Battle For Ohio

Don't hate, appreciate. We can love both our football teams!

What an amazing time to be a Cincinnati sports fan.  At no point in my life (30 years) can I remember a better time to be a sports fan in Cincinnati.  Maybe 1989-1990.  The Bengals were just one year removed from the Super Bowl and the Reds had just finished off an improbable sweep of the A’s and UC basketball was about to start the Bob Huggins era.  That would mean great basketball for some, and great hilarity for me.  Tales of punching police horses, holding roommates hostage, getting busted for having loaded weapons on campus before attending your first class, getting pulled over allegedly several times for drinking once in a video that got linked to the national media.  Ahhhh, good times, but I digress.

Ahhhhh, Kevin. Doing his part to bridge that UC/Bengal fan gap.

Right now the town of Cincinnati is the proud owner of the undefeated number 5 nationally ranked University of Cincinnati Bearcat football team.  Down on the banks of the Ohio River Cincinnati boasts currently the AFC North leading Cincinnati Bengals, who are a perfect 4-0 in the division right now.  And don’t forget The Sweet Sixteen season that was nearly an Elite Eight season that the Xavier University mens basketball team turned in last year.  I think that if you took the temperature of Cincinnati tomorrow around the water cooler you would find it to be a very healthy 98.6.

So let’s get into some highlights over the weekend:

UC Football:

• How good does it feel to win a nationally ranked TV game?   How does it feel to win a game against a division foe that is playing some of the most inspired football right now?  How good does it feel to win with your back up quarterback?  How good does it feel to win despite the defense, oops?

• I said it last week, if Zach Collaros had been starting all year he would be in the Heisman hunt.  I am still amazed at how well prepared this offense was to have Zach take over and play quarterback in Tony Pikes absence.  This has the potential to be an issue soon though.  When Pike is cleared to play, Kelly is going to have a tough call to make.  Pike is the Senior and has done nothing to lose the job.  But of course Zach Collaros is playing out of his mind and he is playing very smart at the quarterback position.  Plus he is quite mobile, which adds a new wrinkle that teams have to game plan for.  What will Kelly do?  Personally, I think provided he has a 100%  clean bill of health, you have to give the senior back his job.  You need to do this as soon as possible and there needs to be no wavering.  You don’t need there to be any division in the locker room during this last stretch of tough games.  Brian Kelly has already gone on record as saying that he was wrong about giving Tony his job back and that he may have to revisit that discussion based on how Zach has played.  Better make it quick coach.

Where is that guys hand going, and why is coach making that face. Oh wait that is sick!

• That defense NEEDS to get better.  They said it on the broadcast and I agree, all the other teams in the top 5 play good defense, Florida and Alabama play great defense.  UC is in the top 5 strictly on offense, but in order to win out these final games and win a major bowl the defense has got to get better.  I am not sure UC defense could stop me at running back.  That has been the trend since the Fresno State game, they can’t stop the run, the offense has to constantly bail out the defense.  They are going to have to man up for the West Virgina and Pittsburgh games.  The good news is Pittsburgh isn’t a spectacular rushing team, and while West Virgina has a decent two-headed monster at running back, they are not a very good team.

• Mardy Gilyard is looking like a great second round investment.  Great receiver, good speed, can return kicks and punts.  Think Percy Harvin light.

Bengals:

• I love Brian Leonard.  Several times already this year he has proven to be a type of player that every team looks for.  He is gritty and tough and fights for every yard.  If you need a first down Brian is the man to go to.  I think that if he had to saw his leg off to get out of a tackle and make the first down, he would do it.

• So when do the fans have to step up, me included?  There have been three home games that have almost not sold out.  Kroger has had to bail us out twice and Chad Ochocinco and Motorola teamed up the other time.  This is a 6-2 team and we are still not selling out.  I would understand if this was the same ‘ol Bengals team, but it isn’t.  This team is a division leader and has played outstanding football lately, we as fans NEED to be better about supporting the Bengals.

Look at the way he holds the ball out there. It's like he is daring a defender to strip the ball. It needs to stop.

• Chad is a great receiver  but he really needs to quit chicken winging that ball.  He was responsible for two fumbles yesterday and countless more throughout the years because he doesn’t protect the ball.  What is the point of the catch and run if you are going to hand the defense the ball?  With Chris Henry out, we need you to be hanging on to the ball.  Now about Slim….

