The domination continues. The Ohio State Buckeyes smacked the Michigan Wolverines again, making it eight straight wins in what many consider to be the best rivalry in college football and one of the best in all of sports.
This rivalry has an amazing history, reaching its apex during the ten-year war between Woody and Bo, but the programs are in very different places right now. The Big Ten used to be dominated by the Big Two – Michigan and Ohio State. Now the conference is dominated by Ohio State and Michigan is trying to stay relevant in the second tier with Wisconsin, Penn State and Iowa.
Ohio State fans have been anxious to see just what the Buckeyes had in Justin Fields after his adventure with the transfer portal. After the Buckeyes jumped to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter against Lane Kiffin’s over-matched FAU squad, we learned a few things but not that much.
We knew Fields is blazing fast, and we saw him explode untouched for an easy 51-yard touchdown run off a read option. That wasn’t a surprise. We also saw him hit wide open receivers in stride, confirming that he has a good arm.
But we also saw Fields and the Ohio State offense get conservative and stall a bit after building that huge lead. Ryan Day seemed happy that Fields didn’t come close to throwing an interception. Fields often defaulted to running with the ball as opposed to trying tougher throws. We’ll see that a lot this season, but we’ll also need to see in coming weeks if Fields can make the tough throws when needed.
As for the Buckeyes, things looked so easy early on, and then FAU decided to start playing. The young offensive line certainly needs to develop more. We should have seen them control the game with J.K. Dobbins runs after building that lead, but FAU was able to stuff the Buckeye running game too often for comfort.
Are the Miami Hurricanes back now that Manny Diaz is at the helm? We’ll see tonight as they take on the #8 Florida Gators to open the college football season.
Much of the talk regarding Miami has centered around freshman QB Jarren Williams beating out Tate Martell for the starting job, but the bigger factor may involve the Miami’s lack of experience along the offensive line.
The spread has stayed around Florida -7 leading up to game time. This should be a fun one.
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Is everyone over those stories about the NFL being in decline? Sure, they had some serious controversies last year with the protests, and the NBA was on fire with the Cavs – Warriors battles. College football also created quite a buzz with their new playoff as well starting in 2014.
But suddenly we’ve seen the ratings do a u-turn. NFL ratings are back up again this year, while the NBA is suddenly dipping as the Lebron James versus the Warriors story starts to get old. Superteams are good for a sport . . . but only for a while. Aren’t you sick of the Warriors stockpiling all stars? Meanwhile, the College Football Playoff has lost a little of its luster with Alabama and Clemson being annual locks to play in the final four.
The greatest rivalry in college football produced another fun game (for Ohio State fans) while the overall rivalry is suffering a bit. Michigan isn’t holding up its end of the bargain.
The isn’t The Ten Year War. Urban Meyer is 7-0 versus Michigan. Jim Harbaugh is 0-4 against the Buckeyes.
Michigan was favored on the road against a Buckeye team that had all sorts of drama, not to mentioned a defense that has been royally screwed up by Greg Schiano. There was plenty of smack talk coming from Michigan players and fans, but that ended badly for them yesterday.
This article from Bob Wojnowski gives a good overview of the problems with Jim Harbaugh’s program. Harbaugh’s basic offense that relies on power running works well against lesser opponents but just doesn’t cut it against a talented team like the Buckeyes.
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