Golden Buffaloes against Golden Bears. Air Force outgained #25 TCU but the Horned Frogs turned their gains into touchdowns, winning 35-19. Colorado State led Northern Colorado 28-0 at halftime and coasted to a 33-14 victory. #6 Stanford hammered Duke 44-14. Old Dominion thumped Georgia State 40-17 in Atlanta.

Upsets: Defending national champion Auburn upset #16 Mississippi State 41-34. New Mexico State upended Minnesota 28-21. Rice had not beaten a team from a BCS conference in 10 years, but they edged Purdue 24-22 on a last second field goal.

Criminal Court: Toledo nearly upset #15 Ohio State but gave up an interception with 1 minute to go to extinguish their last hope. Had Toledo not killed themselves with penalties, special teams errors and other mistakes, they might have been the first Ohio school to beat OSU since 1921.

Pentagon: San Diego State 23, Army 20. Navy at Western Kentucky. Navy torpedoed Western Kentucky 40-14.

Undefeated and Untried This Week: Peabody Conservatory, Emory, #13 (D-III) Ohio Northern, Maryland, Miamis (both of them).

Other Sports News: Ohio Northern's men's soccer team is ranked #4 nationally. #3 Wash U St. Louis women's volleyball dominated Ohio Northern 3 games to 0.

Labor Day weekend

College football is back, and the NFL lockout is over. Hooray!!

High School Division: The Ada Bulldogs look poised for another successful season. Last Friday, Ada slaughtered local rival Hardin Northern 53-7. Last night, star QB Konnor Baker had another outstanding game, throwing 5 touchdown passes and running for another score as the Bulldogs chewed up Spencerville 55-21 in Ada's home and conference opener. Senior Chris Beaschler has emerged as the starting center and a defensive stalwart.

Division III: #14 ranked Ohio Northern defeated the Battling Bishops of North Carolina Wesleyan 38-20 in Ada for the season opener for both teams. Washington University (St. Louis) defeated Knox College 28-10. Randolph-Macon got their season off to a good start at home defeating Methodist 43-7.

Big Opening Games: A few schools opened with difficult opponents. #5 Boise St. vs. #19 Georgia, #4 LSU vs. #3 Oregon.

Upsets, Anyone?: In a game that was hard to top for excitement, Baylor squeaked past #14 and favored Texas Christian 50-48. Baylor was up by 24 points at the end of the third quarter before a furious TCU comeback put the Frogs in the lead by 1 point with 5 minutes to go. Baylor then drove to score their only points of the fourth quarter, a field goal, with just over a minute to go to claim the victory. Big 12 (or 9 or 8 or ?) schools should expect a tough game from Baylor this year. Baylor QB Robert Griffin III completed 5 TD passes. Ball State upended Indiana 27-20 in the Colts' stadium in Indianapolis. Kentucky tried valiantly to lose to Western Kentucky but managed to win 14-3. #23 Auburn trailed most of the game but managed to edge Utah State 42-38.

I-AA Happenings: On Friday night, Georgia State lambasted Clark Atlanta 41-7. Showing that GSU has something in common with the bigtime schools, GSU suspended their top 2 QBs before the game, but they had punter/wide receiver Bo Schlecter to fill in and lead them to victory. Richmond finished strong to upset Duke 23-21 in Durham. Northern Colorado lost to Div. II Lindenwood 22-20.

Trophy Games: #24 West Virginia rained on Marshall for the Governor's Cup on Sunday afternoon 34-13. Speaking of rain, violent thunderstorms forced the game to be called off in the middle of the third quarter after substantial rain delays.

Our Teams, Triumphant: In the tradition of scheduling an easy game to open, a number of our teams were seen eating cupcakes. Mizzou defeated local hero Zac Dysert and Miami (OH) 17-6 in Columbia. #13 Virginia Tech bulldozed App. State 66-13. Arizona State warmed up by clobbering I-AA Cal Davis 48-14. Bowling Green vandalized Idaho 32-15. Illinois overcame a slow start to whip Arkansas State 33-15. #22 Florida ate up Florida Atlantic 41-3. Vanderbilt pummeled Elon 45-14. North Carolina overruled I-AA James Madison 42-10. QB Bryn Renner of UNC completed over 95% of his passes against JMU, nearly breaking the national record for completion percentage. Michigan, playing their first game for new coach Brady Hoke, chewed up Western Michigan 34-10. Colorado State fended off a last second New Mexico rally to overcome the Lobos 14-10. Colorado lost to Hawaii 34-17 across the water. With the toughest schedule in the country, Hawaii seemed to be one of CU's best chances to win. It will be a long season.

High Crime Area: New coach Randy Edsall led Maryland over scandal-riddled Miami 32-24. It was tough to decide what was uglier, the suspensions of Miami players or the Maryland uniforms. Despite lots of suspended players and with new coach Luke Fickell to replace the disgraced Jim Tressel, #18 Ohio State unzipped Akron 42-0.

Our Teams, in Grief. Virginia rolled over William and Mary 40-3.

Nationally Ranked: #11 Wisconsin put down the Rebels of UNLV 51-17 with the former NC State QB Russell Wilson leading the way.

Pentagon: Navy rammed I-AA Delaware 40-17. Air Force led South Dakota by thirty points early in the 3d quarter but did not finish well, defeating South Dakota 37-20. Army got bitten by the Northern Illinois Huskies

Conflict of Interest: Former Notre Dame head coach and now ESPN commentator Lou Holtz always picks Notre Dame to win, no matter how badly their season is going. This weekend, though, he had to pick against the Irish, because his wife of 50 years insisted that he pick his son, Skip's, team, South Florida. Oh, the result? In a game repeatedly delayed by weather (ringing down the thunder, literally), South Florida defeated the #16 Irish 23-20.

Counting Down from Big 12: After last season, Colorado left to join the Pac 12 and Nebraska left to join the Big 10 (which now has 12 teams). Recently Texas A & M announced that they were leaving, probably for the SEC. Oklahoma's president has announced that OU is considering leaving the conference. Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State all seem to be considering their options. Will the last school still in the Big 12 turn off the lights?

Undefeated and Untried: Peabody Conservatory, Emory.