• Chris Henry getting hurt sucks, but it will not effect the Bengals greatly.  Chris was only playing 60% of the snaps and was only getting about 3-5 balls thrown his way the whole game, and that is a very high estimate.  I understand his value, but the Bengals were not involving him as much as I thought they would.  Caldwell has established himself as a great slot receiver, and Coles has more experience and is more professional than Henry anyway.

• Quote of the day, “Zimmer probably has a hard on right now.”  That was Jesy referring to the Bengals defense in the first half.  I would tend to agree.  I think Mike probably went into the locker room at half time and gave everyone on defense a “Dutch Rutter.”

• The announcers made an Ickey Woods reference when talking about Cedric Benson.  WTF?!  Don’t jinx Cedric like that.  That’s all we need is another devastating injury at running back.  Look, Ced is on a roll and might be the best running back we have had since Corey Dillion, don’t mess this up.  If Dan Fouts doesn’t shut his lips, I might have to do it for him.

• How huge were the two picks by Joseph and Hall?  Game changing?  I say yes.  They each have 4 picks this year and are being overlooked because the Bengals have been horrible against the pass all year.  But over the last couple weeks I see Hall and Joseph being more physical and playing closer to the man and not giving that 5 yard cushion as much.  Keep it up fellas, that allows the blitzes to work when you are playing tight coverage like that.

• He pulled a Shayne Graham!  The missed field goal by Baltimore was HUGE for a couple reasons. One, of course is that it was three less points that Baltimore had on the board.  But it was key in deflating Baltimore.  They were driving and looked unstoppable.  The Bengals defense playing “bend don’t break” forced the field goal attempt and they missed.  Not only did they deflate Baltimore, but it brought a relativily silent crowd back into the game.  Watching Baltimore storm back and march down field had taken some wind out of the fans sails, but as soon as Steve Hauschka missed the crowd came roaring back.

• One thing that has me concerned and it has been eating at me for a while, the Bengals are horrible at making halftime adjustments.  After the half, Baltimore came out and started to light it up.  The Bengals seemed content in running the ball and trying to eat up clock.  With only a 17 point lead they should have kept their foot on the gas.  Teams like Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and New England will not stay down.  The Bengals had better start preparing for that if they truly are a playoff team.

Random NFL notes:

You can feel the indifference in his eyes.

• Clinton Portis was listed as out with a concussion.  Hmmm, smells like bull shit to me.  I watched Washington last week, why would I do that?  Oh yeah they were a prime time game somehow.  As I watched I noticed that Clinton Portis had the Corey Dillion look in his eyes.  You know the one.  Where he looks like he already quit and was just there collecting a paycheck.  I had not seen the “I am SO not interested in getting my brains beat in for this pathetic team” look since Corey was in Cincinnati.

• Kurt Warner enacted his revenge on Chicago.  After giving away interceptions like he was doing his best Joey Harrington impression last week against Carolina, Kurt really stepped up and all but killed Chicago’s playoff hopes.  He threw 5 touchdowns yesterday, Chicago deep backs will have nightmares about Warner and Fitzgerald for the rest of the year.

• I love watching Miami play.  I love the Wildcat and how confusing it can be for defenses.  It is fun to see coordinators boggled and confused, you don’t get to see that too often in the NFL.  I also love the possibility of Pat White running the Wildcat.  Perfect draft pick for Miami!  The best part is that I don’t care if they win or lose, I just like watching them play.

• Speaking of Wildcat.  I know Carolina has spit out back to back wins, but they still have to know that they are not very good and worst of all they have Jake Delhomme still quarterbacking for them.  Carolina, I am gong to give you some free advice.  Dump Delhomme after this year and draft a quarterback that can run the wildcat.  You have DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, all you need is a Pat White, or even Michael Vick could be useful here.  Tim Tebow, Jarrett Brown, Ryan Perrilloux and Juice Williams will all be there for the taking.  You’re welcome.

• The offensive line continues to be an issue for Green Bay.  Even Tampa beat them this weekend.  What a disappointment this year.  I had them pegged as a playoff team that would make a push to the Super Bowl, but not with that disgrace of an offensive line.  Bengals fans everywhere feel your pain.

So, Cincinnati, how do you feel today?  For the first time is a long time you have something positive to say at the old water cooler!  For the first time in forever you don’t have to hide when that Steelers fan is roaming the halls, looking for someone to brag to.  You can be a Cincinnati fan proudly today.  Enjoy!